OCZ Core 2 64 - I was expecting WHOA! and got Meh

[Simulacra]

first up My system
Q9550
4gig corsair ram
XP service pack 3
Nvidia 250 with 1gig
2x24 Dell
xkeys pro
software/addons
keyclone
multiboxer
xperl --<-- main only
cartographer --<-- main only
carnonite --<-- main only

main runs 30 fps on minimal settings with mid level viweing distance, slaves 14fps with all low settings.

I added a OCZ Core 2 64 last night and copied my data directory over then symlinked it. I didn't get the results I was expecting, I was expecting speedy in Dalaran and although my slaves didn't break /follow anymore it wasn't that much of an improvement, still stuttery here and there and not AU$250 better. Out in the world the difference is much more noticable, when I mount up and hit space they all jump into the air super quick. I went to the OCZ forums to see what the caper might be and found out that it could very well be the sata cable I was using as I'm pretty sure it came with the mb and would be sata 1. They recommended that sata ii cables be used and listed a few sites. The gist of it was that you'd be completely nuts to use a sata 1 cable. So, are they pissing in my pocket? and is anyone using sata 1 cables or sata ii cables and which brand etc etc

[Enndo]

You need sata 2 to get full use out of an SSD. Also only having 4 gigs is bottlenecking what could be a very fast machine ;)

[Kicksome]

I had a q6600 at 3.2ghz with 8 gigs of ram and upgraded to SSD, it made a small difference. When I upgraded the chip to a new i7, it make it a LOT faster, great in Dalaran and WG. So I think you might be CPU bound. Might want to check the CPU usage in dalaran.

[Phanes]

You are bottlenecking on RAM I had 6 gigs on a high end I7 system and Dalaran was meh. I went up to 12 gigs and it runs smooth as butter now with 5 accounts and the main is wide open on video settings.

[Simulacra]

thanks for the replies :) I now have a sata 2 cable on order, they're like hens teeth in sydney for some reason >.< I won't be getting an i7 for quite some time as I only bought my pc 5 weeks ago. I will add more ram to 8 gig and move to xp64 or windows 7

[puppychow]

A few of us posted reviews on the OCZ SSD's (i dont think mine was the core2 version, not sure) and basically it all came down to meh - not that impressive for wow. Definitely moving from 4gb to 8gb and Vista64 (remember, vista32 or XP32 can only "see" 4 gigs of memory) made a much, much bigger difference.

[Taliesin]

Ditto what Puppychow said. My system stats were fairly comparable to the OPs when I started and had a ton of stuttering in Dal and generally being pretty painful. The only upgrade I made was to Vista 64 and moved from 4GB to 8GB of RAM, and the game is really smooth, even in Dalaran. I can even mount and ride around 5-boxed in Dal with only some minor stuttering.

[Nisch]

XP service pack 3 = 32bit

Go to XP64 or Vista64 and you'll be sitting much better

[Simulacra]

XP service pack 3 = 32bit

Go to XP64 or Vista64 and you'll be sitting much better

thx - I went Windows 7 64 v 7100 and with only 4 gig ram I can mount and race around dalaran without any skipping and a frame rate of between 15 and 30 depending on population - pretty awsome. I finaly got the sata ii cable and will wack that in tomorrow but it's so fast now I'm wondering if I'll notice a difference at all.

edit: yes it's a little more poppy - also ordered 8 gig of corsair ram - really cheap these days :)
edit: ram arrived and installed last night - WHOA!!!!! now that's what it's all about, running around Dalaran at 26- 30fps, shammies very close on follow and more responsive in instances.