How can I get better performance?

[ragawaga]

Hi all,

While this isn't a multiboxing question, I thought I'd take advantage of the expertise of the board members. Just under a year ago, I upgraded my girlfriend's computer to better cope with the joys of Wrath. It was a fairly budget machine, but looking at the parts, I would've expected some pretty good performance...in some cases, possibly better than what I have on my own machine. Although there was an improvement from the old machine, I had expected better. Below are the main parts:

Asus P5N7A-VM motherboard with integrated GeForce 9300 GPU.
4 gig ram (2x 2gig DDR2 PC2 6400) - 256 of this is devoted to the GPU.
Intel E7400 core 2 duo CPU (2.8GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB cache)
Running 64 bit Widows XP


I know that WoW isn't a demanding game and as such, I wanted something that I could turn the detail up fairly high yet still be smooth. She's only single boxing, so this shouldn't be too hard to achieve.

My own machine runs extremely well single boxing.....and pretty good 5 boxing (with settings turned down). This was built about a year earlier and consists of


BFG nForce 680 sli motherboard
BFG 8800 GTX graphics (786 meg)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 cpu
6 gig of DDR2 6400 Ram
Running 64bit Windows Vista



I'm looking at upgrading both machines to get a bit better performance. For my own I've ordered a Q6600 CPU. The cores aren't any faster but 4 cores instead of 2 is going to be an improvement for multiboxing.
I was also thinking of one of the smaller SSDs for both computers would be an improvement for WoW.

Other than that.....is there anything that can be suggested for giving me better performance on my GF's computer?

[Freddie]

A video card.

[ragawaga]

Any recomendations? Should I try to go for something that I can SLi with the onboard graphics or go for something discrete.

I'm not looking for anything fancy, ideally no more than £100.

[Pycno]

I wouldnt consider SLI at all, its too expensive compared to the performance benefit.
The 5770 would be a cheap upgrade and would give a substantial boost to graphics and FPS, and it costs around £100. Remember to reinstall Windows (format computer, take backup first) when you do this as problems can occur when you change GPU-vendor without reinstalling windows.

SSD-drives are nice if you can afford them and your PC runs WoW fine and you just want to speed up loading.

[alcattle]

You did not say how many WoW you are running on each machine, but RAM cures all ills. If you can put in 8 gigs, do it. You already have the 64 bit OS.
Onboard graphics is not a good setup, almost any Video card would improve your system. Buy what you can afford but remember you can always move a good card to your next system. Low end, look at a G260 or a 48xx card, for more than WoW needs but other games can use move up to the 57xx level or higher.

[ragawaga]

You did not say how many WoW you are running on each machine, but RAM cures all ills. If you can put in 8 gigs, do it. You already have the 64 bit OS.
Onboard graphics is not a good setup, almost any Video card would improve your system. Buy what you can afford but remember you can always move a good card to your next system. Low end, look at a G260 or a 48xx card, for more than WoW needs but other games can use move up to the 57xx level or higher.

I said that my machine runs 5 and my gf is only single boxing. WoW is the only game she plays so I'm not worried about running anything else on it.

[alcattle]

I know Learn 2 read oh well. Simple solution buy your machine a new graphics card and give her the 8800. That should be able to max out a single WoW. I 5 box on a lesser card (8800 320 GTS).
Ram would also be good, more for you than her.
Not sure about the 2 CPUs, but yours might be faster.

[Freddie]

Any recomendations? Should I try to go for something that I can SLi with the onboard graphics or go for something discrete.

I'm not looking for anything fancy, ideally no more than £100.

Forget the onboard graphics on your gf's machine. Just buy a single video card. (Like someone said, you could buy a new one for your machine and put your current one in hers.)

To pick a card, I would go to the current list of best video cards at various price points which is updated every month on Tom's Hardware website. Here's the current list:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...card,2521.html

A 5770 is a nice card, and there's no problem if you want to get it, but it's overkill for your gf's machine running a single WoW.

The current generation of new video cards (the 5xxx series from AMD) is incredibly powerful.

To get a rough idea of how powerful it is, go to the chart on the last page of the Tom's article. Notice that the 5770 is two levels up from your 8800GTX. That means it's quite a bit more powerful than your current card, and you know how well your card would perform with a single WoW.