Why is my system so slow?

My system should be able to get 50-60 on games no problem, but it doesn't really matter what game it is it always sticks around 30-40 and i have no idea why. I can't even get 50 fps on Unreal Tournament 2004!

Heres my specs:
Graphics card: HIS Ati Radeon 4850 Iceq4 Turbo
CPU: Amd Athlon 64 Dual Core E4850 2.5ghz Mutiplier x 12.5 Bus Speed: 200mz
Ram: 2GbDDR2 DRAM Frequency: 357mhz
Mobo: Gigabyte Technology GA-MA78GM-S2H
OS: Windows XP SP2 Pro

I know my processer isn't that good, but i really doubt it would kill my performance that much, my friend with the same OS, same ram, and same graphics card can get way better performance than me, but he has a good CPU.

Can someone please help? thanks

Make sure your drivers are up to date,

Also what resolutions are you playing your games at.

Drivers are up to date, i'm playing the games at 1280x1024 or 1024x768

Those speeds arent uncommon for those resolutions. Have you tried decreasing the detail.

Your cpu is a 45watt cpu, its not very strong at all, There are some laptop cpu's that draw more power than that.

1 more gig of ram at 3gigs would give you a small boost in performance, but other than that your options are to keep the lowest details ingame or upgrade your cpu.

Another thing you might try is decreasing your color quality from 32 bit to 16 bit.

My PSU is a sparklepower 400W btw, i shoulden't have to lower the settings though. My friends that have almost the same specs as me can play anything on highest with decent FPS..

Can someone help?

Sorry, the only thing I can suggest is turning down the color quality, I've done that on my system and it made a huge difference. Hve you scanned for viruses, etc.? Another thing would be to post your friends computer specs for comparison purposes, it's not just the ram, graphics and OS that matter.

Graphics: HIS Ati Radeon 4850
CPU: Intel dual core 3.3GHz (not sure of the exact name)
PSU: Sparklepower 400w
2gig ram

Your cpu is ideal for basic computing, home theatre stuff, low heat output, its not powerful at all. Yes the cpu is making the difference, if he has any recent dual core at 3.3, its a wolfdale cpu more than likely and they are notorious for some of the latest gaming rigs.

To be fair your cpu is about 60% as powerful as his is, maybe more, depending on which intel dual core he has

So if i get a new CPU i should be good to go? a quad core maybe?

I'd be concerned going quad, your psu isnt even what I'd call midgrade quality, and before you think quad you need to post which motherboard you have to see what processor upgrades you can make, then we can go from there.

My motherboard is Gigabyte Technology GA-MA78GM-S2H

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103678

probably the best dual core you could get for your mobo. cheap too

Hmm.. do you think it can handle games well? this processor was only 60$ aswell, and it sucks lol

your processor is made for low power systems. I'd suggest on getting another gig of ram to maximize performance, if you want a triple core I can show you some of those.

Are you tight on money? If you are this is the cpu for you, but if you're willing to spend some extra dough I can show you better.

Hmm well if i get a new CPU will i HAVE to get a new psu?

Still don't know what to do, my CPU woulden't slow my comp down to the point that really old games like San Andreas, SWAT 4, and Call of Duty 1 go to a staggering 20 fps at times, what is the problem???

I am a heavy gamer. I have a beast of a computer that I have put in 5 thousand. I wanted to tell you when I played games on it the fps sat around 60 and dropped to 20. It took me awhile to figure out the problem but I eventually did. I think my problem may be the same problem you are having. With most games they have a consol command built into the game to change the max limit of your fps. Especially for call of duty games the set fps in the game is low. You can click on

` button which is just above the tab button. When you click this your consol command will show at the top. You can put in a command to change your max FPS rate and min FPS rate.

I think for call of duty the command is /cl_maxfps

It should show a low number like 60. change it to 249. The max is usually 250 but i set mine one down so it does not cause problems.

You should beable to access your consol command for pritty much all the games you own so check it out. I will get the commands for your call of duty and the other games you posted and I will give them to you.

This should help.

ur ram frequency is quite low