Not getting the bang I expected for my buck

[playchaser]

I'm only seeing about 61-63 FPS (according to my titan panel mod) in World of Warcraft. From what I've seen from other people running SLI this sounds very low. I do have my video cranked to max settings on my system as well as the game because I think this system should be able to handle it w/ no problems. I thought I had built a pretty good gaming system but don't seem to be getting the performance I expected Any ideas ?

My system: Asus P5N32 SLI Deluxe MB, Intel Pentium D830 3.0 GHz processor, Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler, twin PNY 7900GS video cards in SLI, 2 x PQI Turbo 1GB DDR2 667 RAM, Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0GB/sec hard drive, Sceptre X9g Gamer 19" 12ms DVI LCD monitor, 500w power supply that came with my XG Dragon ATX case, Windows XP Home Edition OS

Also, I recently replaced a evga 7800GTX video card with the 2 cards above b/c it went bad. I hope I didn't go backwards. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated as well

 

[grifter33]

Wow is capped at 64 fps. You wont get anything over that regardless of what hardware you're running.

 

[playchaser]

Thank you for ya'lls input. Sounds like I may have not chosen wisely when choosing my processor. What would you recomend I upgrade it to ? Also, it looks like RAM has come a long way since I built this system almost a year ago now. Would I see any increase in performance by upgrading my RAM ? And last but not least, did I go backwards when I chose the two 7900 GS cards to replace my 7800 GTX. I really apreciate ya'lls patience and input

 

[apt403]

What would you recomend I upgrade it to ? Also, it looks like RAM has come a long way since I built this system almost a year ago now. Would I see any increase in performance by upgrading my RAM ?

a C2D obviously, an E6600 ($309) if you can afford it, best bang for the buck right now, if not then get either the E6400 ($217) or the E6300 ($181), there all good. the ram you have is already pretty good, unless your going to oc the hell out of the C2D then there no reason to spend another $250+ on ram.

btw, what possessed to to get a P4 in the first place? All your componets are pretty expensive (the P5N32 immediately comes to mind) so price doesnt seem to be a problem.

edit: just saw the part about building a year ago, that explains it. although AMD would have been a much better choice back then.

 

[apt403]

My second thought is why are fps so important? For bragging rights with your friends?? Cmon, your eyes cant even see past 30fps.

That may be true, but try playing something like Half Life 2 at 30fps compared to 200+, the difference is insane.

 

[playchaser]

I chose the pentium D a year ago after heavily researching which processor would give me the best performance in 3D gaming. I was playing the heck out of Far Cry at the time and wanted to crank up the video and the Pentium D was winning in every 3D application tested. 3.0GHz wasn't the fastest speed a year ago but would more than handle anything on the market at the time and I saw it as the best bang for my buck.

I'm at a loss on the "C2D" reference. I don't know what it is. My thinking was to spend about 400-500 upgrading my system as I had hoped I built one that would allow me to continually do so for some time.

Where would my money be best spent on upgrading this system ? Or am i throwing away good money after bad ?

Thank you all very much for your input.