Ran GW fine, now it SUCKS!

Here are my specs:

Manufacturer:
Gateway

Processor:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3400+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz

Memory:
896MB RAM

Hard Drive:
195 GB

Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 - Integrated

Monitor:
Plug and Play Monitor

Sound Card:
Realtek HD Audio output

Speakers/Headphones:
Default

Keyboard:
USB Root Hub

Mouse:
USB Root Hub

Mouse Surface:
None

Operating System:
Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100427-1636)

So I have had Guild Wars installed on my PC ever since 2006 or so, it ran fine and then I stopped playing.

During this time my PC went crazy - sometimes the whole PC monitor went to a green tint as if the video card decided that the RED color was evil, lol, basically the red filter went crazy.

Then a few weeks later it went normal, then it went back to green where ti stayed for much of 2010 - then around Nov. 2010 the color came back to normal.

During all this time though, I was never able to play any games on the PC, unless they were online games, hell even the audio was crazy - if I wanted to listen to music or browse YouTube the CPU usage would skyrocket and the audio would start stuttering.

Ever since the color came back in Nov 2010 - I noticed that my audio problems were gone - but video problems still there, if I play a mkv or mp4 file the screen fills up with jagged lines.

So, I would like to see if any one can help me out - I played Guild Wars with no problems in this PC, and now it is crappy as hell - I move my mouse and it takes forever for the screen to follow it and sometimes it goes invisible (when GW.exe is open)

Once I close it it goes to normal, not even GameBooster helps me out

Thank you

ANy help guys? (40+ views in here btw)

Few things you can check/do:

• Defrag your HD
• Test your monitor on another machine (or test another monitor on this machine)
• Check your temps (I use SpeedFan)
• Check your performance/memory while GW is running
• Make sure your drivers are up to date

Unfortunately it sounds like your hardware (possibly graphics unit) is wearing out...

I have done a defrag - recently as 1 day ago

Monitor is fine

I used SpeedFan and CPU temp was 51 C - pretty hot

and Drivers are all update.

and yeah it does seem that my graphics card wants to die on me.

Well, let's clear one thing up here: you do not have a graphics card - what you have is an integrated chipset which is built into your motherboard. If it is dying then you will have to replace the motherboard, and considering the age of your system, you are far better off replacing the entire computer.

It does seem as though your integrated graphics is dying - specifically, overheating. You should open up the computer and thoroughly clean the dust out of it. Make sure any and all fans are working. Pay particular attention to the motherboard chipset cooler(s).

If it's still bad, there is a good possibility that you could alleviate the problem by getting an actual discrete video card and disabling the on-board video in the BIOS (setup). Almost any newer card will at least be as good as the on-board.

I am work as a PC Repairman, and for the love of Christ, I can't fix my PC at all, every one else's they're a piece of cake, while mine is a S.O.B

I think I will get a cheap video card - and disable on board (as said by Quaker) and see how it goes as getting a new computer now is out of the question since I don't need a new PC now and also the money is just too much when I have an overseas travel coming up in 2 months.

@Quaker - I use my PC with the case open, as some times the main fan will decide to go on BESERK mode and it sounds like a freaking jet engine - usually it comes on around times when there is heavy CPU usage and some times at random.

I cleaned few months back and I remember that the noise stopped, I will clean it again and see what happens to the temperature.

Having the case opened can sometimes mess with your airflow. Also, since the computer is quite old, have you tried changing the thermal paste, it may have degraded depending on the quality of the original paste used.

I had the case closed but the airflow in this machine is horrible due to the poorly constructed vents.

as far as thermal grease, nope I have not applied it - since I don't like to tinker with hardware that much - hell this would not be the right time for me to break my PC lol while trying to put grease between the CPU FAN and processor.