Finished building my system, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be as fast as it should be. I'm not looking to overclock it, just get the best performance I can safely. Here's what is in the system:

ECS/Elitegroup GeForce7050M-M v1.0
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
Supertalent 1G 667mhz DDR2 Double-sided (but I believe somewhere in the bios it stated single-sided, ???)(soon to add another 2G or replace with 2G 800mhz, which would be best?)
Hitachi HDS721616PLA380 SATA 160G HDD
Asus 18X DVD-RW
EVGA GeForce 7600GS w/512Mb PCI-E
USB internal multi-card reader

Few questions: First, do the NVidia motherboard drivers interfere with the drivers for the 7600GS? I thought about uninstalling the drivers for the onboard video before installing the (latest) drivers for the 7600GS, but it's all bundled in with the motherboard control software.

Second, I am leery of messing with the settings for the motherboard without knowing exactly what I'm doing. What are the optimal (non-overclocked) settings for this system?

Third, I know that there is a 2.0 (or higher) version of this motherboard. Is that merely BIOS versions or is it actually an improved board?

Fourth: (okay, I know this is getting a bit long here) The onboard sound is okay for the two speakers I have now, but I've read several reports that it is seriously lacking for quality audio, and I am planning on upgrading my speakers to a 5.1 soon. Nothing fancy, but I do like my music, is there a decent affordable sound card recommended?

I'm not looking for a hardcore gaming computer here, the biggest system-hog game I play is Neverwinter Nights 2 Gold, and I really don't care if everything is at the highest resolution as long as it looks ok and plays quickly. I have way more than the "recommended" system requirements for NWN2, and yet the game is still jerky to the point of unplayability regardless of video settings. I'm running an old GEM 17" CRT (49-60Mhz) until I save up for a decent flatscreen, so ultra-high resolution doesn't matter right now. I also need to know whether the settings need to be changed in the BIOS, NVidia Control Panel, or other program/area.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

The wrong thing here is not the performance, is that you are claiming that it's a NEW BUILD! How come you didn't get a Core2Duo E8200, 2 GBs of RAM, a 320 HDD, and an ATI 3850 (just to put a nice and cheap cheap example)?

Neverwinter Nights 2 is a performance disaster i tell you, i have it. No matter what pc you have (...) it runs ranging from bad to barely acceptable. You don't have to blame your system. Also, your video card is very weak.

Lower the resolution of AND the quality settings, especially shadows and lightning.

Well, for $250 for all of the components, I couldn't complain. So far I'm not really impressed with the 7050M-M, and I really, really don't like ATI cards. The 7600GS was the best video card I could afford right now, and it beats the crap out of using the onboard. I'd love to go out and get a "black edition" AMD, a nice Abit board, and a Geforce 8800, but this is what I've got, and all of the components are new except for the video card, and it works so I'm happy. I'm just trying to get the best performance out of what I've got. Upgrading components is an option, just not right now.

ECS Elitegroup GeForce7050M-M, does anyone know if this board can use high density ram? Most ram I looked at are at those sites that claim no mobo works with high density ram so they can sell the more expensive kind, of course.