WoW hardware questions

[BofRA]

Here are my specs. I am wondering what I should upgrade first to improve 25man raid FPS. I am running game at 1680x1050 with most settings at low to get by during raids.


CPU: Intel E8400 @ 3.0
MB: Gigabyte EP45-UD3R
Mem: 4GB(2x2GB) DDR 800
Video: Asus 4850 512MB

I was thinking of upgrading video to ATI 5770 1Gb but wasnt sure if cpu was holding me back



Moved from PC Gaming

Anandtech PC Gaming Moderator
KeithTalent

 

[mfenn]

OK, here's some basic knowledge about how to figure out if your CPU or GPU is the bottleneck.

Turn down the graphics to all min and turn the resolution down to something like 1280x800. If you performance increases by lowering the graphics settings and resolution, then you need a faster GPU. If the performance stays about the same, you need a faster CPU.

 

[somethingsketchy]

If you have the cash for both, I'd recommend getting both. However if you can only afford one right now, I'd upgrade the CPU first, though at this point you're limited to the LGA 775 CPUs. So if you can snag a Q9000 series quad-core CPU, you'll be in a better position. The graphics card can always be picked up later on.

 

[superccs]

If you have the cash for both, I'd recommend getting both. However if you can only afford one right now, I'd upgrade the CPU first, though at this point you're limited to the LGA 775 CPUs. So if you can snag a Q9000 series quad-core CPU, you'll be in a better position. The graphics card can always be picked up later on.

Not so sure about this... Does WoW scale well with multicores? I would try the resolution and detail challenge first see what comes of that.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Are VSYNC and AA off in your drivers? Try disabling your addons too.

I can't imagine that WoW should be killing your rig. I raided in TBC on an Athlon 3200+ w/ 1GB and a Geforce 6600.

 

[mfenn]

Are VSYNC and AA off in your drivers? Try disabling your addons too.

I can't imagine that WoW should be killing your rig. I raided in TBC on an Athlon 3200+ w/ 1GB and a Geforce 6600.

To be fair, vanilla, BC, and WotLK have very different hardware requirements.

 

[BofRA]

yeah I tried lowering resolution and no improvement. So I guess its cpu time :/

And yeah I ran Ulduar with this setup at 25fps. ToTc and ICC have killed me

 

[mfenn]

You may want to try overclocking your E8400 a bit. Anything else is probably going to be a decent chunk of change.

I'm not sure how much money you're looking to spend, but if you get an AMD Phenom II or Athlon II, you can reuse your DDR2 memory.

You can go with something like the Phenom II X4 955 for $160 ($145 until tomorrow) and the Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 for $72.

 

[jaqie]

Get the video card and OC your CPU as high as you can stably.

I had just started raiding with my 80 priestess when I last played, haven't been back since.
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Whisperwind&n=Onnakaji

My system is rather similar to yours...
E3200@1333x10.5=3.5GHz core2 duo dual core
gigabyte EP43-UD3L (non SLI capable version of P45 chipset)
4x 2GB PC800 kingston DDR2
Geforce GTS250 1GB (previously HD4850 1GB, it died; before that geforce 7900GS 256MB)


The GTS250 is SMEGGING LOUD compared to my old HD4850, but the framerates when I ran around in raids and when it was crowded in dalaran were a bit better. The HD5770 and twice the ram would help you a lot, taking your cpu up would help a little... for a while I ran mine at 2.4GHz which is stock and I got much more improvement going from the 256MB card to either of these 1GB cards.

 

[BofRA]

So I decided to grab teh 5770 and an aftermarket heatsink. From what I have read, teh stepping of my cpu should hit 3.6 easily

 

[DominionSeraph]

To be fair, vanilla, BC, and WotLK have very different hardware requirements.

Yes, but my brother-in-law has played WotKL on a 3200+ with a 320MB 8800GTS just fine at 1280x960. An e8400 with a 4850 will smoke his rig.

WoW is not known for needing bleeding-edge hardware.

The HD5770 and twice the ram would help you a lot

Neither system nor video RAM will do a thing for him. And considering the 5770 trades blows with a 4870, it isn't much of an upgrade over a 4850.

My gut feeling is that something's going on with OP's setup. Drivers, settings, add-ons; possibly power management settings.

 

[jaqie]

Neither system nor video RAM will do a thing for him.

Have you ever played wow? Have you ever done 25 man raids or ran around in dal when it's crowded? The more texture memory you have the better. Lot of textures when things get that crowded and lots of GPU<->GPU memory bandwidth needed when raiding at high detail levels needed. I've played with 512MB and 1GB versions of the same card and the framerates in "texture rich" (player and effect rich) action filled areas are so much better.

I said nothing about system ram, because this poster has 4GB which is plenty for WoW especially since it is a 32 bit single threaded process and can not take over 2GB.

And considering the 5770 trades blows with a 4870, it isn't much of an upgrade over a 4850.

Have you actually tried the 5770 versus 4870 versus 4850 in wow? I have, I just have not personally owned any but the 4850. It's a good upgrade for the ram alone, and it's newer features and near the same price as the 4850 makes it a good choice.

 

[mfenn]

Yes, but my brother-in-law has played WotKL on a 3200+ with a 320MB 8800GTS just fine at 1280x960. An e8400 with a 4850 will smoke his rig.

WoW is not known for needing bleeding-edge hardware.

1) We've established that the OP is not GPU-limited. Dunno why he went and bought a 5770 TBH.

2) There are varying levels of "playing the game". Running around in Redridge is not the same as a high-end raid or battleground. There are also varying levels of "just fine". A super casual player might not care that he's getting 20 FPS.

3) A 4850 with an E8400 is hardly bleeding edge. WoW requires a pretty decent system to do high-end raiding with a bunch of addons (addons that are basically necessary).

 

[jaqie]

1) We've established that the OP is not GPU-limited. Dunno why he went and bought a 5770 TBH.

More vidram helps especially at high video settings and rich texture environments - and even more when addons are plentiful.

2) There are varying levels of "playing the game". Running around in Redridge is not the same as a high-end raid or battleground.

All too true. I'm able to walk around stormwind with my netbook which is a single core atom n270 and a gma950.... sad hardware to game with. I would never do anything else in wow with it, though.

3) A 4850 with an E8400 is hardly bleeding edge. WoW requires a pretty decent system to do high-end raiding with a bunch of addons (addons that are basically necessary).

Actually, *ANY* level of raiding requires addons, and yes, they are absolutely necessary, even moreso if you have a disabling condition like arthritis. I can't even heal without healbot anymore.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Have you ever played wow? Have you ever done 25 man raids or ran around in dal when it's crowded? The more texture memory you have the better. Lot of textures when things get that crowded and lots of GPU<->GPU memory bandwidth needed when raiding at high detail levels needed. I've played with 512MB and 1GB versions of the same card and the framerates in "texture rich" (player and effect rich) action filled areas are so much better.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...eviewed-DirectX-11-Mid-Range/Reviews/?page=11

Half a frame difference between 512MB and 1GB at ultra high detail 4xAA 1900x1200. Do you think 0xAA/low detail increases video ram usage?
And he dropped res with no impact.

I said nothing about system ram,

You didn't specify so I covered both bases. Neither will help.

 

[DominionSeraph]

3) A 4850 with an E8400 is hardly bleeding edge.

Look at the performance of the E8600 at 3.3GHz in gaming: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2839/7
Which means an i5 or i7 isn't necessarily much of an upgrade.

And the upgrade to the 4850 would be the 5850 or 5870, which would put you on the bleeding edge.

 

[Axon]

1. Purchase SSD immediately.

2. Resell 5770, get 5850

3. Clock E8400 to 3.8

gg

 

[jaqie]

Half a frame difference between 512MB and 1GB at ultra high detail 4xAA 1900x1200. Do you think 0xAA/low detail increases video ram usage?
And he dropped res with no impact.

Zero addons, zero people, no raid, no fighting effects. Some benchmark, ignored everything I said. And 4xaa.
Might as well been running around in eversong woods or redridge.


Let's see, minimums were 36FPS for the 1GB 5770 versus 31 for the 512MB 4870... with ZERO people, ZERO addons, 4xaa. Try again, try in the places that the original poster *AND* I were talking about.

 

[BofRA]

WoW

Sorry for tossing a torch on this powder keg

 

[DominionSeraph]

1. Purchase SSD immediately.

2. Resell 5770, get 5850

3. Clock E8400 to 3.8

gg

Pretty much this.
Except just cancel the 5770 order. And with it being summer, I'd just overclock it as far as it'd go at stock volts. (or maybe just a tiny voltage increase)
I'm not big on summer space heaters or electromigration-heavy overclocks.

Some benchmark, ignored everything I said.

It can.
Higher res. Higher detail. AA. That's what gonna fill VRAM.
You're complaining about pushing polys and effects.

Let's see, minimums were 36FPS for the 1GB 5770 versus 31 for the 512MB 4870...

And 42 for the 5870.
Do you understand what resolution, anti-aliasing, and detail are?

 

[jaqie]

Whoa....

You two are trying to say an SSD will improve framerate in WoW?

I can't tell whether you are trolling or actually ignorant about computer technology enough to be serious.

 

[jaqie]

Higher res. Higher detail. AA. That's what gonna fill VRAM.
You're complaining about pushing polys and effects.

Ever hear of something called texture memory?

The more characters you have the more battle effects you have the more it requires. It adds up quick especially when dealing with 25+ different characters each with their own armor weapons and several different classes worth of effects all to load along with the things that are loaded already just to be there.

You would know this if you had actually played with a 512MB versus 1GB card in the game while on raids or in dalaran when it is rather busy like I have.

Or designed maps for games like I have... or actually read whitepapers on the technology in game engines... or done any real video programming and texture mapping.

 

[DominionSeraph]

You two are trying to say an SSD will improve framerate in WoW?

Now you're just being willfully obtuse.

Anandtech has been pushing SSDs for two years now.

Ever hear of something called texture memory?

Ever hear of things called texture compression and low detail textures?

 

[jaqie]

So you "push them" too even when they will not help the original poster with what he wants to do?

For this poster and what he wants to do, it's flat wrong.

As for being "obtuse" I am *gasp* trying to help the poster with what he asked. What are you doing?

 

[DominionSeraph]

So you "push them" too even when they will not help the original poster with what he wants to do?

Yes.