Have to upgrade?

[Verrayne]

Hi everyone, I know quite a bit when it comes to hardware but recently I feel stumped and powerless to the powers that are blizzard. I do want to play cataclysm on full settings with at least 60fps.

My current PC is as follows.

CPU: Intel Q6600 (OC to 3ghz, aircooling)
Mobo: Asus P5-NT Deluxe 780i
PSU: Coolermaster M700W
Ram: 4GB DDR2-800
GFX: EVGA Geforce GTX280
Res: 1920x1200
OS: Windows 7



In my mind a pc like mine should have no problem running WoW on ultra settings. But it can't, I get around 20FPS in Dalaran if there are more than 2 people, normally in my playtime i would sit around 40fps. Even just chilling in a random part of the world my pc can't get more than 50FPS. I've tried setting my resolution lower but it doesn't help my fps at all. If I adjust the slider of my graphics settings to about medium then I'l start getting close to 60fps while questing yet on 25 man raids i'l still never get more than 15fps irregardless of where my gfx settings are at.

Now there are 2 things that I thought might be the problem here, I just want your input before I go out and spend thousands of dollars.

1. Cpu is a bottleneck for my graphics card, but i always hear that wow isn't gfx intensive.
2. My psu is a squealer, when my gfx begins to come a bit under load the capacitors on psu make a horrible noise. Everyone has told it's my gfx that makes the noise but I concluded it is the psu, can it be under powering my system (I really don't think so, but it could be a dud)

I really need some advice to get my rig up to standard...

[Wries]

Do you get that 20fps performance in dalaran even with shadows set on low? Shadows at highest settings in dalaran makes a decent CPU-bottleneck. That your situation doesn't get better by lowering your res further strengthens this theory.

Also, try upping your OC on that q6600. My q8400 can handle more than 3.0 and is generally considered not to be such a decent OC'er as the q6600.

[Verrayne]

Thnx for the reply Wries.

I'l test the shadows out during the game this week and our 25man raids.

[haxartus]

GTX280 is good enough for Cataclysm on Ultra. Regardless of the overclock, Q6600 is a big bottleneck for the graphic card and ever bigger in WoW. If you have low fps somewhere - it's because of the CPU.

[B@nj0 P3do]

but, the GTX280 dont have DX11 support, so the computer wouldnt get help with the GPU doing some of the calculating job and then having the CPU beeing less effective

[Dethh]

The PSU wont affect your fps either its powering the system or its not. If I heard a squealing from it I would fix/replace it anyway. The only thing I could think of is your processor is the bottleneck there.

[Moobious]

1. Cpu is a bottleneck for my graphics card, but i always hear that wow isn't gfx intensive.
2. My psu is a squealer, when my gfx begins to come a bit under load the capacitors on psu make a horrible noise. Everyone has told it's my gfx that makes the noise but I concluded it is the psu, can it be under powering my system (I really don't think so, but it could be a dud)

1.) Wow isn't graphics intensive - it's processor intensive. Very processor intensive. Your system should do quite well on GPU bound games like shooters but for wow processor is king. Better performance will be found by upping the processing capabilities of your system. You can get small gains with over clocking but to see anything major it's time for a new chip, board and ram.

2.) Bad PSUs are notorious for taking out other components and many of the CM psus haven't reviewed well when their circuitry is tested. Just buy a decent PSU already. Antec and OCZ (along with quite a few others) offer reasonably priced PSUs that review well (for psu reviews I only trust hardware secrets, I haven't found another bench marker that goes through a PSU like HWS).

[Verrayne]

Thnx for all the input guys, I have been thinking about upgrading for some time so i'm just going to get myself a new system.Hopefully i'l get a decent price for my things...

This is just the confirmation that I need to get that shiny Core i5 760

As for the PSU the M700W is notorious for it's capacitor squeal under load.