Considering a Computer Upgrade

[daanji]

I am a 5x boxing looking for a slight upgrade to my current system. Overall, I am happy but I want to get better graphical performance. Currently, I set my slaves to lowest possible setting and have my main window on good with view distance and projected textures set to max. I'd like to have each windows view distance set to max with graphics set to at least fair / good.

I believe my limiting factor is my system RAM and my graphics card.


Current System:

OS : Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601920
RAM: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Mobo: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
GPU: EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Hard Drive: Dual Kingston 64 GB SSD in Raid 0


Considerations:

For ram, I am thinking G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin. Right now I have 6 GB. With all 5 clients loaded, my peak RAM usuage is around 5.21 GB. I think some may be offloading to solid state disk, slowing things down.

My motherboard has several utilites to overclock so I could go up to DDR3 2000. Would it make a difference?

For the graphics card, I'm not sure. I am an Nvidia fan, but I am hearing that ATI is the king lately. I'd rather not blow a wad of cash. I'd like to keep it around $150 range or so.

According to Tom's hardware, the best value card is the Radeon HD 5770 1 GB for $130.


What are you thoughts? Anything I've missed?

[Kicksome]

I'd try a better video card first. The 5770 is really underpowered for 5 copies of wow. It'll work, but that will be a big limiting factor. So much so, that the extra ram might not even make a difference. In fact, the GTX 260 that you have is faster than the 5770.

I upgraded to a GTX 580 from a HD 5870 and there is a BIG difference. No lag in SW anymore. I was getting like 15-20 FPS in SW, now I max out at 45 FPS (which is what I have my main window set to max).

[daanji]

Thanks for the feed back. I didn't realize the 260 GTX was indeed faster. That would have been a mistake.

So you are recommending a 580 GTX then? A quick check on newegg says they are around $500. A bit more than I want to spend. I'll consider it though. I have no problems spending that much money, I just like to be cheap and save money

[daanji]

Another question.

Currently I have 3 sticks of 2 GB RAM. My mother board has 6 slots, so 3 slots are unused.

If I bought the GSkill RAM above, which is 3 x 4 GB = 12 GB, could I just plug them into the 3 empty slots?

That would bring my total to 18 GB.

[Sam DeathWalker]

the nvidia 460 (1G) is the sweet spot for bang for buck.

Check the motherboard owners manual if you can do that 18G thing.

Overclocking is not worth it.

See my web site for recommended products / systems.

[MiRai]

Another question.

Currently I have 3 sticks of 2 GB RAM. My mother board has 6 slots, so 3 slots are unused.

If I bought the GSkill RAM above, which is 3 x 4 GB = 12 GB, could I just plug them into the 3 empty slots?

That would bring my total to 18 GB.

I never recommend mixing and matching memory, it can have a negative impact on your setup.

the nvidia 460 (1G) is the sweet spot for bang for buck.

560 Ti replaces the 460, just came out last week.

[Sajuuk]

the nvidia 460 (1G) is the sweet spot for bang for buck.

Check the motherboard owners manual if you can do that 18G thing.

Overclocking is not worth it.

See my web site for recommended products / systems.

1. Depends on what you want.
2. More ram is often good.
3. DISAGREE!
4. Stop pimping your goddamn site.

[Bollwerk]

Overclocking RAM is not worth it.

Fixed.

As for the OP's question, I would recommend an Nvidia GTX 560 ti (or 570 / 580). I would not suggest going with anything cheaper/slower, as it wouldn't help much over your existing 260.

[d0z3rr]

Not sure why I have to say this so many times: multiboxing is aways limited by cpu/ram. You can easily 5box with that $130 video card (how do I know? I used a $75 card for quite a while). Shadows are retarded, so turn them off (name one video game where you were awed by the shadows). You don't need AA/AF, view distance, spell effects, water/grass on the alts, turn them off.

Unless you'll be doing a lot of instance swapping or whatever it is called with keyclone/IS, then you'll want the better video card. Or you'll be playing other games (dead space 2, black ops, rift).

Just my 2 pesos.

[thefunk]

name one video game where you were awed by the shadows

I run around with my toons looking straight down to minimise lag. Shadows help me navigate north/south etc... so it's VERY IMPORTANT.

Leaving my playstyle aside I totally agree, RAM first then GFX shortly after, I noticed a significant improvement when i went from 6gig to 8 on my core2Duo. Your PC is what i'm currently considering buying, but with 12gig ram and a 560 ti as Fen mentioned.