New Comp to prepare for Cataclysm.

[Saýa]

So after many years (to many), i thought it would be time to upgrade the old computer so i would be able to enjoy Cataclysm to it's full extent, im currently sitting on a 3.2Ghz P4 Single Core which is killing my FPS badly in 25 man raids, so i would really need to upgrade it.

I have been looking around for awhile to find something affordable, yet still good enough to be able to handle Cataclysm raiding and here is what i found.

Motherboard:
http: //eu.msi.com/index.php?func=prodtestreport&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=&cat3_no=&prod_no=2057

CPU:
http: //products.amd.com/en-na/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=625&f1=&f2=&f3=&f4=&f5=AM3&f6=C2&f7=45nm+SOI&f8=&f9=4000&f10=Fals e&f11=&f12=True&f13=

RAM:
http: //www .komplett.se/k/ki.aspx?sku=350145
(Sorry for the Swedish link, couldnt find a better site to show the speccs)

(Links broken after Http: and after www on RAM link)

My current GFX card is a ATI 5670HD 512Mb card which should be able to handle WoW decently atleast.

Any feedback is much appreciated as im not super good at these things.
Oh, and i know that WoW currently only supports Dual Cores but i do play other games aswell

Thank you all in advance.

[Deleted]

Budget? Prefer AMD or Intel? (or care not?) Prefer 2/4 core?

[Saýa]

I would prefer AMD since my ATI card would work better with it, i noticed a quite big difference in performance when i swapped my old Nvidia 9500 card out for the ATI card seeing as im on an Intel platform now.

I would prefer 4 cores since more and more games are starting to support it.

My current budget is extremly low as i have no steady income so really anything cheap that would still be able to perform relativly okay for 25 man raiding on "Good" settings for WoW, not much help there i know sorry.

[Deleted]

Could you add a number to that budget? Low for one person can be lower then for the other. Helps a LOT when searching for hardware

[llDemonll]

there is 0 performance gain between using amd or intel cpu with adm/ati or nvidia gpu, i dont know why you people think one is more compatible with the other.

[Saýa]

there is 0 performance gain between using amd or intel cpu with adm/ati or nvidia gpu, i dont know why you people think one is more compatible with the other.

Well, my old Nvidia card was giving me better performance on my current Rig then the far better specced ATI card is giving me on the same Rig, i would only assume that it has something to do with Nvidia being favored by Intel and ATI being favored by AMD, this is just me though and i have nothing to verify this at all, it just seems odd to me.

As for a budget number, as im from Europe ill just do the numbers in Euro, so say around 100-150 Euro for a Motherboard and around the same price for a CPU, like i said, my budget is very low but those numbers should give me abit of an upgrade atleast.

The Motherboard i linked i can get for about 90 Euro.
CPU around 93 Euro.
RAM about 20 Euro a piece.

[vesseblah]

Well, my old Nvidia card was giving me better performance on my current Rig then the far better specced ATI card is giving me on the same Rig, i would only assume that it has something to do with Nvidia being favored by Intel and ATI being favored by AMD, this is just me though and i have nothing to verify this at all, it just seems odd to me.

There is no proof whatsoever that using a graphics card on raw GPU test there would be any measurable difference between AMD or Intel CPU. Another possiblity is motherboard compatibility issue with certain graphics card, which can be usually resolved with BIOS update. For example I've seen recently a Nvidia card in cheap ASRock motherboard (for AMD) which failed to start about 50% of the time. Just flashing BIOS to latest version fixed the problem, even though patch notes didn't specifically mention any incompatibility fixes with the card.


Most likely explanation is that your ATI card was actually lower specced without you realizing it.

[Cilraaz]

Most likely explanation is that your ATI card was actually lower specced without you realizing it.

Or there were issues with the old nVidia driver not being properly cleaned when installing the ATi driver. I place blame for poor performance on improperly installed/configured drivers at least 75% of the time. Usually PEBKAC.

[Saýa]

This took a whole new turn that i should have seen coming much earlier then i did.

I apologise for my missinformative post regarding the old and new card, it was merly a thought i had as to why my new card could be performing worse then my old, as i said earlier in the post i have no real info about that so i shouldnt have mentioned it in the first place.

Now to get this thread back on track again, Todays patch was quite strange for my computer.
While running in Dalaran i had slightly higher FPS during peak times then i usually have but once in Heroics and raids my FPS drops down to 10-15 / 7-10, this is really not playable in my eye's so i wish to get these new parts as quickly as possible, anything that could make my new rig perform better due to hardware tips from you guys are much appreciated.

[Deleted]

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition ( http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.aspx?sku=584608 ) (155EUR)
MB: ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO, Socket-AM3 ( https://www.komplett.se/k/ki.aspx?sku=487825 ) (85EUR)
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9K2/4G ( http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.aspx?sku=352067 (81EUR)

Total 321

Motherboard is abit more then the 100-150, but other 2 parts are below that. Best you can get for the budget (imo). I'd wait for a confirm for someone else, just in case.


Sidenote, the problem you're getting seems like too much data traffic in heroics, and that's the point where it slows down. (as things are actually happening)

[Saýa]

Thank you Magekid, just had a quick look at the parts you mentioned and they do seem better then what i had listed myself, i will wait like you said for more opinions before putting in any orders

[Zer0K3wL]

I would prefer AMD since my ATI card would work better with it, i noticed a quite big difference in performance when i swapped my old Nvidia 9500 card out for the ATI card seeing as im on an Intel platform now.

I would prefer 4 cores since more and more games are starting to support it.

My current budget is extremly low as i have no steady income so really anything cheap that would still be able to perform relativly okay for 25 man raiding on "Good" settings for WoW, not much help there i know sorry.

Wrong :P.

does't matter if you go intel or amd.

as long you buy the right cpu and not some cheap ass budget cpu.

for example i5 or phenom II

not a intel p4 or amd athlon for example ;P

[Deleted]

Not always though, while I haven't looked it up for the latest i3/5/7 series, in general it's been like this:

AMD = bang for a buck, best price/perf ratio
Intel: Better architecture of the CPU/cores and some nice technologies. Can give better performance but not as good price/performance ratio.

- Logicaly