system really slow FC3 KDE3.3 (suspect RAM)?

[linuxdork]

I have a desktop that I built from used parts and I have had a few different OS running on it (Gentoo, SuSE, FC4 test2, FC3, Win98) and it seems to be running abnormally slow. I have an AMD Athlon 1Ghz CPU, and 384MB RAM. Normally the memory gets used pretty well in caching and buffering, leaving very little (abt. 30MB or so) free. I have 165MB (43%) free and I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to speed things up a bit?

[w5set]

one suggestion--
click the ref hat(start)
system settings
server settings
services (service management)
and turn off all uneeded or unused services (stop) and then (save) them
be careful turning off services there though.
if you are not running a web server you don't need httpd
if you don't have a samba server running --off
nfs--off
just make sure first--ask--goggle it--before turning off and then hitting the Save button.