I'm using a 2G P4, 1G of RAM, and an ATI Radeon 9800Pro (128) with absolutely no problems even using "huge" unit settings. OK, it does tend to lag a little when I'm just moving troops around and go to the super fast mode, but other than that, it's just fine. You may want to check your hard drive; see if it needs to be defraged. Size of the drive doesn't matter much, as long as you have everything orderly. But the more stuff on your drive, the worse your performance will be. It all is "read" during processing. If defragging doesn't help, and if you have a decent card, you may want to try using a separate HD just for gaming, or partition the one you have. That can be a real pain, however. HD's can get really gummed-up if you store music, games you aren't playing, etc., on them. So I just remove everything I'm not using. If you store a lot of junk, consider removable storage. You might also want to take a look at some of the other game settings, such as, unit detail, building detail, etc. What about your sound card? That, too uses a lot of memory. Might want to tone those things down a bit. You also might want to check your computer and see what else you have running in the background while you're playing. Again, I have just about everything turned off from my config startup screen. If I decide to go on the net, then I'll turn on my firewall, instant messanger, etc., manually. You will be amazed to find all of the stuff Bill Gates thinks is absolutely essential for you to be running. Little of it is. Just makes life easier for the typical computer user. Most PC users don't play 3D games, and few game online. Those of us who do must work around the settings prescribed for the typical user. It's disgusting how much memory those little-used programs consume. These are just obvious places to start. It'll keep you busy for a while.