General

[quote=ironpenguin]Your processor is pretty much a root cause the way i see it. its single core, a good clock rate, but the fact its a single core works against it heavily.

Your OS is likely also going to need to be swapped at some point, XP is a solid OS, dont get me wrong, but its on the edge of its lifespan, vista is presently the minimum for most recent programs and games, and XP, while still receiving security updates now, within just over a year (to be exact, april 2014) is going to have the security updates ceased, so eventually XP is going to become an actual security hazard for your computer.

Also. personally, i dont like the concept of those so called "boosters" for computer performance. all i see it promising is basic computer maintenance and then false promises, along with the fact that some people end up having issues with them, its basically a can of worms i wouldnt exactly suggest opening, as most of what it can do i could probably do with more reliable tools that dont claim to give 300% boosts in internet speed. if a program says "install me and your computer will be supercharged", typically i view it as a ripoff and waste of time. if it sounds to good to be true, it is.

In the end, your options are rather limited...most parts in your computer probably arent salvagable, if you are willing to, you could always try and upgrade, but with what your computer already has, its gonna be difficult.[/quote]

You are the only other person I see who really knows what he's talking about...sigh.

Kids acting like they're experts at everything.

Your processor is pretty much a root cause the way i see it. its single core, a good clock rate, but the fact its a single core works against it heavily.

Your OS is likely also going to need to be swapped at some point, XP is a solid OS, dont get me wrong, but its on the edge of its lifespan, vista is presently the minimum for most recent programs and games, and XP, while still receiving security updates now, within just over a year (to be exact, april 2014) is going to have the security updates ceased, so eventually XP is going to become an actual security hazard for your computer.

Also. personally, i dont like the concept of those so called "boosters" for computer performance. all i see it promising is basic computer maintenance and then false promises, along with the fact that some people end up having issues with them, its basically a can of worms i wouldnt exactly suggest opening, as most of what it can do i could probably do with more reliable tools that dont claim to give 300% boosts in internet speed. if a program says "install me and your computer will be supercharged", typically i view it as a ripoff and waste of time. if it sounds to good to be true, it is.

In the end, your options are rather limited...most parts in your computer probably arent salvagable, if you are willing to, you could always try and upgrade, but with what your computer already has, its gonna be difficult.

Unless you have a really strong computer a lot of people are just lagging in maple atm.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri

[quote=xcampagnolox]I figured the same thing.
Lots of people who are running much faster processors than I am, like Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge are running Maple just fine.
Plus, I notice how my CPU usage sky rockets every now and then due to high processing environments (chan 1 fm, training, etc).
It's too bad my OS doesn't allow my to overclock this dinosaur.[/quote]

To answer your original question more completely:

Since you are already acknowledging that Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge runs Maplestory fine, there is no need to worry about a dedicated graphics card, since the integrated Intel HD 4000 is already enough. Unless you're like Zelkova and buys a $400 card just to play maplestory (I joke, I know Keith does a lot of rendering and other games as well)

Most laptops nowadays have Ivy Bridge or Sandy Bridge, clocked at anywhere from 2.0-3.6 GHz (depending on your included overclocking system). Desktops are a bit trickier, since you have to buy and install the processor separately (and, considering that your machine is ancient, you'll probably have to replace the motherboard as well since it doesn't have the right socket for the newer CPUs). Try and stay away from AMD fusion and stuff like that because they suck.

Let's talk RAM. RAM is somewhat important in running lots of tasks at one time. Considering that you're mostly (I'm assuming) going to be playing Maplestory, maybe some word processing and web surfing, 4GB should be plenty. You don't need to worry about the frequency rates of the RAM if you're not a hardcore gamer.

So to sum up:

Your problem is probably arising from varying degrees of suck within your computer. I suggest looking into getting a new computer altogether. Why not? It would cost the same to upgrade your current parts anyways.

[quote=GrammarJew]I'm going to post what I said in a thread yesterday.[/quote]

I figured the same thing.
Lots of people who are running much faster processors than I am, like Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge are running Maple just fine.
Plus, I notice how my CPU usage sky rockets every now and then due to high processing environments (chan 1 fm, training, etc).
It's too bad my OS doesn't allow my to overclock this dinosaur.

its not your computer, something is up with maple at the moment.

I'm going to post what I said in a thread yesterday.

[quote=GrammarJew]Being the tech savvy guy (or nerd, whatever you want to call me), I really want to rip apart your thread, and proceed to give you a lesson on how computers work.

But I'm not going to. Or I'll try to be brief.

Here's how it works: your CPU has a clock rate, which is the frequency at which it can handle calculations. This is measured in GHz. The higher the number, the faster your CPU can handle calculations, the more calculations it ca do per second, the faster your computer. A common misconception is that RAM is the only deciding factor in a computer's speed; it isn't. RAM is a storage module for the calculations that your CPU pumps out. It is cleared after every restart. When you don't have enough RAM, the CPU is forced to store its calculations in the hard drive, which is not as fast as RAM.

With that being said, 1GB RAM is hardly adequate for gaming these days. But anything over 4GB (for normal maplestory and web browsing) would be overkill. So to answer your question: get yourself a new processor, since I'm assuming that yours is more than three years old. While you're at it, grab a couple more GBs of RAM. Assuming that you only use your computer for maplestory, word processing, and web surfing, you will be fine.[/quote]

I've been getting a lot of lag spikes from monster spawns.

>lags in town
>lags while training
>never had this problem a few months back

Tons of people are having those problems, just to let you know. Hell, I'm experiencing the same symptoms and my computer ain't even old. Hime even [url=http://maplestory.nexon.net/Community/#%2Fshowthread.php%3F646483-Experiencing-High-Latency-Post-Here%26nxid%3D6]made a thread about it[/url] because the developers were trying to figure it out. tldr don't chuck your computer just yet.