Good graphics card for running WOW on high/ultra?

[Avikur]

I currently have an NVIDIA GTS 250 - it can cope with most WOW settings on 'good' and some on high with view distance on ultra but if i try a 25 man raid or go somewhere busy like stormwind then it starts juddering and makes it impossible to play well.

I'm looking to upgrade and would like some advice on a good graphics card that can run the game on high or ultra settings and won't slow down in 25 man raids or busy areas like Stormwind. I'd like one as cheap as possible, ideally under £100 but £150 is my max,

any ideas?!!

[taekvideo]

What are the other specs of your computer? The cpu especially has a huge impact on fps/stability in towns and raids.
As for the graphics card, a 6770 will play on ultra with reduced shadows easy... or a 6870 will max it completely.

[meowN]

I've been looking around for a new card as well recently. On the nvidia side of things, it looks like the GTX460 is one of the best price/performance cards right now. I've seen some on newegg for as low as $120 after rebate. I've been hearing rumors of decent price drops though as the holidays get closer.

[Harnace]

You could get an HD6850 it costs around £160 if you don't mind paying alittle extra.

[Avikur]

thanks for the reply,

MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD MS-7388 1.0
4096 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM2' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM3' is Empty

2.30 gigahertz AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core
512 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
2048 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

---------- Post added 2011-11-08 at 09:23 PM ----------

could my cpu be the problem?

[Chingylol]

You can have a great card and wont get near ultra in a 25man. CPU is a big part. I had a athlon phenom X4, and spent 320 bucks on a GTX 570. Still didnt get a super smooth FR in a 25man with everything on ultra. Upgraded my CPU to a i7 and now its fine.

[taekvideo]

thanks for the reply,

MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD MS-7388 1.0
4096 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM2' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM3' is Empty

2.30 gigahertz AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core
512 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
2048 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250

---------- Post added 2011-11-08 at 09:23 PM ----------

could my cpu be the problem?

The cpu is terrible and old... it needs to be replaced much more urgently than your gpu.. will have a huge impact on your fps in raids/towns.
I'd recommend getting a socket 1155 mobo and at least an i3-2120 cpu... preferably an i5-2400 or i5-2500k ("k" editions allow overclocking, if you might want to do that).
Edit: if you have ddr2 ram you'd also need to get ddr3... 4gb of that is only like $25 though... or $40ish for 8gb.

[Captain Falkan]

About a year ago i bought a brand new HP for about 600 bucks, everything in it being stock. And ever since, i have been running everything on its max with exceptional smoothness. Even in SW in the busy hours, or in 25 mans. I have no clue why or how it does, but i sure as hell aint complaining! I wish i had names but im not too tech savvy with all the computer parts and stuff. (sigh)

[taekvideo]

About a year ago i bought a brand new HP for about 600 bucks, everything in it being stock. And ever since, i have been running everything on its max with exceptional smoothness. Even in SW in the busy hours, or in 25 mans. I have no clue why or how it does, but i sure as hell aint complaining! I wish i had names but im not too tech savvy with all the computer parts and stuff. (sigh)

HP is an odd brand... they put out some terrible computers and some really good ones at good prices. With any prebuilt you have to look carefully at the specs to see if it's any good... the price and advertisements don't tell you anything... and the "geek squad" at best buy, or equivalents in other stores aren't reliable either >_>.

[Deleted]

Yup, a new CPU could help already. if that doesn't fix it, My parent's PC has a GTS 450, which runs WoW just fine on ultra (though not with 8x Multisampling if I remember correctly)

[Zanno]

My GTX 470 runs wow on Ultra with zero issues.

However, it's not just about the graphics card. It has more to do with the overall system. You still need a decent CPU-Motherboard-RAM combo.