Cataclysm Video Card

[Deceit]

So, I'm generalizing too much, yet you say a CPU is more beneficial IF they already have a decent GPU? Isn't that exactly what I said but the opposite?

I said, If someone has at least a dual core CPU @ 2.0Ghz+, that a GPU would show a higher increase in performance than a CPU upgrade? Pot kettle black

And AMD released dual cores in December of 2003 in desktops and that's when they just became readily available to the mass public, so that's 7 years ago, pretty close to my 10 year off the cuff suggestion.

My whole point was, most computers that are in circulation today already have a decent CPU and that a large % of the time, "decent" CPU's are sold with very poor GPU's or even onboard GPU's, which would lead us to believe that more people would benefit most from upgrading their GPU.

[Azul]

just a quick question would my system bottleneck if i have a Q6600 at stock 2.4ghz and if i was to get a hd5850?

[Deceit]

Most likely you would bottleneck, but not much. When I had my Q6600, I tested it at 3.6Ghz and at stock with a gtx295 and it only gained an average of 7 FPS from 2.4ghz to 3.6ghz

[Vandrel]

So, I'm generalizing too much, yet you say a CPU is more beneficial IF they already have a decent GPU? Isn't that exactly what I said but the opposite?

I said, If someone has at least a dual core CPU @ 2.0Ghz+, that a GPU would show a higher increase in performance than a CPU upgrade? Pot kettle black

And AMD released dual cores in December of 2003 in desktops and that's when they just became readily available to the mass public, so that's 7 years ago, pretty close to my 10 year off the cuff suggestion.

Yes, what I said is pretty much exactly the opposite of what you said except what I said is right in relation to performance in WoW. In many cases, you would be right that a better GPU would give a bigger framerate increase. That doesn't hold true with WoW, however.
I said the Pentium Ds were in 2005, I said nothing about AMD's dual cores because I couldn't remember off the top of my head. Oh, and 2003 is closer to 2005 than 2000. Just sayin =)


People seem to miss this alot, so I'll throw this link here for further reference since people seem to be asking about what to buy a lot: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ld-I-Build-Buy

[Simca]

This is why GPU upgrades will result in a much greater increase in performance.

Your GPU is very poor, but your CPU is very good, which means your limited by your GPU's performance.

You would see an incredible increase in fps by installing a gtx460, it's around $160.

There's actually something wrong with his system though. I have almost an identical setup with a WORSE processor (same graphics card) and I'm running near max-FPS at almost all times.

I would try updating your video drivers for sure, try several different driver builds.

[Azul]

Most likely you would bottleneck, but not much. When I had my Q6600, I tested it at 3.6Ghz and at stock with a gtx295 and it only gained an average of 7 FPS from 2.4ghz to 3.6ghz

would it be anything noticable? at this point i need something better then a 4670 and can power multiple monitors eyefinity, but later down the line i will get a i7

[Deceit]

I'm sorry Vandrel, but you're completely wrong in this time and age. Most normal people buy their computers from big box stores, they purchase a computer from $400-$800 dollars, those computers almost always include a dual core processor that run at decent speed. These computers almost always have terrible GPU's, if they even have a dedicated GPU. So to generalize, MOST people, at this time, who have purchased a computer since World Of Warcraft was released(2004 1 year after dual core CPU's were popular in desktops), would benefit most from a GPU upgrade.

[Simca]

would it be anything noticable? at this point i need something better then a 4670 and can power multiple monitors eyefinity, but later down the line i will get a i7

If you keep it running at stock with multiple monitors, slightly. You should not have any issues bumping it up to something reasonable like 2.8 though.

Honestly, most of the people in this thread would most benefit from a Solid State Disk more than a GPU or CPU upgrade, especially the guy with an i7 and a 240 GTS.

Hard drives are mostly overlooked, but they are usually the largest bottleneck in computer systems now.

[Deceit]

would it be anything noticable? at this point i need something better then a 4670 and can power multiple monitors eyefinity, but later down the line i will get a i7

A 5850 would do you fine for running dual monitors, if I had to guess, from the Overclocking I did with Q6600's you would gain a maximum 10-15 FPS by increasing your CPU speed and I don't mean by buying a stock I7920 at 2.67ghz, I mean @ 4.0ghz+.

With WoW I noticed that after a certain CPU speed, the performance increase did not warrant the extra heat from overclocking, like I said, going from 2.4ghz to 3.6ghz I noticed only an fps increase of 7fps, which for nearly doubling speed, is a terrible performance/heat increase ratio.

[Azul]

If you keep it running at stock with multiple monitors, slightly. You should not have any issues bumping it up to something reasonable like 2.8 though.

ive been wanting to overclock this cpu but iam still a noob at it, i was unlucky when i got this its the b3 chip... i think thats the the one

[Xai]

Think ill see much of an increase going from my current QX6850 with 2x 8800 ultras to an I7 980x with dual 480s? With wow being mostly processor and all I mean.

[Dedweight]

FYI: This will be my new computer build when I get back from the desert..
ASUS P58XD MB, 6GB Corsair Dominator CAS L 7, Nvidia 480, 256GB SSD, 1K TB WD Caviar Black HDD, i7-960 3.2GHz, 1.2K Watt PSU.
Those are the basic components I have and I'm waiting till I return from overseas before purchasing a high end monitor and 2nd 480 card ftw.

A 1K TB hard drive? O.o Are you from the future? If you are mind grabbing me one of those beastly drives? Would love to have 1000 Terabytes(read 1 million gigabytes) of storage. :P

In all seriousness though the 480 should be plenty. I'm running an HD4850, which is about the equivalent of an 200 series Geforce card, with max settings currently and I'm sure it'll perform very similar in Cata if the PTR has any bearing on lives performance. Only problem I have with my card is that it doesn't have DX11 support which I hopefully can have remedied by Cata launch.

[Simca]

A 5850 would do you fine for running dual monitors, if I had to guess, from the Overclocking I did with Q6600's you would gain a maximum 10-15 FPS by increasing your CPU speed and I don't mean by buying a stock I7920 at 2.67ghz, I mean @ 4.0ghz+.

CPU speed is not the only important spec of a processor. A newer "tick" processor will always perform better than the last generation due to optimizations, increased cache size, and additional features (Intel's overclocking on the fly).

As such, you can't make linear comparisons about FPS gain from CPU speed across generations. It just doesn't work.

[Deceit]

You'd see a very good increase, because WoW doesn't currently utilize SLI, so you're basically running WoW right now with one 8800ultra. You would notice the largest increase by just taking those dual 8800's out and putting in a single 480, until we know if Cataclysm will benefit from dual GPUs.

[Shifthappens]

i would stay away from GTX 480, they r SUPER hot, power hungry and very very noisy , get 2 GTX 460s 1gig in SLI and ull be set for any game out there while it will cost u only about $400 (for both)

i have 2 460s 1G they kill HD5970 and GT480 while much quiter and taking less electricity

wow in raid on maximum 50-60 fps, while fight going on, Crysis Warhead on Maximum (2x AA) 50-60 fps as well.

EDIT: yes WoW doesnt support SLI atm, but u will still notice performcance boost by having 2 cards and i heard it will be supported in Cata

my PC

i7 980X 3.33 overclocked to 4.05GHZ (on Air)
Patriot 9-9-9-27 2000MHZ 12G DDR-3
Gigabyte X58-UD7
Gigabyte GTX 460 1G x2 SLI
OCZ Agility 2 SSD, 120GIGx2 RAID 0

[Deceit]

CPU speed is not the only important spec of a processor. A newer "tick" processor will always perform better than the last generation due to optimizations, increased cache size, and additional features (Intel's overclocking on the fly).

As such, you can't make linear comparisons about FPS gain from CPU speed across generations. It just doesn't work.

Of course CPU speed isn't the only thing that affects performance, lately cache size has been one of the great advancements that we've seen in CPU's, I completely agree.

But he's not going to see a huge difference (+-10 fps) switching from a stock Q6600 to a stock I7920, I assure you, I've done it.

[Eec003]

graphics are graphics....to keep high fps in mmo games you gotta have a fast as hell cpu setup. simple as that bro.

[Ägallar]

I'm sorry, but a GPU will almost always increase your performance more than a CPU unless your CPU is from 1990. There has always been this myth that WoW is more "CPU intensive" than GPU, but it's simply not true.

Having a poor GPU with a great CPU will do you no good. When I switched from my Q6600 quadcore at 2.4Ghz to my i7920 OC'd to 4.0, I barely changed in performance, because I kept the same gtx260 GPU.

GPU's are important, as long as you have a dual core 2.0+Ghz CPU(which 90% of pc's built in the last 10 years have) and at least 2gigs of ram, a GPU is your #1 way of increasing performance, I guarantee it.

As for a GPU I would get right now, nothing beats the Gtx460 for price/performance, you can get one for as low as $160 and it will play WoW on ultra minus maxing shadows.

The 460 plays with "Ultra" settings period...I don't know why you said "minus maxing shadows". I am running a single 460 on ultra and averaging 60 fps in the open world, 50 in Dalaran, and in the hundreds in instances, etc.

[Ldygaga]

There's actually something wrong with his system though. I have almost an identical setup with a WORSE processor (same graphics card) and I'm running near max-FPS at almost all times.

I would try updating your video drivers for sure, try several different driver builds.

whether you were or were not referring to me, I'm going ahead and attempting to update drivers just in-case that is the case.

I'am attempting to run at "ultra" settings as well I don't know if you are.

[Deceit]

The 460 plays with "Ultra" settings period...I don't know why you said "minus maxing shadows". I am running a single 460 on ultra and averaging 60 fps in the open world, 50 in Dalaran, and in the hundreds in instances, etc.

Your resolution would help here.

Also, I'd bet 100 bucks ya can't post a screenshot in dalaran with max shadows, with people around at 50 fps, I'm betting we see a 28-36 fps.