New Computer help: Low fps.

[Faylinne]

My old computer was a pre-built that I upgraded the graphics card and power supply.

Let's see.. HP, AMD Athlon II 630 Quad, 4GB DDR3, some crappy ATI integrated graphics.. that's about all I remember. Picked it up about three years ago?

I put in a Nvidia GeForce 9800GT and better power supply/cooling.. no idea what kind, but it got the job done.

Now it served my well for the last three years, but I wanted a bit more. I was struggling to run Skype and WoW at the same time, etc. So the other day my dad's computer blew and he decided to get me a newer one and to take mine since he didn't need much. My new one's nice, but my fps is total crap.

This one's is.. uh, Asus, AMD A8, 12GB 4G*3, and Radeon HD 8350?

Any chance I could pop out my Nvidia and put it my new one as a temporary fix to boost my fps? I know a newer card would be better, but he just laid out the cash for the computer, I'd hate to ask anything more. Or am I missing something else?

Oh, yeah, I know building one from scratch would be great but hey, when you're not buying, you don't get to pick. That'll come later, lol.

[vesseblah]

Yes, you can throw the old 9800GT into the new computer but dont expect miracles because A8 is only about 10-15% faster than Athlon2 630 in WoW and closer to sidegrade than real upgrade.

Changing one low cost AMD for another does not really help when there's a good reason Intel is recommended to play MMORPGs.

[dusi]

Yes, you can throw the old 9800GT into the new computer but dont expect miracles because A8 is only about 10-15% faster than Athlon2 630 in WoW and closer to sidegrade than real upgrade.

Changing one low cost AMD for another does not really help when there's a good reason Intel is recommended to play MMORPGs.

Changing one low cost AMD for another will in this case really help, since the actual problem mentioned and the reason for upgrade was running "Skype and WoW at the same timer ,etc". While not that much better for purely WoW, it's alot better overall.

Edit: Theres obviously more then one kind of A8 aswell, hard to tell anything with just A8.

Anyway, back on topic. If the fps dropped when you switch to your new computer and the graphic settings are set the same, then you'll probably get that and a little more back if you switch graphic cards.

[vesseblah]

Changing one low cost AMD for another will in this case really help, since the actual problem mentioned and the reason for upgrade was running "Skype and WoW at the same timer ,etc". While not that much better for purely WoW, it's alot better overall.

Skype's processor usage is nearly zero so it's a non-issue when it comes to multitasking. 99% of people (including you) have no clue whatsoever what is actually required to put some serious strain on extra cores and think more cores is automatically better while it couldn't be further from the truth. Also both A8 and AthlonII x4 have four cores so your argument is pointless anyway.

You need to remember that A8 line are the APUs that are meant for low power low cost computers, expecting some serious computing performance from one isn't realistic.

Edit: Theres obviously more then one kind of A8 aswell, hard to tell anything with just A8.

A8-38 series is about 5% faster than the Athlon2 630, A8-58 series 20% faster, hence the 10-15% range in my post above.

[dusi]

Skype's processor usage is nearly zero so it's a non-issue when it comes to multitasking. 99% of people (including you) have no clue whatsoever what is actually required to put some serious strain on extra cores and think more cores is automatically better while it couldn't be further from the truth. Also both A8 and AthlonII x4 have four cores so your argument is pointless anyway.

You need to remember that A8 line are the APUs that are meant for low power low cost computers, expecting some serious computing performance from one isn't realistic.



A8-38 series is about 5% faster than the Athlon2 630, A8-58 series 20% faster, hence the 10-15% range in my post above.

Perhaps I took it one step too far, but Im imagining that it's the "etc" part that is actually using the "power" which slows the computer down. Now that I think of it, it probably wasnt the cpu causing that. Also I nowhere mentioned that extra cores is automatically better so I'm not sure where you caught wind of that.

Point still stands though. 20% is quite an upgrade and 5% is pretty much a sidegrade. Without knowing which series we can't tell.

[vesseblah]

Also I nowhere mentioned that extra cores is automatically better so I'm not sure where you caught wind of that.

Implied in the "skype, wow etc" part... Everybody thinks running few voice chat programs, having some porn video open in web browser and stuff like that on other screen qualifies for heavy-duty multitasking where you'd need heavy-duty processor which is simply wrong. It's multitasking for user allright, but from computer hardware's point of view it's yawnfest.

Problem for OP is that WoW (and all other MMORPGs) requires shitloads of raw CPU power to run any group content. Running things like skype on the side don't matter one bit, it's the low power low cost AMD processor which is the problem. And the graphics card of course as mentioned in posts above. Truth is that both are seriously limiting to OP and changing one or the other even for a small 20% upgrade won't do shit.

Point still stands though. 20% is quite an upgrade and 5% is pretty much a sidegrade. Without knowing which series we can't tell.

20% over 10fps is 12fps which is still borderline unplayable and not worth a penny in 'upgrades' even if it's 20% difference. 10fps is pretty close to what I estimate OP getting with hardware like that at any settings above minimum.

[dusi]

Implied in the "skype, wow etc" part... Everybody thinks running few voice chat programs, having some porn video open in web browser and stuff like that on other screen qualifies for heavy-duty multitasking where you'd need heavy-duty processor which is simply wrong. It's multitasking for user allright, but from computer hardware's point of view it's yawnfest.

Problem for OP is that WoW (and all other MMORPGs) requires shitloads of raw CPU power to run any group content. Running things like skype on the side don't matter one bit, it's the low power low cost AMD processor which is the problem. And the graphics card of course as mentioned in posts above. Truth is that both are seriously limiting to OP and changing one or the other even for a small 20% upgrade won't do shit.



20% over 10fps is 12fps which is still borderline unplayable and not worth a penny in 'upgrades' even if it's 20% difference. 10fps is pretty close to what I estimate OP getting with hardware like that at any settings above minimum.

I guess I'm not "everybody" then. I admit I did overimply things without knowing facts, but so do you, so let's leave it at that.

Obviously there's plenty of room for improvement on this computer but from the stated facts a whole new computer was needed and not just an upgrade of a current system. If they got their moneys worth is another topic of discussion.

A 20% upgrade will do shit, it will do 20%! If thats much or nothing depends on what you do and what you run. It would seem that there was not much choice involved in this. Also I'm pretty sure OP would get plenty more then 10 fps with that setup on minimal settings.

[chazus]

The nvidia 9800 is a marginal upgrade from the ATI 3850. And by 'marginal' I mean... Maybe 5-10%. MAYBE. You're replacing 6 year old technology with 5 year old technology. The A8 CPU is... better? By a little as well, but WoW will still struggle in raids to keep above 30fps, regardless of settings.

So, do answer the question, yes you can probably use the 9800 in the system, given you have the power cables for it. You probably won't notice a difference though.

[Dasffion]

The nvidia 9800 is a marginal upgrade from the ATI 3850. And by 'marginal' I mean... Maybe 5-10%. MAYBE. You're replacing 6 year old technology with 5 year old technology. The A8 CPU is... better? By a little as well, but WoW will still struggle in raids to keep above 30fps, regardless of settings.

So, do answer the question, yes you can probably use the 9800 in the system, given you have the power cables for it. You probably won't notice a difference though.

He didn't say 3850, he said 8350, which is a budget card that shouldn't be used for much more than video playback. Certainly not for gaming. It's the cheapest card you can get in the 8000 series. It's most certainly the cause of his low FPS. The 9800 should perform a good deal better in most situations, although that's not saying much considering how poorly the 8350 performs. It would still probably be better to spend $100-150 on a more recent card.

Here's a comparison on the 8350 vs the 9800
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-83...eForce-GT-9800
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-HD-83...Force-9800-GX2

[chazus]

Ah, yeah. I got confused there. The 8350 is just a rebadged 5450. It's... barely even a video card. However, even though it's a weak card, the 9800 is -still- 5 years old. Again... you're not gonna get much of a difference out of them. Picking the shiniest of two turds, here.