Component Upgrade or Settings Help

[DMFlash]

Hello

Long time lurker through the various fourms here, first time posting and I need some help with my current setup. My current pc can be described as middle of the road, but lately I have been having some concerns with WoW. I have always had erratic framerates, and with the new expansion coming I want to see what i can do to make it consistant. Current, I run on a mix of "High" and "Ultra" in WoW, and while standing still I jump from 38-50 fps, and then when moving or turning quickly it will drop down to <30, and jump up and down pretty quickly. This is without addons currently, and just google chrome running in the background.

My question is, with my current setup, should I take the wallet out and upgrade some components, or is there something that I can do software wise that I just havent realized. My current hardward is such:

Power: 600w Cosair
CPU: Intel Core Duo Quad at 2.4ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte (sorry I cant recall what the model is off hand)
Ram: 4gb (2x2) DDR2
Graphics: Powercolor ATI Raddeon HD 6870 (1gb vram, 900mhz)
HD: WD 1tb SATA at 9200 rpm

The motherboard/cpu/ram is the dated equipment of course, which may be where my problem really lies. What would you suggest? Thanks in advance for your help.

Ps. I should mention that I would perfer to play with at least high settings in WoW, as I am aware that i can bring the slider down and get good frames, you just lose all the pretty!

[demonskies]

Before making any big purchases if you cant spend a lot I would get more ram and OC the processor. If you have about 350~ I would get an i5 3570k w/Z77 board and 8Gb ddr3 1600 mhz ram those 3 pieces will make life alot nicer.

[DMFlash]

Hmm, that doesn't seem to unreasonable to upgrade. I figured upgrades would probably be the best action to take, rather then some idiot mode on the computer. Demon, with the setup you have in your sig, what kind of frames are you running? Thanks for the response as well.

[demonskies]

I run at a conistent 60 fps on ultra but have to turn shadows off during 25 mans cause it will drop it to 30ish and thats at 1920x1080. My cpu is great but at this point I would not recommend it. Its 1st gen iseries. However, my other build at home that is my wives with a 3570k, z77, 8Gb dd3 1600 mhz, with a Sapphire 6870 rather than power color and runs WoW 25 mans 60fps on ultra, d3, skyrim, basically anything we can throw it it very decent minus maybe BF3. Thats also at stock speeds, she doesnt want me to play with it because it was such an upgrade from her old machine lol.

[DMFlash]

Sounds great all around. Plus, shadows were never that crucial anyways. I'll keep and eye on the 3570k, see if I can score any specials from newegg. Thank you very much for the insight.

[yurano]

Sounds great all around. Plus, shadows were never that crucial anyways. I'll keep and eye on the 3570k, see if I can score any specials from newegg. Thank you very much for the insight.

If you live near a Microcenter, you can get the 3570k + Mobo for $100 off.

[DMFlash]

If you live near a Microcenter, you can get the 3570k + Mobo for $100 off.

Well, thats unfortunate, I live in Florida, and theres not one. Good looking out though.