Advice Needed

Hi everyone, I need some help. Here are my computer specs.

Dell Dimension 4700
Windows XP Home Edition
2.80 GHz Pentium 4
256 MB RAM
5 GB Free space
Radeon X300 128MB Graphics Card
Broadband Internet (Brighthouse)

I don't know what the problem is. I run GW on the lowest possible settings and it still lags during PvP matches and after leaving towns. Since the Dell is better than the recommended specs everywhere except RAM I thought it would run pretty well. I would appreciate advice on what I should do or buy to make it run faster and look better. Thanks in advance

2 things come to mind, you need more ram at least 512mb(1gig would be ideal) and a better graphics card. Sadly your ram is barely enough to run windows and your graphics card is woefully underpowered..

Tell us if you have a budget, then we can recommend some changes

better graphics card?bah
im running of a 64 mb, and im fine

My dad and I bought the X300 just for GW four months ago; there's no way I'm getting a new one. I'll probably get the 1GB memory card though. If I got it how much would the graphics improve? I run GW at lowest quality and 800x600 resolution right now. Would I be able to play at 1280x1024 if I got the Card?

My friend has a X300 and it runs GW fine...where your problem is: The Ram!
You need to bump it to at least 512Mb....I would go for 1Gb.

Your video card is weak..however, with more ram you will see a speed increase in the game. You will still have to dumb down your graphics in the game of course.

Thanks for the advice everyone, it really helped
I just bought a 1GB memory card and hopefully the computer will stop lagging and I can improve the image quality.

You might not be able to increase the resolution or image quality too much, as that will probably be more of a video card issue (you may be able to up it a bit...it's not the system RAM that's going to be the problem with resolution -- it's the processing power of the GPU that will be a limiter in your case). However, 256MB RAM makes Guild Wars lag a bit and it makes the load times between areas very slow. As Warrior Dood said, you really need at least 512MB for it to run well. 1GB should do nicely.

I'd also suggest, lowering your resolution if your still lagging, so your Graphics card doesn't have to power it as much.

So did you buy a single stick of 1Gb of ram? Most computers today are "Dual Channel". Meaning that they get the most benefit with running in equal sized pairs. For example: 2x512Mb sticks to add up to 1Gb of ram is faster then just running one stick of 1Gb ram. You can go to www.crucial.com and run the system checker. It will tell you exactly what you are running in your system.

I got 2 of the 512MB Memory Cards. I installed them today and the improvement is incredible! I can now run GW on the highest resolution and medium quality without any lag at all. I am so glad I bought the cards, thanks for your time and advice everyone!