Help with video card upgrade for WoW

[melny]

Recently I purchased the Dell 2405, which I think is a great monitor. I currently have an Athlon 64 4000+ with 1GB of Crucial ram, but I'm using a Geforce 6600 video card with 128 megs of ram.

The video card performs well for the most part, however it struggles to keep up in World of Warcraft at 1920X1200 with features turned on. Basically to run at this resolution I have to keep terrain distance at a minimum and turn off AF and other features that make the game look good.

Ideally I would like to wait until ATI's R520 comes out, but not if it will become mainstream only later this year or early next year and cost $700.00 like I have recently read. Thus, I'm thinking of upgrading my card now with an x800xl for about $300.00 and then purchasing the R520 next year when it's readily available and prices come down.

My question is will the x800xl allow me to play WoW at maximum resolution with features turned on or do I need an x850xt or Geforce 6800 Ultra to do this?

 

[flightlesscake]

Wow is not a graphically intense game. I wouldn't upgrade. The models are a joke they have about 2 polygons. There is no graphical feature to gain in wow by upgrading a 6600 to a 6800. They both will run wow equally.

 

[bcterps]

Originally posted by: flightlesscake
Wow is not a graphically intense game. I wouldn't upgrade. The models are a joke they have about 2 polygons. There is no graphical feature to gain in wow by upgrading a 6600 to a 6800. They both will run wow equally.

The 6800GT is about 14% faster than the 6600GT according to Anand's article. It may make enough of a difference for you to consider it, although th article is based on 1600x1200 res, a higher res might show a bigger difference between the 2 cards.

 

[flightlesscake]

Blizzard made the wow engine for maximum cash. It runs on geforce 2's easily. 6600 and 6800 will run wow's simple low-poly with full screen bloom added equally. Maybe 5% difference. Other games.... yeah, but not Wow.

 

[Malladine]

you're fine with what you have melny, no upgrade necessary at all.

 

[Concillian]

I use an overclocked x800pro, which is very close in speed to a stock x800xl, only slightly faster.

I run 1600x1200 with LOD off (higher quality than LOD on), terrain distance at middle (very little visual difference between middle and max), and AF and all other options at max (I did not enable the full screen glow). My system is able to handle that quite well, I rarely have slowdowns attributable to the video cards. Of course I still have issues when I hearth into a city or something that everyone has as the new information loads, and server issues, but nothing I could recognize as a video card issue. If I turn on the FPS counter, I get in the ~45 FPS range or so with dips into the 30s at times.

1920x1200 though is 20% more pixels, which will tax things a bit more. I'd say the x800xl may need to be turned down some over my current settings, but not a whole lot. Certainly nowhere near where you are now. The very high end cards could probably do it will all settings maxed, or maybe terrain distance in the middle, but you will probably be happy enough with an x800xl. You probably won't have ALL settings maxed, but enough that the experience will be significantly better than what you have now.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: flightlesscake
Blizzard made the wow engine for maximum cash. It runs on geforce 2's easily. 6600 and 6800 will run wow's simple low-poly with full screen bloom added equally. Maybe 5% difference. Other games.... yeah, but not Wow.

At 1920x1200 res? Not bloody likely.

Also if you read through the comments of the Anandtech article, Anand mentions that the average of the 6600GT so close to the 6800GT doesn't tell the whole story, as the 6600GT slowed down in parts that the 6800GT did not. This suggests that while the average framerate may be acceptable, the minimum frame rate might not be.

More datat suggesting this would be a larger issue at 1920x1200 is if you look at how much each card loses at each resolution.

The 6600GT loses 11.8% going from 800x600 --> 1024x768
it loses another 11.0% going from 1024x768 --> 1280x768
then a larger 26.6% going from there to 1600x1200

Compare that to the mid-high end cards:
going from 800x600 --> 1024x768 the 6800GT loses 6.1% and the x800xl loses 12%
1024x768 --> 1280x768 the 6800GT loses 10.5% and x800xl loses 10.6%
up to 1600x1200 the 6800GT loses 21.6% and the x800xl loses 22.8%

so the mid-high end cards lose less framerate as resolution increases

the very high end cards are even flatter, going from ~2.5% to ~10.5% to ~17.5%

In other words, the gap between the 6600GT and the higher end cards widens as resolution increases.

 

[flightlesscake]

Umm the OP asked a very specific question about a certain game. Did you even read it? The simple fact of the matter is that to upgrade from a 6600 to anything else just to play wow is totally ridiculous and to suggest anything otherwise is bad advice.

 

[Concillian]

He mentioned he was running 1920x1200 res and terrain distance MINIMUM. Have you played WoW with terrain distance minimum?

He mentioned he was not satisfied with his current card and playability.

I'm wondering who did not read the OPs comments. He is not reading numbers off a website telling him what his performance is like, he is experiencing it and is not satisfied.

 

[flightlesscake]

The 6600GT loses 11.8% going from 800x600 --> 1024x768
it loses another 11.0% going from 1024x768 --> 1280x768
then a larger 26.6% going from there to 1600x1200

Compare that to the mid-high end cards:
going from 800x600 --> 1024x768 the 6800GT loses 6.1% and the x800xl loses 12%
1024x768 --> 1280x768 the 6800GT loses 10.5% and x800xl loses 10.6%
up to 1600x1200 the 6800GT loses 21.6% and the x800xl loses 22.8%

so the mid-high end cards lose less framerate as resolution increases

the very high end cards are even flatter, going from ~2.5% to ~10.5% to ~17.5%

In other words, the gap between the 6600GT and the higher end cards widens as resolution increases.[/quote]


Numbers off a website? lol I have played Wow On my 6800 GT. The graphics are so simple its sad. The extra pixel pipes between the 2 cards will not gain you anything over 5%.

 

[Acanthus]

Im guessing you have a 128MB 6600GT.

At that resolution you need 256MB for better playability, id pitch for a $250ish Geforce 6800 with 256MB. You should see a nice performance increase.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: flightlesscake

Numbers off a website? lol I have played Wow On my 6800 GT. The graphics are so simple its sad. The extra pixel pipes between the 2 cards will not gain you anything over 5%.

Those numbers are not in nearly the same context as your comments. And they followed more subjective comments pertaining to very near the configuration he was looking at upgrading to.

shall I quote the OP?

The video card performs well for the most part, however it struggles to keep up in World of Warcraft at 1920X1200 with features turned on.

In other words his 6600 is NOT performing well enough for him.

You are saying that the 6600 and 6800 perform similarly in WoW. So I guess I'm not understanding what you are suggesting for the original poster. Are you suggesting he will not see an increase in performance if he upgrades?

 

[flightlesscake]

"Are you suggesting he will not see an increase in performance if he upgrades"

Basically...yes. The increase will be negligible. About as much as upgrading to play quake3. There are other factors at play in a mmorpg besides the video card especially one with such simple graphics.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: flightlesscake
"Are you suggesting he will not see an increase in performance if he upgrades"

Basically...yes. The increase will be negligible. About as much as upgrading to play quake3. There are other factors at play in a mmorpg besides the video card especially one with such simple graphics.

So then his comments that he needs to turn down the graphics options like AF and terrrain distance to be able to play the game with acceptable performance at his desired resolution is a hallucination of his mind? His experience is not reality and he should crank all the option up and he will suddenly get great performance?

There seems to be a logical disconnect somewhere, and I don't think it's with my own logic.

 

[flightlesscake]

The flaw in your logic is as follows:

You claim P-->Q is true where P = He has to turn down settings at max resolution to be playable in Wow, and Q = Upgrading from 6600 to 6800 will fix P. It is possible that P can be true while Q is false, thereby the implication P-->Q is false.

 

[Concillian]

The additional information I have is that I run a very similar card to the one he is planning on upgrading to. I run it at nearly maxed out settings at a resolution very close, but slightly less than the one he is planning on running.

That is the information I have that suggests he will be happier with an x800xl.

Do you have to run at minimum terrain distance and AF off with your 6800 GT when playing at 1600x1200 res?

Also, I never suggested he upgrade to a 6800, I suggested he upgrade to an x800XL, which is what he was asking about in the original post.

 

[melny]

Thanks for all the replies. My video card is the plain 6600 with 128mb of ram not the 6600GT. I bought it with my system for about $120.00 because I knew I was going to upgrade as soon as cards like the X800XL would be released. As far as performance is concerned, I can run WoW at 1680 x 1050 with terrain at a minimum and AF just below the middle, but I also have triple buffering and Level of Detail on for better performance. I'm averging about 30-35 fps.

What I would like to acheive is above 40 fps at 1900 x 1200 with terrain turned up to at least 50% and all other settings maxxed. I find that the lowest terrain setting is not really optimal. Right now the 6600 card is just not strong enough to reach my goal. If the X800Xl can acheive this result I would buy it now with the idea of upgrading to the R520 sometime later once prices are reasonable. If the X800XL would allow me to acheive this I would consider the X850XT for about $150.00 more.

Thanks again.

 

[Acanthus]

Any 256MB card will fix the problem, i suggested the 6800 for the increased mem bandwidth and increased local memory on the card. This would correct the performance issue cheaper than an X800XL.

 

[delslow]

Playing with max settings on WoW is awesome. The poly count is not as high as other games, but the art direction really makes the game. For only WoW, you wouldn't need anything better than 6800gt or even an unlocked 6800nu. Of course it will never be at max fps at all times, especially in the Auction Houses, but it's VERY enjoyable with very little stuttering elsewhere.

My suggestion is to get a 6800 series card, try it out, if you're not happy return it =) Then try the x850xt and try it out.

-delslow

...me things flightlesscake likeys the eq2... =)

 

[ss284]

Ignore flightlesscake as he obviously hasnt tested WoW with the two comparison video cards you mention.

I recently sold my 6800 ultra and downgraded to a 6600gt. I play on a dell 2001fp (1600-1200) and used to use 1600-1200 at 8xAF 2xFSAA and the game looked great and ran smoothly (40-60 fps) at 75% view distance.

Now, while I still run 1600-1200, Ive disabled fsaa and set 50% view distance. Still, areas such as dustwallow marsh and stranglethorn vale are noticably more slow fps wise; which gets me killed in PvP. An upgrade to a 6800gt/ultra or an x800/x850 will make a noticable difference with your system; I suggest you go for it. I semi regret my decision to sell the card, but WoW is a bad drug anyways.

-Steve

 

[I Saw OJ]

Its pretty easy to see how the 6800GT will out perform the 6600GT at higher resolution. While running at lower resolutions my 6800GT will run similar scores with my roomates 6600GT. But once we start crankin' up the resolution and running at my LCD's native resolution, his 6600GT just cant keep up. The loss in FPS is pretty significant, enough to make it worth while to upgrade to something else.

Take it for what you will, but if you want to play games even like WoW at high resolutions like that, I would upgrade.


seth

 

[nanaki333]

Originally posted by: flightlesscake
Umm the OP asked a very specific question about a certain game. Did you even read it? The simple fact of the matter is that to upgrade from a 6600 to anything else just to play wow is totally ridiculous and to suggest anything otherwise is bad advice.

tell that to everyone that upgrade their machines just to play doom3.

 

[quikah]

With the PvP honor system their are now A LOT of large scale battles happening. Does anyone have any exp in 80 man battles? I need to upgrade but am wondering what would be good. I have a 5900 which is fine in normal play, but drops to 5-10 fps in these big battles. Can 6600, 6800 or x800 handle these situations fine?