Vostro 1500 poor performance help needed!

I have a Vostro 1500 that I got late last year. Specs are below...
WXGA Glossy 15.4"
1.4GHz C2D
1GB RAM
128MB 8400GS
160gb HDD
DVDRW
XP Home SP3

Now my problem is that it was horrendously overheating and apparently the HDD was dead so I got a new HDD. This is my second Vostro 1500 as the first one had a defective s-video port. Both laptops have an issue that they are both terrible in games. By terrible I mean 10-15 fps in games that my Pentium 3 would get 40-60 fps on.

Halo PC for example, which I saw some shots of from a forum member here get 80 fps with a cpu with just 200mhz more, I get about 10-15 on a good day. Settings even on low and resolution at 640 x 480. Any ideas? Dell refuses to help.

(Also by overheating I mean my headphone port has chipped off, a small bit of trim has also chipped off, and the heatsink on the left has become loose, and the fan seems to be useless.)

Thanks for the help!

 

call dell and get a replacement for your dell. If its overheating a lot, there may be a problem. I would also advise updating your ram to 2 gb or more. Though you may have XP, its still a good thing to have. Also, remember to upgrade your computer to the newest bios.

 

Hi! Thanks for the reply. Dell refuses to get me a replacement because in the system checkup (fn + pwr button while powering up) it claims not to over heat). I think the sensor is broken. I get better temps when the GPU is overclocked and under load. At stock speeds idle I have ~65C. Under load o/ced its 53C mind you, it doesn't help performance. I have tested the computer with 3GB (ram from friends computer DDR2 sodimm) and it still was sluggish. Bios is newest as of last week.

 

well, given your gpu and cpu performance, i dont think your games should be running that slow. since both your computers were "terrible at games" perhaps its a program thats damaging your computer's performance. It really should be better. Try doing a virus sweep/spyware sweep, and if that doesnt work, try reinstalling your os (thought i doubt it'll help). The video card seems to be the culprit in your video game problem. Try reinstalling the geforce 8400m gs driver, and maybe directx10. If that doesn't work, it may have to do with the fact that your videocard may have deteriorated (as of recent news, the geforce 8400m gs is the video card that has the "issues")

http://gizmodo.com/5023963/inquirer...-card-with-g84-or-g86-chipset-is-ready-to-die


also, if your going to try to get a replacement, try explaining that "my headphone port has chipped off, a small bit of trim has also chipped off, and the heatsink on the left has become loose, and the fan seems to be useless." If you talk about how the heat gets unbearable, and insist that the sensor is broken, you may get it checked out and perhaps replaced.