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[gurra_geban]

as it is now, my computer is extremely laggy when running df, and sometimes i get down to 70 fps when just starting at a location...
i think this is because of my motherboard which has had a "broken" power conduit for quite a while now and that my computer is poorly updated with drivers. otherwise i have a fairly fast processor (2,2 ghz dual core) and a pair of fine 512 corsair rams.

25th of this month im going to upgrade, and get rid of the noisy motherboard. im getting a gigabtye board with an AM2+ socket and a AMD 6000 dual core to put in there (3 ghz) and then hopefully DF will fly on 100 fps until the nobles arrive...

except from the new board and processor (which ive already decided on), what tips are there to make DF run more efficiently on my computer? ive heard that the graphics settings (mainly OpenGL) of the computer are to play a big part in the games performance...

[Idles]

You do need a basic graphics card in order for OpenGL to use hardware rendering and not murder your processor.  With the future update that will allow custom screen sizes, it'll push a graphics card a little harder, because it's got to render more quads per second.  That said, even after the update, a graphics card from the last 3 years will ensure that your processor is the bottleneck, rather than the graphics card.

Also, because DF currently isn't optimized for multiple core machines, it's smarter to get a faster clock speed (e.g. 3.2Ghz dual core) rather than get more cores at a lower speed (e.g. 2.5Ghz quad core).

[Frobozz]

25th of this month im going to upgrade, and get rid of the noisy motherboard. im getting a gigabtye board with an AM2+ socket and a AMD 6000 dual core to put in there (3 ghz) and then hopefully DF will fly on 100 fps until the nobles arrive...

except from the new board and processor (which ive already decided on), what tips are there to make DF run more efficiently on my computer?

In the end it is up to you to decide what processor you go with. But I would recommend going with a Core 2 Duo over an AMD Athlon X2. The reason being is that, as it stands now, the Core 2 Duo is superior in speed to the Athlon X2. If you have the money, I would recommend the Core 2 Duo E8400. It is near the top of Intel's current dual core offerings.

As for a motherboard for it, I'm not really sure but I did find this one while browsing around.

[Tormy]

25th of this month im going to upgrade, and get rid of the noisy motherboard. im getting a gigabtye board with an AM2+ socket and a AMD 6000 dual core to put in there (3 ghz) and then hopefully DF will fly on 100 fps until the nobles arrive...

except from the new board and processor (which ive already decided on), what tips are there to make DF run more efficiently on my computer?

In the end it is up to you to decide what processor you go with. But I would recommend going with a Core 2 Duo over an AMD Athlon X2. The reason being is that, as it stands now, the Core 2 Duo is superior in speed to the Athlon X2. If you have the money, I would recommend the Core 2 Duo E8400. It is near the top of Intel's current dual core offerings.

As for a motherboard for it, I'm not really sure but I did find this one while browsing around.

Yeah I also have that E8400, its really one of the best, and not expensive at all.

[Skeeblix]

DF sucks up all the CPU cycles it can while it's running, so don't expect the rest of your computer to run very well while playing it. It's totally normal.

And 70 FPS isn't low. At all. In fact, I'm shaking my fist at you, because I have to play on a shitty Dell laptop that averages ~20-40 fps ON EMBARK.

So be thankful for what you have, some of us can barely play. 

[Jay]

DF sucks up all the CPU cycles it can while it's running, so don't expect the rest of your computer to run very well while playing it. It's totally normal.

Not.  99% of CPUs available in the last year are dualcore or more.  DF can only use one of these as mentioned earlier.
Therefore unless you have a horrible singlecore CPU, you can still do other things.

[dyze]

when choosing graphics card, i'd more go with what you need it for other than DF. as said, df only need the most basic gpu to run.

[Frobozz]

when choosing graphics card, i'd more go with what you need it for other than DF.

Go with any of the 9th generation GeForce cards and you'll be set. For reference, since you're using an 8600GT, the 9500GT is basically on par with the 8600GTS but comes 512MB memory. The 9600GT is double the 9500GT. If you like a silent system, I'd recommend this one. Its nicely priced too.

DF can only use one of these as mentioned earlier.

Actually this isn't technically accurate except in the sense that Dwarf Fortress only uses one thread for the game logic. However, as Windows task manager shows, it is running multiple threads. Whether this is caused by Windows, Dwarf Fortress, or FMOD I don't know (though I suspect FMOD is using at least one itself internally).