how to you speed up your game (feb, 2010)

[CURTO]

yeah i read that sticky thread about how to speed up stuff but its a bit outdated
could someone quickly explain which setup is the best with my setup
like what graphics plugin do i use (DX9 or OGL) etc etc what options do i turn off
oh and also, i seem to only have low fps in metroid prime games..
smash bros melee is fine lol
(and im talking about gamecube games if that matters)

EDIT: im using rev 5039 with windows xp sp3