Update needed

[edyzmedieval]

Maxxed out? My friend I fear that even if you owned an Intel Duo Core or AMD dual core X2 (4600 or faster) processor AND an ultra-high end ATI or Nvidia card you would still not be able to run MTW2 maxxed out and running at a smooth framerate (especially with Huge sized units).

Anyway I assume your system is PCI-ex and not AGP? An AGP system would severely limit your video card upgrade path.

How much are you willing to spend?

First and foremost you need more system RAM because 512megs is inadequate for all state of the art games. Since you have 512megs I will assume that you have two 256meg sticks of RAM in your system. Hopefully you'll have another RAM slot free. If so consider purchasing a 512meg stick of RAM or better yet, a 1gig stick. Regardless of whether you will be replacing the old ram sticks or simply adding another stick make absolutely sure you wind up with 1gig of RAM or more. You should notice an immediate speed increase in games once you increase your system RAM.

Secondly you'll need a video card with alot more 3D horsepower than that X700. I don't know how much you're willing to spend or how much your existing power supply can handle but the brand new ATI X1950 Pro cards are fast, cost effective and consume less power than other cards in their performance/price category. The 256meg X1950 Pro goes for $200 which is a great deal. Powercolor makes a 512meg version of the X1950 Pro that costs roughly $50 more and sports an extremely quiet and efficient cooler as well.

I ran M2TW maxxed out(normal unit size) and it had a bad framerate but you could play it. So, more RAM and some more video power can do the trick.
I'm willing to spend and hopefully I can get a nVidia 7950GX2 with 1024MB so I can finish the deal once and for all. 3x512MB DDR2 RAM coupled with these video beast should do the trick.

Thank you for the program. I found out some VERY interesting things which made me very happy.

PCI Express 16x
4 RAM slots... only 1 occupied!!!
DDR2 RAM
L2 cache 2048KB

And this didn't make me happy: L1 cache 16KB.

I have a ASUS P5GD2-X motherboard. How good is it?