EQ2 is not a pc friendly game. When the developers wrote it, they expected for processors to be the main power focus as they were back then, and video cards to be small. Unfortunately, processors have stayed relatively slow compared to their earlier growth, and dual and quad cores have become the norm, while graphics cards have become the monsters.

Unfortunately EQ2 doesnt take advantage of these... so... sadly best way to make EQ2 function well is get ONE badass processor, and a Geforce 3... I keep hoping that the devs will fix this...