Looking for an upgrade that I hope won't be a bottleneck.

[Grimzoul]

Hello, I'm able to run WoW on ultra for everything except shadows. I have it set to low in order to keep a constant 60+ FPS. Oddly enough SC2 runs 60+ FPS on extreme settings with no issues.

I was wondering if I bought this card here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102917

Would my CPU become a bottleneck? I can OC it to 2.8GHz stable if that changes anything.
I'm told that shadows are usually an issue due to Vram and I only have 512mb of Vram so I'm thinking that might be it. Any help would be nice.

My specs are:
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66Ghz Yorkfield
Video card: Visiontek 4850 HD Radeon 512mb
Ram: 8GBs OCZ 1066 DDR2
Play at 1920x1080

 

[commandermuffin]

Without more details, I would say the new card you are getting will still be the bottleneck for performance. You can get better cards for your system.

 

[Grimzoul]

Well so far some people have helped me out over on the wow fourms.

I'm thinking about this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103085

I'm also trying to somewhat future proof myself here so for other games like SC2 would my CPU become a bottleneck?

What other details do you need?

 

[55Range]

Hello, I'm able to run WoW on ultra for everything except shadows. I have it set to low in order to keep a constant 60+ FPS. Oddly enough SC2 runs 60+ FPS on extreme settings with no issues.

I was wondering if I bought this card here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102917

Would my CPU become a bottleneck? I can OC it to 2.8GHz stable if that changes anything.
I'm told that shadows are usually an issue due to Vram and I only have 512mb of Vram so I'm thinking that might be it. Any help would be nice.

My specs are:
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66Ghz Yorkfield
Video card: Visiontek 4850 HD Radeon 512mb
Ram: 8GBs OCZ 1066 DDR2
Play at 1920x1080

Well so far some people have helped me out over on the wow fourms.

I'm thinking about this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103085

I'm also trying to somewhat future proof myself here so for other games like SC2 would my CPU become a bottleneck?

What other details do you need?

Well th 5670 - no way, too low end. The 5850 yes, good card, you might want to check a 6850/70 if you want. They are newer/more efficient. And also what is your psu brand/model ?

 

[Grimzoul]

500 W Antec sorry if I ask so many questions haven't had to upgrade in a long time.

I found this card while looking up the 6 series:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131374

 

[55Range]

No worries ;
Antec- ok, the psu will handle those cards.

 

[linh6496]

Either a 6850 or a 6870 would be perfect. You can even do with a GTX 560

That 5670 is a lot worse that the 4850 you have now

 

[Guest]

exactly!

You current card is better than the 5670, it's a good thing you asked because the 4870 is twice as fast as the 5670.

 

[daship]

Dont sweat it, the shadows in wow will cause low FPS with any card, just run them low and be happy. Save your $$ your current system is plenty for wow.

 

[Guest]

+1 WoW ain't worth an upgrade, who needs shadows for $200?

 

[mirrion]

Dont sweat it, the shadows in wow will cause low FPS with any card, just run them low and be happy. Save your $$ your current system is plenty for wow.

This^^^

World of Warcraft's Shadow feature is not a completed feature (you can check the patch notes of when it was released), it was never fully developed. You can see this by turning them up, and standing on a small ledge, or some kind of tent. Look under the tent and you'll see that the shadows render not only what you're standing on, but EVERY layer under it, and the GPU, even if it isn't drawing it for you to see, still is processing it. Until the shadow renders are completely finished, it's going to be extremely taxing on most machines.

Typically, WoW is also more of a memory pig than anything. Faster, and high amounts of memory will increase game performance moreso than many other upgrades. This really depends on when you're upgrading from and to, but you'll be hard pressed to get a huge increase on anything with the Shadows enabled.

Additionally, the WoW client has to wait on server information, meaning this is a rare case where connection speed can actually effect overall frame rate, as slow connections result in momentary stalls and slows in the client.

 

[Guest]

In addition to the above statements, chances are a new card would still lag you with shadows on high unless you get something over $250 with RAM and Internet connection upgrades.