Upgrading decisions

[alcattle]

12 GB of memory Ram is almost mandatory !!! this prevent you from using a mamory swap file..
very conveignant !!!

you can only get 12 gigs on the I7. OP has an old Quad MB CPU. 8 is the most you can use without using 4 gig $tick$

[zenga]

Another idea - before you spend $ on hardware upgrades - might be to install and try Linux. I have a E8400 dual core (3ghz), 8 GB ram (ddr2-667), GeForce 8800 GTS videocard (512mb), Asus P5N32-E SLI+ motherboard , 2x 320gb samsung HD and 2x 24 monitors, which sounds similar to your specs.

I haven't reached any 60+ content in the game as I'm brand new, however I have installed a Vista 64 bit on the same machine to compare. My findings are really simple. My 5 team groups runs way smoother on Linux (32 bit) than on Vista. On vista I have to run 4 alts on the lowest settings and the main on medium, and when I arrive in a crowded place I often get lag. Under Linux I can run my alts with medium settings and full throttle on my main, without getting any lag, ever (on a side note: I didn't go through the trouble to benchmark it, what I see with my eyes & my playing experience in terms of lag is enough for me).

Setting up Linux (I use opensuse 11.0 with kde 3.5 myself ) is very easy and straightforward nowadays. The more cause you no longer have to worry about security as you have to on Windows. Or at least way less. I realize that changing your OS is a big step, and it requires a willing-to-find-this-thing-out kind of mind.

I have tested AHK & Keyclone and they both work (however I use xdotool for my keybroadcasting). I don't use/like maximizer though.

Long story short: before spending the $ on hardware, trying out Linux might be a viable option.

[boxblizzard]

can anyone speak from experience regarding switching from windows xp to vista 64? or windows 7. any marginal improvements? obviously the increased amount of ram utilized

[Aragent]

can anyone speak from experience regarding switching from windows xp to vista 64? or windows 7. any marginal improvements? obviously the increased amount of ram utilized

Outside of the Memory increase (Performance) for 64 Bit system, You will find very little performance increase from Vista Unless you turn a ton of Services off.

Windows 7 Is a good program, (and is not at End of life meaning that you will get upgrades and improvements as time goes forward, theres is little actual performance increase from Vista to windows 7 however there is a Perceived Increase in performance. this is caused by how windows 7 handles Hard drive access and Video, where as the actual performance is not increased much it does created a smoother and less choppy experience giving a cleaner and smoother experience.

Windows 7 also handles SDD's better and duo video cards.
SO I would recommend going with a windows 7 64.

[Bovidae]

I was in the exact same position you are in. 8800gts -> gtx285 and added a small ssd which only houses the /data folder.

$500 later, problem solved (and these parts are easily transplantable to an i7 build if I choose to go that route)

[rocnroll]

Another idea - before you spend $ on hardware upgrades - might be to install and try Linux. I have a E8400 dual core (3ghz), 8 GB ram (ddr2-667), GeForce 8800 GTS videocard (512mb), Asus P5N32-E SLI+ motherboard , 2x 320gb samsung HD and 2x 24 monitors, which sounds similar to your specs.

I haven't reached any 60+ content in the game as I'm brand new, however I have installed a Vista 64 bit on the same machine to compare. My findings are really simple. My 5 team groups runs way smoother on Linux (32 bit) than on Vista. On vista I have to run 4 alts on the lowest settings and the main on medium, and when I arrive in a crowded place I often get lag. Under Linux I can run my alts with medium settings and full throttle on my main, without getting any lag, ever (on a side note: I didn't go through the trouble to benchmark it, what I see with my eyes & my playing experience in terms of lag is enough for me).

Setting up Linux (I use opensuse 11.0 with kde 3.5 myself ) is very easy and straightforward nowadays. The more cause you no longer have to worry about security as you have to on Windows. Or at least way less. I realize that changing your OS is a big step, and it requires a willing-to-find-this-thing-out kind of mind.

I have tested AHK & Keyclone and they both work (however I use xdotool for my keybroadcasting). I don't use/like maximizer though.

Long story short: before spending the $ on hardware, trying out Linux might be a viable option.

How are you running WoW on Linux? WINE, VMWARE or other Virtual Machine?

Maybe you could post in another thread about how to set WoW up in Linux.

[zenga]

How are you running WoW on Linux? WINE, VMWARE or other Virtual Machine?

Maybe you could post in another thread about how to set WoW up in Linux.

The wine way. It's been covered in the wiki how to setup wow in Linux (and in many other places). It's pretty straightforward and it would only make me duplicate info that is available elsewhere. The only thing I did/do different is that I make use of a self brewed broadcasting xdotool script, as I've found the available (commercial) tools uhm ... too different from what I need (that is how they behave under linux). It's a work in progress and I change it every other day. Meaning that I don't have plans to make that public any soon, as it will most likely result in many questions that I can't answer. :P For now I wanna focus on playing the game (playing for less than a month, so a lot to learn).

Sorry for going off topic