Upgrade on current processor?

[Tobitron]

Sup dudes, I really, REALLY want to make my computer run faster, I do ALOT of gaming and find that my processor gets slightly buggered in some circumstances. My specs:

Operating system: Microsoft Windows XP Proffessional (5.1, Build 2600)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dell DXP051
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A00
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00 GHZ (2 CPUs)
Memory: 3070MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Graphics Card: 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT

Any other suggestions on how to boost my gaming performance will be greatly appreciated

[vbironchef]

Go on Dell web site to see what upgrades you can do to your computer. If you can't find what you are looking for there, then I recommend that you build your own computer with the parts that you want. That way you can upgrade parts as needed in the future. I would say start with a good power supply and a good case. Learn how to overclock and save some money.

[vbironchef]

You could try to upgrade to xp service pack 2. Run a program called decrapper. It takes all the preloaded stuff off your computer. Another program that can help is cc cleaner. This program cleans your temp files and more stuff. Make sure you don't have a bunch of programs running in the background at start up. Make sure you clean the inside of your case to keep temps. down.

[kappage]

By looking at the Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00 GHZ (2 CPUs) it is a Pentium D, also your running 3 gig of ram? It would most likely be better if u took out 1 stick so that two can Run in dual channel, you just need to know which one to take out. Most boards have it colour Coded.

[geokilla]

By looking at the Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00 GHZ (2 CPUs) it is a Pentium D, also your running 3 gig of ram? It would most likely be better if u took out 1 stick so that two can Run in dual channel, you just need to know which one to take out. Most boards have it colour Coded.

It could also be a Pentium 4 with HT can it not?

@OP, listen to what others said, but I'm not sure about decrapper since I never used it before. Run Ccleaner as well to delete unnecessary stuff. Also try overclocking your CPU using Clockgen and your graphics card using rivatuner. Try to get as much performance out of your CPU as you can while still keeping your computer stable. Maybe you can do a format as well and just reinstall the Dell drivers after the format. This way, you'll know for sure that you'll be removing unnecessary stuff from your computer.

Start saving up some money, and get about $800 if you want to get a midrange computer. Refer to here for some hardware recommendations. Of course, the $800 to $900 budget doesn't include anything like keyboard or monitor or XP or whatever you need, just hardware.