Will this $£^%! All over WoW x5 with ISBoxer?

[angeldeelite]

Upgrade time is here once again, again...

Sorry to probably post "Another" PC Spec question BUT I'd really appreciate the opinion of the minds at work here on DB!

My current PC spec is as follows:

Intel Q9550 @ 3.2GHz (20% OC)
Asus Striker II Formula 780i Sli *note: The bios on this mobo isn't "fully" Compatible with the Q9550, found that out after install... :S So wont run at 100% it tells me.
4 GB Corsair DDR2 RAM
2x 150GB velociraptors in raid 0
2x WD 500GB separate for data.
2x Asus EN9800GTX+ in SLi
Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit
I use 2 Asus 22" HD monitors

This set up is a bit crap at running 5x WoW. In most dungeons the CPU is at or very near to 100%, the RAM is at or very near to 95% and I get about 20 FPS when fighting,
or 0 FPS when the boss in Lost city go's into phase 2 and you have to kill that birdy, what I get is FREEZE and then sorts itself out when everyone is dead...
I can't go anywhere near orgrimmar with all 5 toons at one time as it takes me 10 mins to move 1 foot, No way on earth could I even dream of stepping into a BG.

So to the upgrade machine!

I know I could put more RAM in and it would make an improvement but I don't think it will improve it enough for what I want! And spending £160 to slightly improve performance
Is a waste to me, if I'm going to upgrade I want a proper job doing not slight improvements!

So, My idea:

Option 1 El cheapo('ish)

Keep the Q9550
Keep the Striker II With its stupid bios issues and no bios flash available to fix it! (or is there?)
Upgrade the RAM to 8GB DDR2 - 4x2GB (Mobo Max)
Upgrade the 2x Veloci HDD's to an OCZ Vertex II 120GB SSD
Upgrade the 2x Graphics cards to one Nvidia GTX580 (maybe add a second one down the line)
And keep everything else.
This will set me back £735.35

OR

Option 2 The full works!

Intel i7 950 @ 3.2GHz
Gigabyte Intel X58 mobo
12GB DDR3 RAM
OCZ Vertex II 120GB SSD
Nvidia GTX 580
and keep everything else.
This will set me back £1087.67

I'm after a system that will not only play WoW x5 "ok" or "well" I want it to kick the crap out of it! ROFL at blizzards graphics designers, take there mum out for dinner then make
Her pick up the cheque and still have her begging for more!! + some addons.

Now to my actual questions...

#1 For the £350 difference in price... Is it worth it? Would my original Mobo+CPU be as good if not better with the additional upgrades or are they to old/outdated and not capable?

#2 Would the "Full works" Crap,slap, spit and generally do nasty (in a good way) things to WoW x5 with ISBoxer and could I run loads (within reason) of addons, go into BG's and
Not die on boss fights as my damn PC lagged out?

#3 What is the meaning of life? Nah forget that one! Just not important enough!

Also if your have any idea/suggestions on if I've picked the wrong thing, there's something better etc etc then please be sure to let me know :D

Thanks in advance!

Lee :p

[Cyrberus]

I'd go for options 2. DDR3 memory really makes a lot of difference.

If you spend money on option 1, chances are you'll spend money on option 2 within a years time...
And how much do you think you can get back from the old parts on ebay?

[alcattle]

today or in the near future; I would look at the Sandy Bridge option. Might not be around yet but from the prices I have seen, much better bang for the buck. A 2500K will whoop a i7's bum. Just a thought.
Until then add ram, and the GPU. 4 gigs is cheap enough, and you will be able to use the GPU with any future rig.

[katsurahama]

Adding RAM should make a big difference. I went from 4 with xp32 to 8 with win7-64 and its like a new computer.

[Lax]

Short of upgrading there are some things you can try.

If you have multiple monitors, I'd highly recommend dropping SLI. You may only be using one of your video cards anyway. With ISBoxer 38 there are new Window Layout presets in the wizard for multiple monitor/video card setups. http://isboxer.com/index.php/guides/21-using-multiple-video-cards

Drop the background FPS setting in ISBoxer, for each of your slots, to 15 or so (default is 30). Keeping the background slots at 10-15 shouldn't hurt anything for WoW and this will free up a bit of both CPU and GPU.

And you can also drop the video settings on your slaves to minimum at that point, if you haven't.

[thefunk]

#3: 42

You'd be nuts to spend £700 upgrading when for a bit more you get the

http://www.h4x3d.com/feat/themes/bomb.jpg



just sayin...

[outdrsyguy1]

The 2 biggest life altering changes i've seen in my pc were going to 8 gigs of ram from 4 and getting an SSD. I also play on a Q9550 and my cpu definitely pegs in TB and in Org central (i stick to the valley of honor to keep away from that). My graphics card is a geforce 260 and never gets to full use. I have all my settings on slaves turned down and I do get bad frame rates in huge fights or highly populated areas.

I'm planning on oc'ing mine to see if it helps, it just runs really hot and i haven't put the aftermarket cooler on the chip yet.

[Vecter]

The 2 biggest life altering changes i've seen in my pc were going to 8 gigs of ram from 4 and getting an SSD. I also play on a Q9550 and my cpu definitely pegs in TB and in Org central (i stick to the valley of honor to keep away from that). My graphics card is a geforce 260 and never gets to full use. I have all my settings on slaves turned down and I do get bad frame rates in huge fights or highly populated areas.

I'm planning on oc'ing mine to see if it helps, it just runs really hot and i haven't put the aftermarket cooler on the chip yet.

RAM and SSD, major bang for the buck.

[mikekim]

Option 2

[angeldeelite]

I'd go for options 2. DDR3 memory really makes a lot of difference.

If you spend money on option 1, chances are you'll spend money on option 2 within a years time...
And how much do you think you can get back from the old parts on ebay?

That's definitely one of the things that's swaying me to upgrade everything, DDR2 and LGA775 is a bit old now, everything else is a must upgrade anyway.


today or in the near future; I would look at the Sandy Bridge option. Might not be around yet but from the prices I have seen, much better bang for the buck. A 2500K will whoop a i7's bum. Just a thought.
Until then add ram, and the GPU. 4 gigs is cheap enough, and you will be able to use the GPU with any future rig.

I'm way to impatient to leave it till that's out :P The RAM, SSD and the GPU are a given, I just want to know if I change the mobo+CPU+ DDR Will it be worth it?


Short of upgrading there are some things you can try.

If you have multiple monitors, I'd highly recommend dropping SLI. You may only be using one of your video cards anyway. With ISBoxer 38 there are new Window Layout presets in the wizard for multiple monitor/video card setups. http://isboxer.com/index.php/guides/21-using-multiple-video-cards

Drop the background FPS setting in ISBoxer, for each of your slots, to 15 or so (default is 30). Keeping the background slots at 10-15 shouldn't hurt anything for WoW and this will free up a bit of both CPU and GPU.

And you can also drop the video settings on your slaves to minimum at that point, if you haven't.

Have actually dropped the SLi in the past (when I heard it wasn't good for boxing) and it drastically decreased performance : / so I keep it in sli.
I doubt I could lower my settings anymore than they are to get any kind of increase and tbh I wouldn't want to, only have main set at a few things good and the rest low
And the game looks Shiite, I know from playing my solo toon at all set to ultra this is a pretty sexy looking game!
That's why I want a system that is powerful enough to not have to have everything set to low/shit settings!
BTW ISBoxer 38 Kicks ass! Ignoring the fact it took 3 hours to fix my set up after the update, its feckin sick! So err Props! :D


The 2 biggest life altering changes i've seen in my pc were going to 8 gigs of ram from 4 and getting an SSD. I also play on a Q9550 and my cpu definitely pegs in TB and in Org central (i stick to the valley of honor to keep away from that). My graphics card is a geforce 260 and never gets to full use. I have all my settings on slaves turned down and I do get bad frame rates in huge fights or highly populated areas.

I'm planning on oc'ing mine to see if it helps, it just runs really hot and i haven't put the aftermarket cooler on the chip yet.

I really dont want to be struggling in org :( So another sway to the full upgrade :P
BTW when i OC'd my Q9550 i was getting temps of 60 - 80c Idle - full load respectively with my stock cooler so i bought an OCZ Vendetta and it hardly ever go's above 50c :D


Option 2

Good choice :P

[angeldeelite]

#3: 42

You'd be nuts to spend £700 upgrading when for a bit more you get the

http://www.h4x3d.com/feat/themes/bomb.jpg



just sayin...

Noted* lol

[mikekim]

Go with the full upgrade... The difference is unbelievable!!

Having your os on ssd is such a breath of fresh air.. Windows loads on seconds (after post)

You will find that the new system will be about 3x quicker than your old one :)

No brainer really...

[katsurahama]

Sounds like you were already wanting to spend more money...

More ram and an ssd will make a huge difference. I bought a newer video card and it didnt make much difference. I dont know anything about intel cpus but i have a four core amd and ram + ssd + 64bit os made a gigantic difference. It was literally like a new computer. I was also contemplating just building another computer but now i know that would have been money wasted. And im not even overclocking the cpu. Wow is heavily dependent on cpu and ram, at least according to some blue posts.

If your cpu is old then i guess new cpu, ram, and mobo would be the way to go. Id try one of those two routes before going all out unless thats what you already wanted to do from the beginning. :)

[angeldeelite]

Well the votes are in!

Thanks to everyone for there advice and opinions!

The results? Well...

Have chosen to go with option 1! For now...
So new SSD, new graphics and double the RAM! If this gets me the improvement I need/want then its a job well done and I save myself £350+
Can go towards a new tattoo, or more speakers in my car :P
If on the other hand its still a bit shitty then I'll go ahead and buy the Mobo+CPU+12GB DDR3! And lick my wounds over spending £150+ on DDR2...

Thanks again :D

C'mon Pay day!!!

[mikekim]

Well the votes are in!

Thanks to everyone for there advice and opinions!

The results? Well...

Have chosen to go with option 1! For now...
So new SSD, new graphics and double the RAM! If this gets me the improvement I need/want then its a job well done and I save myself £350+
Can go towards a new tattoo, or more speakers in my car :P
If on the other hand its still a bit shitty then I'll go ahead and buy the Mobo+CPU+12GB DDR3! And lick my wounds over spending £150+ on DDR2...

Thanks again :D

C'mon Pay day!!!

Lee,

Dont waste money on DDR2 - pm me your address and i'll send you the following..

OCZ 8GB (4x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Reaper HPC Dual Channel DDR2 4-4-4-15


After all i dont need it anymore :eek:

its just sitting in a pile of old bits now. (the heat spreaders will need to be repositioned slightly, but they still work fine)