Need GPU upgrade help >.<

[Moddersunited]

Been a while since I've logged into Azeroth, I blame it on the the lack of 5 shamans being able to burn through low level northrend instances but in reality its my system not being able to handle nothrend, v.v so my current system specs are:

CPU: Phenom 2.8 (forget the model >.<)
Ram: 8 Gigabytes of DDR2 800
GPU: Nvidia 8600 GTS SC
HD: 320 gig Seagate Sata

I assume its my GPU stopping me from 5 boxing, So I'm wondering whats a good route for upgrade to make this system 5box worthy? I was looking at maybe a 4890 or a 260, what does the community think? will this get my system up to par?

[Ualaa]

You have enough ram.

Not sure on the CPU power; chances are its enough to play, but not sure how smooth. CPU is often the bottleneck after ram.

Not sure on your budget, a 260 would certainly work.
I believe a 4870 is almost equal in power to a GTX 275.
Not sure where 4890 fits in.

I'll recommend a low end, generation 1 SSD, purely for your game folder.
Don't put the operating system on a low-end SSD.
You can get 30-40gb for $100-$150.
That is usually a massive boost, particularly in places where you load textures (cities).

You can run PerfMon (performance monitor), in the Performance tab of Task Manager.
Do this while 5-boxing, for 30 mins or so.
Then check where your bottlenecks are.

[wowphreak]

I really doubt its yer graphics cards that holding yeh back unless yeh have the wrong drivers installed?

The hardware yeh have should be more then able to run 5.

What res are yeh playing at?
Try playing from one installation of wow?
What operating system are yeh running?
How many addons are yeh running?
What effects are yeh running?

[Ualaa]

The performance monitor is usually the best option.
You can see what is actually topping out at 100%.

[heyaz]

How do you get perfmon to show GPU usage?

[Drommon]

How do you get perfmon to show GPU usage?

Get GPUZ. Google it. Download it. Run it while multiboxing.

It is the GPU perf mon. A very good tool.

You may find this on your system in Dalaran while multiboxing ->

from perf mon-->

Ram usage 68-88%
CPU 80-100%

from gpuz-->

GPU 30-40%

These are the numbers I get. I 5 box on 2 monitors. I have a q9550 (quad core 2.83 ghz), 8gb ddr 800 ram, ati 4850x2. I have all resolutions at 1920x1200 for all 5 wow clients. Slaves have all video options at the minimum. Main is max video with max viewing distance with shadows set on minimum. I get 20-30 fps in dalaran while slaves are maxed to 15 fps. I also have a Intel xm-25 SSD dedicated to WoW using symlynked folders. I run windows vista ultimate 64 bit. I have found that on my system that the CPU is the bottleneck if I go higher graphic settings. WoW uses the CPU primarily for graphics is what I conclude from this. So if I were to upgrade anything, it would be motherboard+cpu.

[Ualaa]

Hmm.. good question.

Checking it out, its showing CPU, HD, Network and Memory.
Thought it had video in there, but apparently not.

Still, shows if anything is your bottleneck.

[heyaz]

What's a good cheap SSD (32-64GB) that has been verified to work well for boxing? Would like to order somethin online

[Shodokan]

What's a good cheap SSD (32-64GB) that has been verified to work well for boxing? Would like to order somethin online

I'd like to know this as well.

Also UALAA told me in PM that a computer built with those similar specs would run in dal @ 60 fps... but i also had a GTX 275 in my system when i showed him it and had 1600 ram.

[Ualaa]

I don't think I said a computer will run 60 FPS in Dalaran.
I know some people get that in some areas of Dal.

But the particle density sucks there, and you frequently get 20-30 FPS, even with very top-end systems.
Wintergrasp can also slow you down, from the sheer number of people all over the place.

But pretty much, every where else.
Any of the newer systems (i7 based or the AMD equivalent), should do well.

I'm running:

i7, 920 (stock speed)
12GB, 1600mhz ram (DDR3)
Asus P6T (x58) motherboard
GTX 275 (896 mb)
150GB Raptor (less then 50% full).

I have IS Boxer set to cap my FPS at 60 on the main screen and 30 on the slaves.
I get those FPS, pretty much everywhere except Dal/WG.

I have a Patriot Torq SSD on my Christmas list; retails about 250 (CDN$).
Patriot Torqx PFZ64GS25SSDR 64GB, Sata II, Internal SSD

Just searching on Newegg.com, you can get an idea of what is available.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...0%20-%20%24200
41 SSD's in the $100 to $200 range.