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My computer is slow playing games

What sort of games are you playing?

Some of the 3D games are quite processor and graphics card intensive, and make quite high demands on the system, even a modern one.

A lot of people who play this sort of game build their own specialised computers, which they tune up; over clocking.

This over clocking becomes a hobby in it own right, just the same as we used to tune up our motorbikes, polishing all the inlet ports and valves, dohh.

I have a barebones PC at the moment, let me know whatyour playing, and ill take a look.
 
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What is the spec of your PC? How much RAM, Processor Speed, what operating system (windows key + pause to check these) and is OS 32 or 64 bit? Also are you using a wireless or ethernet connection (I assume your game is an on-line one?). jj
 
What is the spec of your PC? How much RAM, Processor Speed, what operating system (windows key + pause to check these) and is OS 32 or 64 bit? Also are you using a wireless or ethernet connection (I assume your game is an on-line one?). jj
Not sure if I have all you need. It is 4GB 64bit Dual core Pentium (R)E5500@280GHz. i have a wireless mouse but no other wireless connection. I play Breakout which is a simple game.
 
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I play 2 games on my Windows 7 laptop ,one is Civilization 3 and the other a rpg game NWN Neverwinternights,and only have problems with NWN which is due to graphics and it does tend to slow things down but other than the usual Mahjong and card games find the speed no problem
 
I have played online games for around 12 years and usually build my own PCs for the job. To give you some idea my graphics card(s) cost around £400 each to give me a decent Frames per Second (fps).

Online games, such as World of Warcraft, Aion, Warhammer Online, Conan do have fps and latency meters built in (or the ability to add them on). Depending on the game you can get an idea of why it may be slow.

Having said that playing 'Breakout' should not 'tax' your processor or memory at all and my first port of call would be Anti-virus or Internet security. These products are absolutely needed on Windows PCs but they are definately not all equal. I recently did an evaluation of around 10 products in the lab at work and you wouldn't believe that difference in performance 'hit' that some give compared to others.

My better half recently took a bunch of my old computer stuff and car-booted it all including my old GE-Force 6800 graphics card (£385 new) and sold it for a few bob.

Hope this help
 
Thank you. Which anti virus and internet security products are the best. I have McAfee and spybot.

I have played online games for around 12 years and usually build my own PCs for the job. To give you some idea my graphics card(s) cost around £400 each to give me a decent Frames per Second (fps).

Online games, such as World of Warcraft, Aion, Warhammer Online, Conan do have fps and latency meters built in (or the ability to add them on). Depending on the game you can get an idea of why it may be slow.

Having said that playing 'Breakout' should not 'tax' your processor or memory at all and my first port of call would be Anti-virus or Internet security. These products are absolutely needed on Windows PCs but they are definately not all equal. I recently did an evaluation of around 10 products in the lab at work and you wouldn't believe that difference in performance 'hit' that some give compared to others.

My better half recently took a bunch of my old computer stuff and car-booted it all including my old GE-Force 6800 graphics card (£385 new) and sold it for a few bob.

Hope this help
 
In my opinion, and it's only my opinion, I use Kaspersky. McAfee I stay away from due to it's large 'footprint'. At one place I worked at (when this wasn't under my juristiction) we ended up increasing the memory on >1000 PCs because someone decided to 'rollout' McAfee across the company, and when people started to use their PCs again everything was way too slow to the point of unusable on some applications. (To be fair to McAfee they did work with the team to try to resolve issues, you can put in 'exceptions' so that anti virus software doesn't scan certain things and thereby helping to speed up the application)

They thought it was the 'cheaper option' and all AVs are the same, they soon discovered the opposite.
 
That is helpful. Are there more than 1 version of Kaspersky and where do i buy it? ? Staples. Or can I buy it online and get them to install when my McAfee expires in a month.?
In my opinion, and it's only my opinion, I use Kaspersky. McAfee I stay away from due to it's large 'footprint'. At one place I worked at (when this wasn't under my juristiction) we ended up increasing the memory on >1000 PCs because someone decided to 'rollout' McAfee across the company, and when people started to use their PCs again everything was way too slow to the point of unusable on some applications. (To be fair to McAfee they did work with the team to try to resolve issues, you can put in 'exceptions' so that anti virus software doesn't scan certain things and thereby helping to speed up the application)

They thought it was the 'cheaper option' and all AVs are the same, they soon discovered the opposite.
 
I think that you will find it is the Mcafee that is slowing things down, now I was told yetersday by a chap who make his living by buillding and repairing computers that Windows 7 does not need Mcafee now how true this is I do not know as yet I do not have Windows 7 so I cannot talk from experiance


How can I stop losing lives when I play games. I have Windows 7. Help please.
 
No need to spend money on good anti virus software. Microsoft Security Essentials is free and extremely effective and won't slow your system down.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security_essentials/default.aspx I have four PC's on the home network plus three laptops and I use MSE on them all and have been problem free to date.

If your graphics are built in it may help you to buy a better one, my son is a extreme gamer and his graphic card cost almost as much as the Sony Vaio laptop I got the wife but for most of us spending £50 - £75 will show a big improvement overall as will adding extra memory (RAM) to you system (not expensive these days). Ask question here or PM me if you like.

ATB
Richard
 
Your computer spec should be fine for playing breakout. There are a couple of things you could try. It sounds as though you may have a number of applications running in the background which are slowing things down (McAfee being one possibility as stated by other members). PC manufacturers have a habit of installing loads of software which you will never use but which are started when you start the computer.

First try disabling all the startup items. To do this type msconfig in the run box - this will bring up a System Configuration box. Select the Startup tab and select Disable All. Reboot and see if it's any better. Note that this may disable the antivirus so just test your game and don't go surfing the internet! If you notice an improvement go back into System Configuration (Startup) and tick one box at a time until you find which is slowing things down (you'll have to reboot each time). If there was no improvement re-enable all.

For the second suggestion you'll need an flash (USB) drive which you can use as extra RAM. Attach the formatted drive to the PC and from the autoplay dialogue box click 'Speed up my system'. This should take you to the 'ReadyBoost' property dialogue. Click the box next to 'Dedicate this drive to ReadyBoost' and move the slide to the desired amount of RAM (minimum of 235MB required).
 
Not sure if I have all you need. It is 4GB 64bit Dual core Pentium (R)E5500@280GHz. i have a wireless mouse but no other wireless connection. I play Breakout which is a simple game

My computer has a slightly slower processer then yours, and I can play the game fine.I

t has already quite rightly been said, install windows security essentials, run a full scan, and see how you go.

Good luck
 
Pl tell me where do I find the run box?
Your computer spec should be fine for playing breakout. There are a couple of things you could try. It sounds as though you may have a number of applications running in the background which are slowing things down (McAfee being one possibility as stated by other members). PC manufacturers have a habit of installing loads of software which you will never use but which are started when you start the computer.

First try disabling all the startup items. To do this type msconfig in the run box - this will bring up a System Configuration box. Select the Startup tab and select Disable All. Reboot and see if it's any better. Note that this may disable the antivirus so just test your game and don't go surfing the internet! If you notice an improvement go back into System Configuration (Startup) and tick one box at a time until you find which is slowing things down (you'll have to reboot each time). If there was no improvement re-enable all.

For the second suggestion you'll need an flash (USB) drive which you can use as extra RAM. Attach the formatted drive to the PC and from the autoplay dialogue box click 'Speed up my system'. This should take you to the 'ReadyBoost' property dialogue. Click the box next to 'Dedicate this drive to ReadyBoost' and move the slide to the desired amount of RAM (minimum of 235MB required).
 
Click the start button and then 'Run' which should be at the bottom of the list above the Shut down button. This will bring up the Run Box. If its not there type msconfig in the search box (at the bottom when you click the start button) and msconfig.exe should appear at the top of the box. Click this and the System Configuration box should appear. (I keep putting 'should' because you can never be quite sure what will happen on a computer!!)
 
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