What hardware increases FPS?

[vipers992]

Apart from Graphics Card, ram and CPU, what else could lower / increase FPS in games drastically?

I recently upgraded my Aspire T180 with a Sapphire HD 4670 and 2x 1gb Ballistix Dual Channel PC8500 Ram.

My CPU is AMD Athlon 3800 x2, maybe this is the problem?

All drivers up to date, AA settings turned off etc, and still my FPS is just too low for what i could be getting with this hardware.

 

[xaira]

screen resolution can affect fps, 3800x2 should suffice for all but the latest games.

 

[vipers992]

It isn't Resolution or a graphics problem, in high data areas my FPS drops regardless of Graphics settings or resolution. (I'm talking about World of Warcraft as an example, if there are many players present all performing actions, raid for example, my FPS shoots down to like 10..)

 

[xaira]

ur talking multiplayer, is ur bandwith up to mark

 

[daship]

Well, for Wow your CPU is a big limiter, WoW likes all the cores it can get. Also Turn down shadows and other things, and you will get lots more FPS. Id say more ram would help also.

You got no where near the specs it takes to run WoW maxed, so turn down some settings til you get FPS you desire.

I get 90FPS on 25 man raids

i7 920 3.4
6G DDR3
ati 4870.

 

[vipers992]

My ping is never above 200 on all online games, and im on an 8mb line so i can gaurantee it's not my line.

 

[vipers992]

Well, for Wow your CPU is a big limiter, WoW likes all the cores it can get. Also Turn down shadows and other things, and you will get lots more FPS. Id say more ram would help also.

You got no where near the specs it takes to run WoW maxed, so turn down some settings til you get FPS you desire.

I get 90FPS on 25 man raids

i7 920 3.4
6G DDR3
ati 4870.

Daship, even on minimum graphics i'm getting the same FPS as i am with maximum graphics (minus shadows), i'm sure it has something to do with my CPU as it's the amount of data being streamed which seems to be lowering FPS, in an empty graphics intence area i would be on 50 - 60 FPS, in an area with alot of people regardless of where it is, it's pretty low. However looking on my g15 LCD, CPU usage is never above 70%, Ram usage never above 60% (I have 3.5gb ram all together, the maximum a 32 bit OS can have).

This makes me wonder if it is my CPU, since the other aspects of my computer should handle max graphics, i had a friend with a 9500gt and 2gb ram on 60 FPS maxed out in raids, 120 everywhere else, even shadows maxed, BUT he was running Quad core.

 

[daship]

Ya, I recommend you get a quad core and get 64bit os so you can run atleast 4G of ram. I ran a 4670 on my i7 and when i upgraded to the 4870 i only got like 20 more FPS, so its not you card for sure.

Get 64bit, 4G ram and a overclocked Quad core. Your WoW will be way more fun.

One thing I have noticed however, when you have low FPS Damage meters report alot higher numbers then when you have high FPS. The lag from low FPS makes the damage meters report more dmg then whats really going on.

 

[vipers992]

yeh i'll look into getting myself a quad core then mate , i think im gonna check out a 64 bit version of Windows 7 see how that is.

And don't worry about raid damage, it's immense on everyones meters

 

[daship]

Ya but you also lag on everyones meters You'll see when you upgrade.

 

[vipers992]

hehe, well now i need to look into a new core and PSU since my PSU is rather low wattage.

Any idea if a quad core will fit into this motherboard though? :
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?ID=en-us0000310

 

[obsidian86]

think the 920 or 940 should fit but none of the am3's

 

[vipers992]

yeh just lookin at the AM2 line,

"AMD Phenom X4 9650 2.3GHz Socket AM2+ 2MB L3 Cache"

looks pretty bang for buck on what im looking to do, nothing top of the range but something which would overkill World of Warcraft?

 

[ColMirage]

Wait, no, hold on. You don't want first generation Phenoms unless you get it for free.

 

[obsidian86]

the phenom ii 920 an 940 are am2+

 

[vipers992]

Yeh but i'm not looking to get a *** hot processor atm, i'm planning to go to University in a year so i'm just upgrading my home computer into somethign which will run my good old World of Warcraft and a V nice FPS, not lookin to hit crysis just yet .

Maybe the Athlon 6000+ Dual Core... ?

 

[vipers992]

Hmm this is difficult, it's either get a Dual Core which has the worry of the upgrade being too minor, or spend a bomb over budget on a Phenom 2 Quad core...

 

[daship]

WoW is more CPU based then GPU get a quad or you will be pissed.

 

[vipers992]

thanks for the heads up mate, but its a very difficult situation, the Phenom series 1 is around my budget, either that or spend double on a *** hot phenom II quad core, just looking for budget value atm.

On serious levels just how good is the Phenom I series.. ?