Would a new video card help?

[Scottk517]

Hey guys,

I a noob here with a silly question. I am running

2.20 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. A8V-VM SE Rev 1.xx
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
2048 Megabytes Installed Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE

I play WOW and my FPS was never great ~ 32 FPS average, with the expansion now it gets down in the single digits on occasion. Do you think that a newer video card would help out enough to verify the expense, or am I at the limit with CPU power, ram, etc..I am maxed out on board ram and do not want to replace just the board. Thanks for the help guys..and gals

Scott

 

[jitpublisher]

WOW is not very demanding, but the video card you have is definetly at the very bottom of the barrel, quite outdated for sure. A new card would do wonders.

 

[dirtmountain]

A new graphic card will help you in WoW with your system. You'll still see low FPS (not as low as you have now) flying or in Dalaran, but overall performance should be pretty good. The Nvidia 7300LE is a very weak graphic card (locate it here in this handy graphic card hierarchy chart.)....way down on the left.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2118-7.html

Your best bet is to use the HD4670 graphic card @$70, it uses very little power (only what your PCIex16 socket supplies) so no additional power from your power supply is required. (up on the right on the chart)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121274

Here's a review with benchmarks of different graphic cards including the HD4670 with recent games.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/13157-games-christmas-08-gpu-performance-part-ii.html

hope this helps

 

[boulard83]

Dirt is right. ATI offer the best low budget card. Go for a 4670 and youll see a HUGE difference. or if you can, a 4830 or 9800gt is still better.

PSU ??

 

[geofelt]

I assume that your vga card is weaker than your cpu. To validate that assumption, turn on the task manager, and verify that the cpu is not overly busy(like >75%).

For a value upgrade, look at this article: Best vga cards for the money jan 2009:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2118.html

There are two issues in upgrading a vga card:

1) Is my psu capable? If in doubt, pick a lesser card that does not need a 6-pin pci-e connector. Fortunately, you can get a massive jump in capability ftom the 7300LE without needing more power.

2) How easy is it to install? If you get a Nvidia based replacement, you just drop it in. The driver is already there. If you change to ATI, you will have to clean out the old driver before you can properly install the new ATI drivers. Some driver cleaner programs leave residual stuff that can cause problems. My take is to stick with Nvidia.

I would suggest the evga 9500GT for $59.99 after rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130395

As an additional suggestion, see if you can't upgrade ram to 3 or 4gb. It is so cheap these days.

 

[Scottk517]

Thanks for the info guys.. i will be getting a new video card then...

i wish I could upgrade my CPU ram, but my MB can only take 2Gigs...

Let you know how it turned out.

Scott

 

[boulard83]

NP have fun

 

[nottheking]

Assuming that your system isn't bloated down with all sorts of programs/viruses/spyrware/bloatware running, 2 gigs should be plenty enough RAM for WoW, even in WotLK, and quite probably even if you're running Windows Vista rather than XP.

WoW is a pretty CPU-intensive game, but for now, a 2.2 GHz Athlon64 X2 should be sufficient. It likely means that getting a constant 60fps may be hard, but you shouldn't run into many places where, because of that, your performance goes to an utter, unplayable crawl.

The real culprit here, for once, is your video card; WoW's graphics are years from cutting-edge, but then again, the 7300LE is an extremely poor card; you could do with an upgrade. A high-end expensive card like a GeForce 8800/9800 or Radeon HD 4800 would be overkill, but something like a Radeon HD 4670 should let you play even at extremely high resolutions without worry. If you run at more modest resolutions like 1280x1024 or 1440x900, an even cheaper card would still do the job.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I second the ATI 4670 suggestion. I have an AM2 Athlon 5200 x2(runs at 2.6 ghz), so kind of similar to your setup, 2 gb of ddr2. So kind of close to what you are running at the moment.

I found a very good deal on an overlclocked 9600gt after Christmas on newegg. Picked it up and it's not the best card, but I also upgraded from a 7300 LE. Man, difference is huge! I say if power is a concern, drop in the 4670, and you should be set. Compared to the 9600gt, I think the 4670 is 1 step down, though in some of the benchmarks they are supposed to be pretty close. Just run a program called drive sweeper in safe mode before installing hte 4670 drivers and you should be good to go. I'm betting that card will hold you at least a little while.