New graphics card or whole new system?

[Zizix]

Hello. the past few days I have been having trouble with WoW. Tuesday night we raided like normal then I went and tried to do my garrison missions. When I got to the shipyard command table The screen turned all rainbow colors then turned to a black screen. Nothing was responding so I had to turn the tower off by holding down the power button. Ever since then this is repeatedly happening. Sometimes after only 30 seconds sometimes up to 10 minutes. I have posted in the wow forums and on our guild website and most people think that my video card is going out. So I am wanting to get some more opinions and if that is what it is then get some reccomendations on a new card.

Computer specs using the Speccy program:

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i5 2500K @ 3.30GHz 37 °C
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. P67A-UD4 (Socket 1155) 30 °C
Graphics
P215H (1920x1080@60Hz)
767MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 (EVGA) 30 °C
Storage
931GB Western Digital WDC WD1002FAEX-00Y9A0 ATA Device (SATA) 30 °C
Optical Drives
ATAPI iHAS124 B ATA Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

A couple people have told me to get a EVGA GeForce GTX 960 card. one of my guildies said that it is a great card but to make sure I have a pci express 3.0 slot. I see I have 2 pci express 2.0 slots but see nothing about 3.0. So will this card work with what I have? If not please recommend a card for me. I wold like to stay under $200 if possible. I could go to $225 max if I really had to. I would like something that is available at a best buy or other electronics store so I do not have to wait on shipping =)

Another thing people have recommended is that I up my RAM to 8 GB. I have no idea how to go about this. I know I have 4 but no idea how to see if I have more slots or what size sticks I have now.

Thank you for any help .

Bobby

[DeltrusDisc]

I'd say get a new GPU and if you could, just add 4GB more of RAM.

You have a 64 bit OS, no reason to be using such a small amount of RAM! That's a hindrance to that lovely 2500K and even the 460! =/

As far as the 960 goes... no, the PCI-E 3.0 slot is not necessary, your guildie had the right intentions, but doesn't know that PCI-E 3.0 is backwards compatible!

The 960 is a great option, you can find it fairly easy nowadays for less than $200!

[Deleted]

RAM is the likely killer - you're trying to run a 64bit OS on 4GB - you're meant to have that much just for the OS let alone any programs you also want to run.

Get 2x 4GB sticks and aim for faster ones - id recommend 2xhttp://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16820145322 or one of their more expensive versions.

You likely have 2x 2GB sticks in currently - they're incredibly simple to replace, just press the switch next to the ram to remove then put the replacement where it was.

You could upgrade the graphics card too although I'm not sure it'd make a huge difference if all you do is play wow

[anakin57]

If $200 is your budget, then video card it is unless you really need an entirely new rig.

[DeltrusDisc]

RAM is the likely killer - you're trying to run a 64bit OS on 4GB - you're meant to have that much just for the OS let alone any programs you also want to run.

Get 2x 4GB sticks and aim for faster ones - id recommend 2xhttp://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16820145322 or one of their more expensive versions.

You likely have 2x 2GB sticks in currently - they're incredibly simple to replace, just press the switch next to the ram to remove then put the replacement where it was.

You could upgrade the graphics card too although I'm not sure it'd make a huge difference if all you do is play wow

The best way to get him more RAM is to get him more RAM that's the same as what he has, not toss the old RAM. He could go 2x2GB+2x4GB, even. He has a Gigabyte P67 UD4, which has 4 DIMM slots, he might as well fill them up.


As far as GPU, a new GPU would make a difference in WoW. WoW isn't the same as it was back in 2010 when the GTX 460 launched. Hell his 460 doesn't even have 1GB of VRAM... a new GPU would work wonders for WoW, believe it or not. I noticed quite a difference going from a 560 Ti to a 760, so for him to go from a 460 to 960 would be pretty hefty. WoW is in fact a more GPU-heavy game now than it used to be, however it is still very CPU-dependent.

$200-225 could net him 4GB more RAM and a 960 and he'd likely be seeing some pretty incredible improvements in how his rig runs.

Or he could wait on the RAM, save more money, and get a larger size of RAM, however don't go around telling people "just buy their more expensive RAM" because that's not as helpful. For one, the P67 chipset and Sandybridge CPUs really see no benefit from RAM above 1600MHz, so he should aim for larger RAM. Hell, I'm sure there's a lovely BIOS update for his board that would allow him to get 2x8GB 1600MHz sticks in there... that would be lovely.

It would be helpful if OP could let us know the voltage of his current RAM so we can make sure to get RAM that won't have issues with his current RAM. At the point he's at, I wouldn't say he should be replacing RAM. He has anywhere from 2-3 slots open, so we should fill those up, as like I said, he could go 2x2+2x4GB sticks.

If $200 is your budget, then video card it is unless you really need an entirely new rig.

He really doesn't need an entirely new rig because the i5-2500K is still and will remain a very strong gaming CPU for several more years to come.

[Nellah]

Agreed with the others, more RAM and a fast GPU. A GTX 960 and 8GB RAM would be solid and would hardly stretch the budget, if at all. Get a 4GB stick or two 2GB sticks, whichever are cheaper; leaving one slot open does keep better options open for more RAM in the future. The motherboard supports 8GB sticks right off the bat, according to Gigabyte's website, so you could always give/sell the 4GB set you have now to a friend and toss an 8GB stick in there to keep compatibility issues down.

[DeltrusDisc]

One slot open/using only one or three sticks would mean his RAM would be running in single channel and we definitely don't want that.

If he has 2x2GB right now, then he should get either 2x2 or 2x4GB, whichever he can afford, to work with his current RAM.
If he's running one stick, then he should get 1 or 3 total sticks more.

[Artorius]

Sincerely speaking, we're talking about a 1/2 FPS decrease from not using Dual Channel with current DDR2+ memory frequencies...
Sure, avoid single channel unless necessary, but it's not really a big of a deal.

Some benchmarks.

I agree on going to at least 8gb, which is the standard now and should set him safe.

[DeltrusDisc]

He has a 2500K, he needn't bottleneck it by going backwards.

[Zizix]

Hello everyone. thanks for all the input so far. Looking at the 2 RAM sticks in there now they say Corsair CMP4GX3M2A1600C9. Then under that in small type it says 4GB(2X2GB) 1600 MHz 1.65V Ver 7.1 . I have 2 open slots left.

[Master Guns]

new GPU and more RAM IMO.

[Zizix]

So I should get either 2 sticks of 2BG 1600 MHz or 2 sticks of 4GB 1600 MHz RAM? Will the difference with the extra be a big change? I will be leaving in about an hour to go buy all this so any last minute advice or opinions is appreciated.

[DeltrusDisc]

Make sure your RAM that you buy is also 1.65V@1600, CAS Latency 9.

[Spl4sh3r]

I tend to go graphics card, then later system (-gpu)

[Nellah]

Sincerely speaking, we're talking about a 1/2 FPS decrease from not using Dual Channel with current DDR2+ memory frequencies...
Sure, avoid single channel unless necessary, but it's not really a big of a deal.

Some benchmarks.

I agree on going to at least 8gb, which is the standard now and should set him safe.

Literally the exact page I came back to link.

The Pentium 4 was the last chip that really NEEDED dual-channel memory. The Core 2 Duo benefited from it, but modern CPUs don't nearly as much. Of course since the price difference is marginal, OP might as well populate with two more 4GB sticks. Then when he wants to upgrade in the future he can throw away his 2x2GB set and get some more.

[Master Guns]

Yeah..as with a lot of things that people on this forum "say" you need to do, dual channel memory is really just a spreadsheet difference and has no practical noticeable difference whatsoever and virtually no performance gain at all.

[Zizix]

Ok guys. some issues have came up. I bought and installed the card and Ram. then went to turn it on and it would come on for a couple seconds then turn off, then turn on for a couple sec, then off. repeating. I googled this and the most common reason was a not big enough power supply. I have never done anything with one of those and not sure how to do all the wiring so I took it too a best buy and had their Geek Squad put in an 800 watt power supply. They then turned it on and it was still doing the turn on/ turn off cycling still. So they took it out and put my original one back in. and basically told me that they have no idea what is wrong. but they could replace parts till they figured it out. I told them to basically F-off and brought it back home. I have now put back in the original graphics card and took out the added ram and it will power up now. have not tried to game with it. So just wondering if this does sound like a power supply issue. and if so how do I find out the size I have and what size I need to get this working.

Thank you for all the help so far.

- - - Updated - - -

I looked up how to find the wattage and it says there should be a sticker on the power supply. I do not see one. the only numbers I see are on the back where the power cord plugs into it says Seasonic 100-240VAC. Not sure if this will help at all/ lol

[Jtbrig7390]

I looked up how to find the wattage and it says there should be a sticker on the power supply. I do not see one. the only numbers I see are on the back where the power cord plugs into it says Seasonic 100-240VAC. Not sure if this will help at all/ lol

First off never use geek squad they are a fucken joke. I fixed a churchs computers that geek squad had no clue what was wrong. The problem was half needed HD's the other half needed RAM.

Second. Sounds like one of the RAM chips may have been bad try putting the card in but keep ur original ram. If it turns on fine then its clearly not the card. If that doesn't work then do it the other way around. So you can rule out if its those parts. If it happens on both then good chance it isn't ether and you could need a new PSU.

Give me a moment ill search ur PSU.

Edit: From what I could find your PSU may be the 430watt one therefor you will need a upgrade to be safe. Is ur PC like store bought (Wal-mart style) or did you build it urself. Sorry if I missed you saying this.

[Lillaidioten]

Try to uninstall the old gpu drivers (with the old gpu) there are loads of guides out there. When you are done with that just swap out the old gpu for the new one.

[Zizix]

Edit: From what I could find your PSU may be the 430watt one therefor you will need a upgrade to be safe. Is ur PC like store bought (Wal-mart style) or did you build it urself. Sorry if I missed you saying this.

I had this tower built from parts that were picked from threads here and on the wow forums. It is about 4-5 years old.