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Need help please, which pci-e card for Warcraft

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Hi all. For the past month I've been using a Dell as my main pc, mostly for development work, email, web, etc..

I am starting to get the World of Warcraft feeling again but before I can play I need to buy a new graphics card.

Anyone know the cheapest card that can run WoW at 1920 x 1200 with atleast 2x AA with 60fps?

My machine can only run PCI-E 4x, and has a core2duo 2gig with 3gig of ram, and a 305watt PSU.

Thanks.
 
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ive got a hd3870 running 1600*1200 maxed details with 4x fsaa at ~60fps average.

so id day thats likely to work for you.
8800GT is likely the same level or better.

you could try a 3850 too.

drop the fsaa and you can probably make do with a X1800XT or a 7900GT
 
It depends on where you're talking about ingame, frame rate wise. I have the machine in spec, and whilst the average frame rate is ~100+, it does drop below 60 sometimes when lots of stuff is going on, for example shattrath.
 
I would probably try for a second hand 8800gtx should be able to handle the res better but not sure how that x4 lane will affect the performance. Think the 8800gtx second hand is going for as little as 60-80 pound.
 
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I would except that 4x lane to seriously limit any of the newer cards to be honest, so probably try to get a cheap 8800gt?
 
Thanks looks like a 8800GT or 3870 is looking good. also to complicate things, the pc only has a 305watt PSU will these cards be ok with that psu?
 
Probably not officially but it should be fine with the 8800GT, can't guarantee it will run at full capacity though, it depends a lot on the amps of the PSU.
 
305W might not be up the task for those, and anyways, neither of them is needed to play WoW.... it will run on everything maxed without prob at 1900XT :/.

Save your cash and get some cheap silent 3850, tons more than enough.


And on the side note I wouldnt be going back to WoW, the game has become rubbish recently :/, waste of time.
 
Get a 3870, can still buy them new for £54 ish and ATI cards aren't as hampered by PCI-E bandwidth as much as nVidia's.

WoW isn't a very graphics demanding game and prefers more CPU/RAM anyway.
 
Unless your VRAM limited (which could be an issue at 1920x) you could probably get away with a 8800GS (and its cheaper than the others). I know someone playing it at 1280x1024 on an 8800GS with 4x FSAA and they get really good framerates - generally 90+.
 
WoW isn't a very graphics demanding game and prefers more CPU/RAM anyway.
Sorry to drag this topic up from the depths, but I've got a similar question to that of the OP and wondered how accurate this above statement was. I'm currently running WoW on the system below and I'd really like to get the graphics cranked up as good as I can get them while still being able to keep the frame rate as high as possible.

Asus A8N SLI Premium / Opty 165 / 2GB RAM / GeForce 7900GT / Dell 2407WFP / XP Pro

What would I need to upgrade so I could run WoW at 1920 x 1200 with all the bells and whistles? Or at least as many of them as is feasible.
 
Sorry to drag this topic up from the depths, but I've got a similar question to that of the OP and wondered how accurate this above statement was. I'm currently running WoW on the system below and I'd really like to get the graphics cranked up as good as I can get them while still being able to keep the frame rate as high as possible.

Asus A8N SLI Premium / Opty 165 / 2GB RAM / GeForce 7900GT / Dell 2407WFP / XP Pro

What would I need to upgrade so I could run WoW at 1920 x 1200 with all the bells and whistles? Or at least as many of them as is feasible.

Hi there, I used to have a system very similar to yours, and I found that WoW is surprisingly CPU limited. If you can get the cash together to go for a P35 board, and a second hand Intel Core2/Quad CPU and 3/4GB and clock the nuts off it. Im playing at 50-100fps (usually closer to 100fps) with my system in spec, with 8x AA and 1920x1200 :) Adjust the AA down, and you'd probably get away with something weaker, but WoW definately appreciated the CPU upgrade.

If you could somehow afford 3GB DDR2, p45 4850 and a current Intel and clock the nuts off, I think you'd be really happy with the performance. If you look secondhand you could probably get that lot for £200-250 and it'd perform a whole lot nicer in other games too.

If you can't afford that, I'd suggest replacing your CPU etc first, and getting say a 3850 on the cheap, you could probably do that for £175ish (55 for the 3850, 40 for the CPU, £40 for the mobo, 40 for the memory), and thats based on current new prices, and it'd still be stronger than what you've got seriously :)
 
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Hi there, I used to have a system very similar to yours, and I found that WoW is surprisingly CPU limited.

Why is it surprising? There's no way on earth the graphics are still going to be the bottleneck of the game after all this time.

Supposedly, WoW IS multi-core supported so if you can even snag a Q6600 for a good price you'll be laughing.
 
Why is it surprising? There's no way on earth the graphics are still going to be the bottleneck of the game after all this time.

Supposedly, WoW IS multi-core supported so if you can even snag a Q6600 for a good price you'll be laughing.

It's surprising as you'd be amazed how much more playable some areas of the game become when you up your CPU speed, most people tend to focus on the graphics card, but there was a highly noticeable difference even going from X2 overclocked setup, to a Core2Quad, so its surprising in that a lot of games dont benefit as much as WoW does at high res :)
 
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