How to run games on High priority

[steve81]

Hi, Is it beneficial to run games as High Priority? If so how would one do this?

Also, is it true that when you run a game 1 core of your dual core PC does the work?.

And is it true that you can make your PC use both cores to run games?.

I'm looking to improve the game performance of my weak PC. I will look into upgrading some of the hardware but I don't want to void my warranty.:p

ThankYou in advance.

[mjc]

1. If you want to be able to do anything else (including talk to other players in an online game), running in High Priority doesn't provide enough of a 'boost' to make it worth it...(1 or 2 FPS gained to totally slow down everything not related to the game's exe).

2. Depends on the game...whether or not it has 'multi-thread' support. Also, the OS needs to be in 'multi processor' mode...if it doesn't see/use both then nothing else will, either.

If you have a PC that has a 'warranty' on the whole thing, chances are it isn't worth upgrading to make it even a 'not quite serious' gaming rig. So spill...specs, please.

3. See above. If the program you are running can't use more than one core, then nope, not gonna happen.

[steve81]

I have run CPU-Z and this is what it says:

CPU Name Intel Pentium E2140
Mainboard ASUSTek Computer Inc, Model Leonite2,chipseti945G/GZ
Memory DDR2 1024 MBytes PC@-5300(333MHz)

I hope this is the info you need but I can give more on request. Thank you

[mjc]

Is this an HP or Compaq?

[steve81]

Oh sorry:p This is a HP Media Center running Vista Home Premium:)

[mjc]

OK...about the best you can do is max out the RAM and add a video card. It does have a PCIe 16x slot, so you could, conceivably, add in a pretty good card, but the PSU is going to be the limiting factor in which card you can add without voiding the warranty.

HP is usually pretty good about being able to add stuff without voiding the entire warranty. They may make you remove the add ins before proceding with tech support, but that is about all they'll do. But when you outright replace things, then they tend to have problems.

The chipset used is a bit 'dated' so your options as far as making it a great gaming machine are limited. From the looks of the specs, it looks like it is fairly adequate for its intended task...media play black with a smattering of light 'production'. It would serve well as general purpose/light office duty machine, but not a gaming platform.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01080268&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3463943

[steve81]

Yeah I realize the limitations and I'm hoping to build a gaming rig sometime. Speaking of RAM How much is the limit? And which is better,getting 2 more gig of (333MHz) so a total of 3gig.
Or replacing it all with 2gig of (800MHz), forgetting the warranty issue of course.

[mjc]

RAM won't really void anything, as long as you keep the original around...

But the system will take a max of 4 GB, but if you are running a 32-bit version of Windows, you may not be able to use the full 4 GB. If possible, go with 4 GB of the fastest the board will take...if not, 2 GB should speed things up a bit. I wouldn't go with any 800 at all, because the board maxes out at 667...unless the 800 is significantly cheaper. It just won't make much of a difference because the 'extra' speed isn't going to be used. The speed ratings on memory are what the memory is rated to run at as a maximum speed. Without overclocking it, it will run at what the rest of the system is forcing it to run at, regardless of what its rating is.