Quick question on performance upgrade.

[cnjmorris]

Okay a friend bought a computer at walmart about 1 year ago. They pretty much play world of warcraft and a few other things. They don't multi task or anything.

Her computer has been slugish lately in the game and she would like to do something to help without spending a lot.

If she were to buy a new graphics card and take that load off her processor should she see a nice speed bump? I told her she could spend about $135 for a decent card and see a nice change but I wanted to ask what you guys think. Would appreciate any input, her specs are are follows:

Additional Specifications
Processor Type: Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core
Hard Drive Size: 360 GB
System RAM: 2048 MB
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Monitor Size: 19" LCD
Processor Type: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ / 2.2 GHz
Multi-Core Technology: Dual-Core
Cache Memory Type: L2 cache Installed Size: 1 MB

RAM
Installed Size: 2 GB / 4 GB (max)
Technology: DDR2 SDRAM

Storage
Hard Drive: 1 x 360 GB - standard - Serial ATA-300 - 7200 rpm

Operating System / Software
OS Provided: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Graphics Controller
Type: Integrated
Graphics Processor / Vendor: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE

Expansion Bays Total (Free):
2 ( 1 ) x front accessible - 5.25" x 1/2H ¦ 2 ( 1 ) x internal - 3.5" x 1/3H ¦ 1 ( 1 ) x front accessible - 3.5" x 1/3H
Expansion Slots Total (Free):
2 ( 0 ) x memory - DIMM 240-pin ¦ 1 ( 0 ) x processor - Socket AM2 ¦ 2 ( 1 ) x PCI ¦ 1 ( 0 ) x PCI Express x16 ¦ 1 ( 1 ) x PCI Express x1

 

[krnmastersgt]

Erm, if you're saying she's noticing really low frames per sec in a highly populated/raiding area then I'm not so sure a simple video card will fix the problem, but in any case the video card would make it look better. If you know how to overclock, it'd be helpful if you did that for her.

 

[s44]

The cheap PSU on a Walmart machine probably won't long support a $130 card. A cheap 4670, sure -- that will help a lot. Or get one of those ridiculously cheap 4830s and this (overkill, but not really more expensive than a good 500W) to allow more upgrades later...

 

[Denithor]

s44 - on the right path, but here's better -

Corsair 400CX $50 - $10MIR
PowerColor 4830 $95 - $15MIR -or- Asus 4670 $80 - $10MIR

The 4670 has free shipping so it's going to be ~$15 cheaper than the 4830. But it's quite a bit lower in performance, I'd personally recommend the 4830 if budget allows.

 

[TotalLamer]

The 4670 shouldn't be a problem at all... it's roughly equivalent to a 9600GT no? Before I got my new rig I was running a 3.2 GHz Pentium D with a 9600GT and didn't have any trouble whatsoever aside from somewhat low fps in Dalaran, which is to be expected. Plus you can get a 4670 with 1GB of memory too.