New comp vs new GPU vs a windows reinstall?

[stians]

Hey guys!

First of all I just have to say that I am pretty much clueless when it comes to computers (at least hardware). Therefore I have come here for some advice

I've noticed that my current computer is getting slower (I believe it is 2 or 3 years old now), and I am down to 10-20 fps in crowded areas or big battles while playing wow (with most settings set to medium). Sometimes even lower. So to give you a clue of what my current setup is like..:

Acer Aspire M5640 (Vista Home Premium 32bit)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
RAM: 4Gb
GPU: nVidia GeForce 9600 GT
I'm running a 1920x1080 resolution if it matters :P

..anything else you need to know?


So, my question to you guys is; should I buy a new graphics card (or change some other parts?), should I buy a completely new computer, or should my setup run WoW on ultra with 60+ fps if I reinstall windows?


Thanks in advance for helping a clueless guy :P


Edit: Just editing to say thanks a lot for the quick replies. I'll think it over a bit, then I'll see how much money I really bother spending.

[vesseblah]

You might get small increase with getting new graphics card and reinstalling windows, but any significant boost to fps requires buying whole new computer.

[chaud]

New GPU and overclocking would help, but you are playing at a high resolution. Turn down AA and shadows to the minimum and make sure your drivers are up to date. If you do reinstall windows, install the 64 bit version.

[Deleted]

I have that same card man: the nVidia 9600GT and let me tell you, that is not a gaming card. It is for photo and video editing and thus, you will never run WoW on Ultra with 60+ frames unless you go dance in The Barrens. That card is particularly horrible with shadows, so for starters you will have to put them to a minimum. I'll give you my configuration which I rarely change exept for some boss fights. I've never been a fan of shadows anyway so having the setting perma-minimum doesn't bother me at all. My feeling is likewise for things such as Multisampling / Anti-Aliasing / Texture Filtering. So here it is:

-Multisampling -> 1x (I don't really notice any difference between 1x through 8x so for me, having this setting anywhere above 1x is not worth the performance sacrificed.)

-Vertical Sync -> Disabled (Severely reduces framerate. This option only works well when you can have more than 60fps ALWAYS. When the card reduces your fps below 60, having this setting on cripples your fps even more.)

-Texture Resolution -> High (The impact in performance of having this setting on high is negligible, so you can always have it on max.)

-Texture Filtering -> Trilinear (Like I said I'm an enemy of shadows and "reduces jagged edges" settings, so I never go to anisotropic and just leave it Trilinear.)

-Projected Textures -> Enabled

-View Distance -> Fair (If you go any higher than Fair, the card won't handle it and drastically reduce your framerate.)

-Environment Detail -> Personal Preference (The impact of this setting does not affect performance overmuch, so you can basically choose where you put it. Personally I leave it on Good because seeing so many objects on the ground sometimes makes it look ugly and over-detailed.)

-Ground Clutter -> Fair/Good (This setting expands the radius in which you can see the objects produced by Environment Detail. Depending on how high your setting of Environment Detail, you may want to leave this setting in Fair.)

-Shadow Quality -> Low (Put it any higher than Low and you will immediately notice the drop in fps. Horrible Shader I tell you!)

-Liquid Detail -> Ultra (This card actually can handle the shiny pretty well, be it on a capital city or in a big body of water. Enjoy Blizz's only graphic improvement that I've actually loved in the past 3 years! )

-Sunshafts -> Low (If you contrapose your character against the sun [or any light source], you'll see a nice effect to it, adding the game more realism than light simply passing through your character. Sadly, if you set it to high, the performance sacrifice isn't worth the juice obtained, even if said fps drop is not that great.)

-Particle Density -> Variable (This setting can make the game look good but can really cripple not only the game's performance, but your raiding/pvp'ing performance in 25man raids and BG's. Generally, for capital cities/leveling/5man dungeons/arenas I leave it on Ultra. I have to put it in Good/High in 10mans and a definite Good in a 25man. That AoE sucks, mon! )

You have a beast PC and the only thing that causes you some bottlenecks is the 32-bit OS on a 64-bit Processor, and the graphics card. You really should upgrade the graphics card considering it is also very old, and new, badass models keep coming out. Having 8GB of RAM will most certainly help, but consider upgrading the graphics card top priority. Visit the nVidia site and use the "help me choose" tool. You will notice that because of your resolution, you will need some high end graphics card. Also, just for a note to you, your computer can handle a dual slot 12" card, as that is the approximate measurement of the 9600GT. Bulky moffo for such a crappy card, sadly. You really have to know your Power Supply's Watts capacity. As a rule of thumb, if it's a generic brand, subtract 100-200W from what it says it can give. If it's a good brand like Antec or Thermaltake you are generally safe if your setup consumes 50-100W more than what the PSU says it can give, but it's always in your best interest not to go higher, as a PC under stress consumes more Wattage than an idle one.

Sorry for condensing so much imformation like this but I was in a hurry and wanted to help a fellow 9600GT user that suffers the same frustrations I do with the card haha. Cheers.