Q: I am using a HP Pavilion W1188D PC with a Pentium 4 3.20GHz processor running Microsoft Windows XP.
Every time I play a high-definition video or game, my PC will start experiencing a lag and start to overheat.
My graphics processing unit, an ATI Radeon x300, will also become very hot.
I added an extra fan to cool things down but it has no effect.
I recently upgraded my RAM to 2GB but the lag is still there.
Mohamed Idris Zakir Hussain
A: The "lag" you encountered may be caused by attempting to run high-definition videos or games at resolutions higher than what your ATI Radeon x300 can handle.
The x300 is almost four years old and although you did not elaborate, there are two versions of it.
Depending on the one you have, it can make a lot of difference to the smoothness of video playback and game graphics.
There is a 64-bit version and a 128-bit version.
The former has a limitation on the amount of data that can be computed.
Think of the numbers as pipes channelling water - with 128 pipes you can move twice as much and that will result in better performance and smoother graphics and videos.
To determine if the lagging is a result of resolution settings which are too high, simply configure your games to a low resolution like 800 x 600.
If the lag goes away, you know the problem is with hardware performance and you should consider upgrading your graphics card.
The new low- and mid-ranged graphics cards are able to outdo your current one by leaps and bounds and at a pocket-friendly price too.
Consider the Nvidia 9600 or ATI 4850 series of graphics cards.
You can find a number of shops here selling these for under $180 each.
Answer by Chester Chen, a recognised Microsoft Most Valuable Professional specialising in Windows Desktop Experience
This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.
