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Graph cards and WoW

runeholder

runeholder

runeholder

Associate
Joined
28 Apr 2010
Posts
20
Hey all before i start thanks for the responses i will get.

Right i am buying a new PC in november and i have a dillemma, now due to costs this is the only desicion i will have to make none of the other components will be able to be changed .

ok so the actual issue is over which processor and which graph card will perform the best i only play WoW atm but i want to play it on ultra settings

Processor
AMD Athlon II X4 640 AM3 OR AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition

Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1GB OR ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB

i really dont know which two will perform best together and would love some input from you.

rest of system as follow

Xigmatek Asgard Case
4GB DDR3 1333mhz
500GB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
500W psu ATX 12V 2.0V
Onboard 7.1 Audio

Again thanks for the help

/Rune
 
not the exact matches as theyre not available but close enough to compare, WoW is near bottom
CPU comparison

And Id go with the 5770, no doubt
Though prices may (read will) change before Nov and you may well be able to get more for your money by then
 
Note that 'I want to play WoW on Ultra settings' doesn't really tell us all we need to know, the resolution you intend to play at would also be helpful ;).

I wouldn't anticipate there being a whole lot of difference between the Atlon II 640 and Phenom II 530, though apparently the latest WoW engine update makes better use of multiple cores than previous versions. On principle I'd probably go with the 640 and try overclocking it for performance improvements.

The 1GB 5770 should almost certainly outperform the 1GB 450 at similar quality levels, but also consider the nVidia 460 786MB if your budget can stretch that far.

On a side note the best possible upgrade you can generally make for WoW, presupposing your GFX and CPU are already reasonably decent, is an SSD drive. You probably won't have the cash for one with a very tight budget, but once your system is well established a decent 60GB SSD would be the next biggest upgrade you could make.
 
Stripes said:
Note that 'I want to play WoW on Ultra settings' doesn't really tell us all we need to know, the resolution you intend to play at would also be helpful ;).
Click to expand...

hehe sorry 1920x1080 res

and i am gonna sound like a tool but ssd??

soryy dont know lots about computers hence why asking questions
 
I play it on a 5770, and its runs it very nicely, but since my cards given up, i can't put it on ultra to give you the actual numbers, just the brown screen of Ati death :p
 
SSD = Solid State Drive, theyre very fast Hard Drives but also expensive, it will help with load times, dont play WoW personally but I guess theres a lot of loading?
 
runeholder said:
hehe sorry 1920x1080 res

and i am gonna sound like a tool but ssd??
Click to expand...

Not at all, I am also working out what to buy to do this exact same job :]

I was gunning for a 5770 until I found out about the impending 6000 line of graphics cards - would say it's well worth waiting for the launch of those before deciding what to buy! Should only be a week or so now I think ^^
 
For WOW, I think it's more important to have a fast CPU than a high-end graphic card. WOW's graphic engine is not extactly modern, but because the game using mainly just one cores for the most demanding tasks, and the extra cores only handling the minor tasks, in busy area or 25 men raid the CPU would usually be over-worked, while the GPU is only doing 'warm up exercise' with GPU usage not even close to 100%.

Phenom II would definitely be a better pick over the Athlon II as it is faster architecture wise and have more cache; howerer the Phenom II X2 560BE price I would imagine close to touching the price of a Phenom II x4 955BE, so might as well get the 955BE instead, and overclock it to 3.8~4.0GHz.

Graphic card wise, WOW seem to favour Nvidia more than ATI, so I don't think there will be too much difference between the GTS450 and the 5770...but personally I'd stretch for a GTX460 768MB at <£130.
 
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The 5770 will be enough for WoW, it's more CPU dependant. So get the 5770 after the 6*** series are out this week (for some hopefully possible price drops) and save up for a Phenom II X4 955 ;)
 
Sounds like it should be ok.
Ive just got a i5 at 4ghz and a 5870, although 5870 is giving me some grief, just waiting on the board/proc/memory being delivered (due today but no one home :( )

WOW seems to love Mhz, I noticed a big diff overclocking my E6750 from 2.66-3.46.

Interesting I left GPU-Z running but set all to max values last night in a 3 hour ICC raid, it peaked at 90% GPU, so WOW can certainly mke use of it at some points even with this proc. Thats at 1920x1200 with most settings turned well up.

CPU usage seems to be higher post 4.01 but then addons are playing up so it could just be them running inefficiently. Certainly some are bugged even thought they are 4.01 compatible.

TBH the more addons you run, especially combat log based ones, the more CPU you need.
 
I think a 5870 is a bit overkill for running Wow on a single monitor. Ive heard that the 5850's overclock well and would probably run pretty much anything chucked at it @1900x1200 res....
 
wow thanks guys i will wait till mid november to do the build and definately upgrade the cpu as 20 quid is nothing for a bit extra.

@Rob i run a successful 25 man Raid guild and am responsible for updating WoW logs so yes that info is awesome agree with the addons too but most of the errors are actually down to blizz addons.

again thatnks for all the help
 
GTX460 768MB. There are usually less issues with nvidia cards when it comes to Warcraft.

The media player thing was the result of a bug. It no longer applies and was only present for a few months or so back in 2007.
 
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