Hello DAL,
I'm looking to get more performance out of my machine.

I have done most of the small tweaks I can think of. Turned on HyperThreading, page file, cleaning, defragment HDD, etc. I'm running a dual display (monitor & TV (S-Video). The problem is, is my CPU is maxing out even if I change process priorities. I can turn on TuneUp Utilities 2010's turbo mode on (it changes everything to basic operations like themes etc. so it saves some CPU usage) but it doesn't help enough to make a big difference. I would upgrade my processor but my motherboard does not support dual or quad core type processors and upgrading my motherboard is not an option at the moment. I was thinking RAM, but my RAM is not maxing out so I didn't think that would help. I don't know much about RAM, I have 2GB's currently (Two 1 GB RAM sticks). Would I have to get two 2GB's or could I add two more 1GB sticks. I have 4 slots. I don't know how to tell if a certain RAM stick is compatible. If your head is still in one piece, meaning it didn't explode after that last bit.

What would you suggest?

Thanks,
3iz

D-A-L Computer Hardware Scan Results

I don't like the sound of your cpu staying maxed out. I suggest that you read this & post another thread here to be sure that it isn't malware. As for a processor, if you know the socket number you can try to search for a faster one of the same socket at someplace like ebay. What resources you need really depends upon what you do with your computer. Perhaps if you are playing graphics intensive games and the cpu is maxing out then perhaps you need a more powerful graphics card. I think that if you have xp 2 gb should be good enough for most people especially if you control what 3rd party programs run. Vista on the other hand is a different story. If you run a lot of memory intensive programs such as virtual machines, large games, etc. on Vista than you might need more.

I don't have any malware or infections. I might have some pointless process's running that I can't determine that are sucking up some CPU. I run pretty intensive applications for example I'll be playing PES 2010 in windowed on my main while also watching live streaming from Justin.tv on my tv. I can do this smoothly if I'm in TuneUp Turbo mode. Its right on the line of maxing my CPU.

Running Process's
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7501/80039416.png

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