Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS and WOW

[TheHammer22]

I play some computer games on my computer but as of late, I have come back to play wow. I am experiencing some real bad frame issues and I have been trying to work with my computer to get it to work right. In raids I get about 5 frames when we are fighting bosses and 15 frames when people are around me. However, when I am off on my own or around minimal people I can get anywhere from 30-80 frames. I am only looking to get 20-30 frames in raid and I feel I should be able to do that with what I have. Here is my current setup.

Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS 256 PCI-Express
Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
4 gigs of DDR2 ram
Foxconn g31MX series motherboard
450 Wat power supply
Running Windows Vista 32 up to date to Service Pack 2

-I have run my anti-virus and found no virus or trojans.
-I have run spybot and adaware.
-I have run TCPoptimizer for my computers internet settings and I ping between 50-70 to the server on average with no hicups.
-I have opted for best performance in vista and Nvidia settings. I also opted for the best performance with my power supply.
-I have run rivatuner and increased fans performance to 100% and overclocked my video card to 837 core clock, 1797 link clock and 1130 on the memory clock. The video card and cpu do not go over 61 degrees when the game is up.
-I have checked all my drivers from the motherboard to the videocard.
-I have monitored my secondary programs to make sure nothing is running in the background.
-I am only running the bare min mods needed to raid in Ulduar.
-I am running the game on all low settings. Anything that in the tooltip says if it is turned off can improve performance has been turned off.

As I said before I feel I should be able to pull 20-30 frames and all I am getting is 5, any help would be appreciated.

So far I have sought out opinions on the wow forums and I have been told a couple different things and I wanted to figure out what would be the best option to hit 20-30 frames.

I was first told by someone that my processor is ok to handle wow but the problem was my video card. That the GeForce 8600 GTS only has 32 stream processors. That I should look to upgrade the video card to something with more stream processors.

I was then told by someone that wow is a hog on the cpu and I should look to upgrade my pentium d processor to a duo core processor. I am a little confused because I thought I had a duo core processor.

someone replied to him "The Pentium D is a Dual Core processor running in the 65nm template on the Socket 775 board back up by the normally by the G31 or G41 chipset, this is a very understated chip with more then enough power to run the ATI or Nvidia Card with more the 340 Stream Processors."

Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

[TheHammer22]

I have the shaders off, I have all the options in the interface for graphics as far left as possible.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Well...your videocard and CPU are not so hot
-The Intel Pentium D is the first generation ever released by Intel which had 2 cores. Its the lowest in the heirarchy...here I will give a heirarchy of current CPU's
-Pentium Processors
-Pentium D
-Pentium Dual Core
-Core 2 dou
Core 2 quad
Core 2 extreme (dual cores)
Core 2 extreme (quad cores)
Core i7
Core i7 extreme

-These are the consumer grade intel procesors

-You the person who said your videocard is the main bottleneck was correct. Personally, I am upgraded imminently but currently I have Pentium D 2.8ghz which is weaker then yours but I have a 8800GTS which has 92 Cores or stream processors or whatever you want to call it. And my card has more then double the Ram you card has, since yours has 256mb and mine has 640mb, and with my card I can max out cod5 on 1080p (1920x1080) with around 40-200fps depending on which map and what on screen like a wall...a gunfight...a huge battle..etc. So mostly you videocard is killing you.

 

[TheHammer22]

Thank you so much for the response, Yeah, I know the processor being a Pentium D is a little old but I just feel it should be able to run the game on minimal settings and break 20-30 fps. I am not looking to run it on max graphics, could care less about graphics. I play just to hang out with friends and a little get away when my new born twins are sleeping and the wife does not have a list of things for me to do.

 

[dirtmountain]

If you have your video set to "custom" and everything all the way to the left, then your best option is to upgrade your graphic card. I just worked on a WoW system that was using an AMD 939 mobo and CPU that would be at about your systems speed. Changed from a Nvidia 6800GS to a HD4770. The user is very happy and has playable framerates in Dalaran and in raids now. Since the 4770 is so scarce right now and it looks like your power supply can handle it, go with a HD4850/GTS250 or a HD4830/9800GT.

 

[TheHammer22]

If you have your video set to "custom" and everything all the way to the left, then your best option is to upgrade your graphic card. I just worked on a WoW system that was using an AMD 939 mobo and CPU that would be at about your systems speed. Changed from a Nvidia 6800GS to a HD4770. The user is very happy and has playable framerates in Dalaran and in raids now. Since the 4770 is so scarce right now and it looks like your power supply can handle it, go with a HD4850/GTS250 or a HD4830/9800GT.

Thank you for the information. It assures me on what I need to do. I went on-line and started to look at best buy. I did not see the 4770 like you said I would and I cannot find the 4830. However, I did find a VisionTek - ATI RADEON HD4670 1GB DDR3 PCI Express. In looking at the customer review, it did score a little low and there was a mixed review. Was wondering what your thoughts were on that card because the price looks decent and the specs look like they should run well.

They also had a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 OC 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express that cost a bit more then the 4670 but has good reviews. They also have XFX - ATI RADEON HD 4850 1GB DDR3 PCI Express Graphics Card which also costs a little bit more then the 4670. The reviews on that one indicate that the card runs hot but the graphics and play are solid.

I know I could probably get a little better deal on these at new egg but I am willing to pay the little bit extra, so I can pick this up tomorrow. I have been frustrated trying to play wow with this low fps for awhile now.

 

[jitpublisher]

Get the GTS 250. You will be happy.
Forget about the 4670, it's not a huge upgrade over what you have now.