What upgrades can i make to my rig for WOW CATA< PSU NOT AN OPTION

[eminark]

I am currently liviing in China I have a

Great Wall 270< WATT PSU 350 Watt Max
ASROCK N68S UCC MOBO
AMD Athlon II X4 640 propus 3000mhz CPU not O/C
1 X 2GB 1066 DDR3 ram
160 gb IDE 7200Rpm HD
onboard GFX
onbaord sound
running windows xp with all SP

I cant upgrade the PSU as these are very expensive in China and maximum 450watt <unless i get my 800watt antec psu sent from the UK then i dont know if it will be able to run with chinese current> ,
I do not believe the MOBO and CPU need upgrading Just my VIDEO and Sound card to play WOW CATA at what i consider a reasonable FPS of 30 sound is not my most important but obviously a good video card that is under 270 or 350 watts >
USING Antec calcuator i get these results
Minimum PSU Wattage: 136 W
Recommended PSU Wattage: 186 w
Leaving me with a few Watts to play with I imagine

so can any1 reccomend a gfx and sound card that is capable of doing the job and being less then my maximum watt and giving me 30 fps in cata?

or do i have things wrong about how they can work ???

newb to PSU's aspects ONLY ------ I know how to make the rest of the system...

and I know i should probably get 2 x 2gb twin set of ram as well and a Sata HD any help will be apreciated as my amount of info is censored here< not lazy just censored a lot

 

[Nihilis]

To be honest, WoW isn't much of a system hog at all, except when you push the specs up at high end, and even then it's hardly strenuous.

A better GPU would give you better performance. However, you must take into account that even a low end GPU will require more power than your integrated GFX currently does, possibly more than your PSU can supply (you'll have to look up individual cards.) If your PSU isn't powerful enough for the components, it can do some serious damage to itself and other components if it crashes, and put you out of action until you get it replaced anyway.

Furthermore, upgrading GPU (and possibly PSU) would generate more heat...personally I'd suggest you got some fans and a CPU cooler to replace the stock one you're probably running with currently. I can tell you from experience that there's nothing more frustrating than overheating and crashing just when loot's being distributed, or when it's your turn to peel in 3v3.

I'd suggest you look into your GPU. Sound cards won't affect FPS. Bear in mind the power costs of GPUs and the heat production.

Your mobo and CPU are ok, but may want upgrading in the future. Certainly, don't ever be tempted to OC on that mobo, or on stock cooling for that matter

Good luck

 

[Uther39]

The first thing you can do is increase your RAM with another 2GB stick of DDR3 RAM this will give you a good overall increase in system performance as well as your games as you will then utilize your 2 RAM channels and not just the one, the next thing id do is buy a discrete graphics card, while not being amazing in games it will still be a definite improvement without hurting you PSU, i would recommend something like the one below.

Gigabyte NVIDIA GT 520 OC Graphics Card - 1GB
GV-N520OC-1GI - 1GB Gigabyte GT 520 OC, 40nm, 1800MHz GDDR3, GPU 830MHz, Shader 1660MHz, 48 Cores, D-Sub/ DVI/ HDMI
Maximum GPU Power: 29W

 

[Uther39]

On a side note if you upraded your PSU to a 450watt unit, you would then be able to install an Nvidia GTX550 which would be a huge step up in graphical performance for your machine.

 

[eminark]

thanks

i know the soundcard wont affect FPS but i have to take that into consideration for my psu <

I myself am unable to look up indivual cards from here due to my current censorship < basically accessing any site written in English is a chore.

I suppose my real questions should be
1. can an 800 watt psu from england work in china < and

2. What is the minimum GFX card that can give me 30 fps in WOW Cata> bearing in mind the rest of my current setup

3. Would one of the said GFX cards be able to run with my current psu thanks ^^^^^^^

btw this is being written from my freinds account as i send my q's to him via msn <china to england >

Like i said b4 not lazy just censored with regards to info

 

[Uther39]

LIST OF your upgrade routes are, by priority=

RAM = Another 2 gb DDR3 1066 stick = £19.99
GPU = NVIDIA GT520 = £40.00
HDD = SAMSUNG F3 1TB SATA DRIVE = £40.00

FUTURE UPGRADE -

PSU = 450watt = ?
GPU = Nvidia GTX550ti = £100

 

[Uther39]

Yes your current PSU can run a GT520 GPU, as for getting 30fps in WOW, that depends
on what screen resolutions you play at.

 

[eminark]

Thanks guys seems = ram and gpu is best way to gor for me

Does anyone know if my 800 watt psu will even work in china though? they work on 240 v current, but it is called dirty electric.(not quite sure if ac or dc) their shops maximum buy is a 450 watt retail all the ones that say made in china higher then this are exported to other countries.

seems if it will work i will have my 800watt psu sent here but does anyone know if it will work:???

 

[Uther39]

Well 240v is the same as UK voltage so it should work, as for dirty electric, you will just have too see, however good quality PSU are good at rectifying dirty electric, but you can also get a device that can clean up the electric that goes between the PC and the plug, i forget what there called but some one on here will no, what make is your 800w PSU ?


Dirty Electricity

Many years ago before the discovery of solid state devices now found in all electronic equipment, the electricity that powers our homes, buildings, and factories was like a meadow in the country, gently varying, quiet, harmonious and clean. Today our electricity is no longer harmonious, quiet, gently varying and clean. It is filled with abrupt changes in character described as dirty electricity or dirty power. This dirt is much like noisy static you might hear on a radio playing wonderful classical music. The underlying music is there and it could be beautiful and relaxing, but all that static is too irritating, and you change the station or turn off the radio.

Unfortunately, with dirty electricity turning it off is not possible. Dirty electricity is everywhere in our environment. You are generating this dirt in your very own house, as are your neighbors and the office down the block and the factory in the industrial part of town.

The dirt is produced by the workings of all of our electronic equipment like, computers, TVs, radios, microwaves, light dimmers, digital clocks and cell phone chargers.

The dirt follows the electrical lines around your house and out of your house following the wires that supply electricity to your house. The neighbor’s dirt and the office’s dirt, and the factory’s dirt follows the same paths and ends up in every house, office and factory.

We have assumed, until recently, that this form of energy is not biologically active. However, recent research tells us that this dirty electricity is biologically active. When filters to reduce the dirty electricity were installed in homes and schools, symptoms such as chronic fatigue, depression, headaches, body aches and pains, ringing in the ears, dizziness, diabetes, impaired sleep, memory loss, and confusion were reduced.

Based on this early research it is estimated that as much as 50% of the population may be hypersensitive to dirty electricity; children may be more sensitive than adults and dirty electricity in schools may be interfering with education and possibly contributing to disruptive behavior associated with attention deficit disorder (ADD); dirty electricity may elevate plasma glucose levels among diabetics, and exacerbate symptoms for those with multiple sclerosis and tinnitus.

Exposure Standards
Work in this area is in the early stages, however, measurements of dirty electricity using a special meter sensitive to the dirt show the following:

Meter Reading (GS units) Rating
Less than 20 Ideal
20 to 30 Acceptable
Over 30 Unacceptable
Special filters can be installed in certain electrical outlets to clean up the dirty electricity in each home or office.

 

[Uther39]

http://shop.wireless-protection.org/dirty-electricity-filter-97-p.asp

 

[eminark]

Thanks dude hopefully i can soon be on WOW havent played since the new patch hit

 

[eminark]

looks like my 800 watt psu will be arriving from the uk soon < so now just looking at the ram, sata drive, souncard but most importantly Video Card - Problems are the ones you have mentioned so far are over 1500 RMB (150 gbp )

 

[eminark]

Best answer selected by eminark.