My current system:
Intel E5200 2.5GHz
Gigabyte GA-EP43
Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512mb
4gb RAM
Windows Vista 32bit
Video settings: Max except for shadows at lowest setting and particle density/effects lowered 2 notches; 15-30fps Dalaran, Raids ~ 30fps (dipping to 7-15fps during heavy AOE/particle effects).
My system tends to choke in high-populated areas and during AOE (especially in 25mans). As a tank and healer I always feel like these drops in performance are effecting my in-game performance, so I am looking to make a < $200 upgrade. Seeing that my processor is my weakest link (and has a broader effect across the whole computing experience), I was looking to upgrade it while keeping my current MB.
My options:
C2D E8400 3.0GHz
C2Q Q8400 2.66GHz
or upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit and hold the rest of the upgrade money until I can do a i5 + MB upgrade.
Just wondering which would be the best upgrade, not only for WoW, but general computing performance.