Video Card

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob L
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob L

I've got an older 200 MHz computer that I keep in a vacation home that my
wife and I use occasionally. Large MS Word files with tables are hard to
edit and scroll very slowly.. I know the computer is slow but could I
improve things by adding a newer video card?

The current card is an ATI Mach 64 VT3 with 4 megs of memory. I'm not
intending on buying a new card but rather a used one.

Thanks in advance
 
I've got an older 200 MHz computer that I keep in a vacation home that my
wife and I use occasionally. Large MS Word files with tables are hard to
edit and scroll very slowly.. I know the computer is slow but could I
improve things by adding a newer video card?

The current card is an ATI Mach 64 VT3 with 4 megs of memory. I'm not
intending on buying a new card but rather a used one.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
A new video card probably won't help at all. You are seeing a slow
processor with probably not much memory pulling large documents off of a
slow hard drive. More memory might help, if your old system can take it. If
it doesn't have 64mb of ram, up it to that. More than that might not show
any improvement because of limits on what these old systems could cache.

Time to find a cheap replacement system for the vacation home, or get a
laptop to take with you.

JT
 
I must adhere to this view, the CPU cant cope in time to process and send
output signals ... note that even though a faster graphics card can improve
somewhat the situation, in as far as the cpu has to deliver the data the
problem stays ..

My advise : dont do big word files, especially while on vacation ;-)

HJ
 
JT said:
A new video card probably won't help at all. You are seeing a slow
processor with probably not much memory pulling large documents off of a
slow hard drive. More memory might help, if your old system can take it. If
it doesn't have 64mb of ram, up it to that. More than that might not show
any improvement because of limits on what these old systems could cache.

Time to find a cheap replacement system for the vacation home, or get a
laptop to take with you.

JT
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. The computer has 128 megs of ram installed so it
shouldn't be a lack of memory that is causing the problem. I guess it must
be the slow processor speed. By the way, the OS is Windows 98 SE.
 
get rid of your background programs if any are running, including
screensavers.

if there's nothing on it you need, wipe the hard drive and reinstall
windows. Always works w/the kid's pcs at home.
just make sure you've got drivers.
 
Bob L wrote:

Thanks for your reply. The computer has 128 megs of ram installed so it
shouldn't be a lack of memory that is causing the problem.
Click to expand...

On those old systems -too much- ram can be a problem. Many only cached the
first 64 meg and anything over that can make the system sluggy.
 
Ralph Mowery said:
If this is an ATX computer you might want to look at replacign the whole
mother board with something like an ECS board that has it all on one board.
I was in the same situation you ere in with a 500 mc system. I found an ECS
board that has the processor soldered on and vidio and sound also. It runs
about 1 ghz actual speed but is rated as a 1.4 computer. I would not
recommend it as a main computer but as a cheep upgrade on a computer that is
not used much might be worth looking into.
Think I paied about $ 85 for the board.
Click to expand...

It's an ATX computer so maybe I'll look into doing this. The key for me is
not to spend much money on this computer since new machines are so cheap.
 
I've got an older 200 MHz computer that I keep in a vacation home that my
wife and I use occasionally. Large MS Word files with tables are hard to
edit and scroll very slowly.. I know the computer is slow but could I
improve things by adding a newer video card?

The current card is an ATI Mach 64 VT3 with 4 megs of memory. I'm not
intending on buying a new card but rather a used one.
Click to expand...

If this is an ATX computer you might want to look at replacign the whole
mother board with something like an ECS board that has it all on one board.
I was in the same situation you ere in with a 500 mc system. I found an ECS
board that has the processor soldered on and vidio and sound also. It runs
about 1 ghz actual speed but is rated as a 1.4 computer. I would not
recommend it as a main computer but as a cheep upgrade on a computer that is
not used much might be worth looking into.
Think I paied about $ 85 for the board.
 
Back
Top