What to upgrade?

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630
Currently i got a computer with the components of

2,20 gigahertz AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core
4 gig ram
ATI radeon HD 5770
Board: Packard Bell BV PBGL00
OS - Windows 7 ultimate with DirectX 11
PSU-650W
ATAPI DVD A DH16A6S ATA Device
BenQ G2220HD

Im experiencing low framerates in games like wow, would like to know if i could do anything more with this, and if so what, and also, whats the best upgrade i could buy for this rig later on?
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630
thanks for suggestions ;) but may u aswell give me a good advice of what processor for example, as they are good for different things, what i want mine for is gaming ;)
 
A 2.2GHz quad really is sufficient for many games today depending on settings etc. I am unsure about WOW though.
What resolution are you playing at?
With what settings?
Can you give us more details on the "low framerates"?

Oh and the best AM3 gaming CPUs:
Under $80: 2.9GHz Athlon IIx3
$100: Athlon IIx4 2.8GHz
$120: Phenom IIx3 2.8GHz black edition
$150-160: Phenom IIx4 3.2GHz black edition
Anything more isn't really worth it today. But if you don't overclock and want 200MHz more:
$180: Phenom IIx4 3.4GHz black edition

Those prices are off the top of my head but are accurate.
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630

playing at 1680x1050
all settings except spell detail+view distance at bottom, but spell detail+view distance are just one step up ahead.
With low framerates i mean like 15-25 fps in crowded areas...
Btw did a test with 3Dmark06 last night, all my tests were realy good, +30fps - 70 fps most of the time, but when it got to the cpu test i was stuck at 0-1 fps.....
 
The first generation Phenoms were a total faliure IMO they never were really a good processor and in today standards they are just complete crap. Go for a new AM3 mobo and even if you get just an Athlon II x3 you will see better performance but my suggestion if you can afford it is the Phenom II 955 or an I5 750 they are both priced around the same and in you have a MicroCenter near you they have I5 750s for $189.99 which would be my 1st choice then the Phenom II 955 second choice. The new 6 cores AMD's are nice but for gaming you will see about the same if not better with the quad core processors the 955BE can hit close to 4 ghz OC and the I5 750 can do 4 ghz both would be a huge performance increase in gaming. The 5770 is a great GPU will handle most games fairly good when backed by a decent processor and at least 4gigs of RAM.
 

Yep. The CPU test attempts to render a scene using the CPU only. I wouldn't expect more than 5fps with the intel core i7 980x.
The phenom seems to be the only thing in your system slower than the rest of your system. It must be the weak link then. But because it's still a quad, I would recommend you look into faster dual and tri-cores than more cores. I don't usually suggest dual core, but if someone else with more knowledge of WOW agrees that it cannot utilize multiple cores well, I would recommend the phenom II x2 555 3.2GHz. I believe it's between $100 and $120 now. Of course, if you have the money, the 955 or 965 are the best AMD for any kind of gaming. Unless the game can use 6 threads lol.
So uhhh, what is your budget?

Another option is overclocking. This increases the CPU's performance by increasing the clockspeed. But this increases heat and you have to be careful of stability. I'm not going to go into detail because there is a lot of information online. So if you want to try that and see what kind of performance difference you can get, it would be worth a shot until you upgrade. I would not expect more than 2.6GHz in the best of circumstances on those old phenoms though.
 

Vampyrbyte

Distinguished
Sep 2, 2009
221
0
18,710
WoW isnt an awfully demanding game. It's pretty much Dalaran where it just brings itself to its knees. No matter what system I play on I always get less than 30 FPS in Dalaran. Pre-WOTLK this would have been Shattrath or Ironforge that caused these problems, but now these are not so busy the problems have gone away.

What sort of framerates do you get in other areas of the game? Less crowded areas such as an Instance, or simply just outside a city. I've just come to accept that FPS in Dalaran will be rubbish, thats not really where the game is played anyway.

However If Performance does not improve outside of crowded area's there could be a problem with your system. It should be destorying WoW everywhere else, Max graphics, AA, all the bells and whistles. Check to make sure your Graphics drivers are up to date.

Another thing with WoW that can really clogg it up is Addons. Most run pretty well and dont incurr a performance drop. But you may want to go through your addons list and turn off any you dont need and see what performance you get. For instance i only have QuestHelper turned on when im leveling, rather than leaving it running all the time. The same with Auctioneer, thats only needed when im going to the AH. You can see where im going.

As for upgrading your system I have to agree with the other guys and say the CPU. Shouldnt be too urgent though and is more than adequate for World of Warcraft.
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630
thanks guys for all the feedback!
but as im kinda new to all this with comps (i mean the deeper knowledge) how do i know what kind of cpu i can get?
as i dont know what socket i have, and what cpu's that can be attached to that socket, some assistance would be awesome! :na:
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630
oh and btw got a budget of a max top 200-250 $, an offer for that price would be nice to know ;)
and btw where do you buy all of these things at best price? at a close store or there's some good site on internet?
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630
im not toally faulty i got a AM2 socket... and i suppose u cant use AM3 cpu's in it, so what would i do? update motherboard, or just buy a lower cpu?

edit: not sure what socket i got... so anyone that knows please update me, and then advice me after that knowledge ;)(
 

C00lIT

Distinguished
Oct 29, 2009
437
0
18,810
Considering that you have 4 gigs of DDR2 Ram your best bet is an AM2+ motherboard with a decent cpu.

Athlon II X3 2.9Ghz 75$ free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103724&cm_re=athlon_ii_x3_435_2.9ghz_am3_triple_core_processor-_-19-103-724-_-Product

Or

Athlon II X4 @ 2.8Ghz 99$ Free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103704&cm_re=athlon_ii_x4_630-_-19-103-704-_-Product


Motherboard
Asus M3A78-EM 75$ + shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131324&Tpk=asus%20m3a78-em

I recommend that specific motherboard because it is 100% solid capacitors (long lasting) and also quite easy to install due to it's size.

With the spare money you can have it done by a tech if this isn't your sort of thing. Or you can upgrade to a better cpu such as


Phenom II 955 @ 3.2Ghz 155 + free shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&cm_re=phenom_ii_x4_955-_-19-103-808-_-Product


Please note that on newegg you can find combo deals (Motherboard + CPU) at slightly better prices but you need a motherboard that runs DDR2 Ram so you can reuse that 4gigs. (I hope it's DDR2-800Mhz at least but 667 will work too)

Any of those CPU's will be MUCH faster then the phenom9500... they only half decent classic Phenom's had a 50 at the end... 9X50 for example the 9850 or the 9950 aren't all that bad performers. (but not really recommended anymore)
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630


I think of buying either the Athlon II X3 2.9Ghz or Athlon II X4 @ 2.8Ghz, which would be better chooice for gaming? ups and downs etc? pls help ;)
 

Right now in general, the x3. Most games cannot take advantage of a fourth core but take advantage of a third core. I think it has something to do with a lot of games being ported from consoles that have 3 CPU cores or something. I know MW2 is one of them. I did some tests with my x4 and found that with 3 and 4 cores, the framerate started to drop at the same CPU speeds.
Anyway, the x3 will be great today. Of course, I can't help specific to WOW.
 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
I am trying to figure out why you have such poor FPS in WoW with your rig. My secondary rig is an E8190 with a HD 3870 and it does great everywhere but dalaran with everything maxed except shadows. I leave shadows turned off. BTW, not much of anything can help you with low FPS in dalaran. It is horrible there often even with my main rig.
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630
ive considered most of the things, and came up with that im either gonna buy one of the athlon's....
Going to save the money then left over, planning to build a rig of my own in a few years, so ill just do a minor upgrade for now, and go for my own rig later on ;) but a last question...... @ newegg.com they say that the AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz got a AM3 socket, but appearantly my motherboard got a AM2+ socket....can i still use the AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz ?
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630
ok as i cant edit the message above ill write it here!

DID Read the CPU buyers guide once more, and read about a cpu more into gaming then what u showed me http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846&Tpk=AMD Phenom II 555] AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto, but still got to think, it says on the site that it got a AM3 socket, im not sure but i think i got a AM2+ socket, how do i know? and how do i know if its gonna fit in my socket? plz help ;) and thanks for all the help this far btw!
 

dude, I recommended that CPU in my second post.

AMD has been backwards compatible with their sockets since AM2 came out. However, you'll also need to double check the compatibility on the motherboard manufacturer's website as sometimes it may not be compatible due to either the bios version or the chipset.

However, you have an OEM computer. They are not as forgiving. You'll either have to buy a new motherboard or take a risk and try upgrading the CPU. There's not really a way to know for sure.
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630

yeah saw it now when u mentioned it ;) but i really dont know where to find if its compatible lol... im in at http://support.packardbell.com/se/item/index.php?i=7611560000&psn=103529410371] looking if its compatible with whatm but cant find shiut about it...
 

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630

mall

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2010
99
0
18,630
the processor i want is a phenom ii, the support list is for my motherboard

* Socket AM2+
* Athlon 64
* Athlon™ 64 X2
* Phenom® (95 W)
* Sempron™

will i need to get a new motherboard? as i dont know if the ii will make a trouble ;)