hardware problem !? help needed

[omar shaaban]

will the main problem that when i run games it slows down not as my friend the game is need for speed:
my computer:
win xp service pack 2
1gb ram
Pentium 4 , 2.8 GHz
HDD 160
graphics card:nvidia geforce 5500 fx ,memory: 256
mother board ?
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my friends computer:
win xp service pack 2
1gb ram
Pentium 4,3 GHz
HDD 160
graphics card:nvidia geforce 6600 , memory: 256
mother board ?
/////
so does the speed of the game at my friend is faster because his graphics card
and does the mother board effect the speed!!?

and also in empire earth2 THE game works slow!! but i am suitable to her system requirements !

here is here RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
- NVIDIA(R) GeForce(TM) 4 or DirectX(R) 9.0c-compliant 128 MB 3D video card with hardware T&L and pixel shader support
- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP operating system
- 2.2 GHz Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 or AMD(R) Athlon(TM) or faster processor
- 512 MB RAM or more
- 1.5 GB of uncompressed hard disk space for game files
- DirectX(R) 9.0c (included)
- DirectX(R)-compatible sound card and speakers or headphones
- 24X or faster CD-ROM drive
- Microsoft(R) compatible mouse and keyboard
please help me because i will buy a new hardware and want to know what does affect the speed?

[BlindSide]

His Graphics card and his CPU are superior to yours. The motherboard can effect the speed but it is usually dependant on the platform, eg, A good CPU and RAM needs a good motherboard so you probably have one that suits your requirements already.

Several things to consider if things are running way too slow is graphics drivers, and game configuration. Make sure the drivers are up to date and lower the resolution or something (Or disable shadows) to speed it up a bit.

The 5500 is quite a bit slower than 6600 if I recall correctly, the other things like the ram, processor etc will not effect your game speed much at all compared to graphics card because they are both pretty up to date.

[lostclimategames]

well the graphics card, is pretty much it, but also ram plays a huge factor as well.

[kburkhart84]

The MOBO affects the speed mainly in the types of processors and RAM it supports. So if you have the processor and ram that is good, then your motherboard if fine because if it wasn't, your computer wouldn't turn on due to not supporting the processor and RAM. I agree, the graphics card is the biggest one to update. The drivers and game settings also have a lot to do with it. I have an ATI RADEON 9200(Crap) in my desktop and used to play Dune 2000. I couldn't play it fully cranked but with lower detail levels and resolution, it played perfect. In reality, I couldn't tell much difference in this case anyway, and of course I wanted full speed gameplay. I don't know where my card falls compared to your NVidia, but your card isn't so far behind that you can't use it. Though, I would update it if I could. You best bet when you get a chance might be a new computer. The Core2Duo processors are great and at the same speed are still faster. My new Core processor at 1.6 runs much faster than my 1.8(actually 2.5, but due to MOBO HP used....) it still runs much faster on single threaded apps. Obviously dual core would be faster, but even for just one core, it is still much faster.

[omar shaaban]

thnaks guys i figured it is the graphics card!