Ok so i'm not looking for anything special. I'm just hoping to spend a minimal amount of money to make my computer run WoW competently. Current specs are:

ok here goes....

Celeron D 3.33 Ghz
512 MB ram (DDR2, but I'm not sure what speed)
onboard ati 1100 express

aaaand the big winner windows vista OS.

So I realize I'm running w/ a very minimal amount of ram and an onboard. I have available to me a Quadro FX 370. While I understand this is not for gaming, do you think it will improve my performance? Even if just a little bit?

What's the cheapest fixes I can do to make the game playable, that's all I'm really looking for? Is it basically mandatory that I buy at least another 512 stick of ram?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I played WoW very well on a laptop with integrated graphics.

Of course, it had a dual core CPU and 2 gigs of ram. That probably helped.

Why don't you just stick the card in there and try it? That'll answer your GPU question at least.

Vista with 512 MB of ram? ugh
A miracle it even runs.

Serious upgrade to the RAM (very cheap)... then maybe a cheap graphics card...

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/win [...] ows-vista/ - It can increase performance a tiny bit.

Also, i would recommend getting another 512-1gig ram because you are using vista and that uses alot of ram in the first place. For a cheap graphics card, i would get the 8400GS because that can run WoW 60FPS constantly with AAx2.

Could you tell us your model of MOBO?
Or your Computer model??

^ Come on! 4GB is only $66 or so

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145184

not to mention

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125086

This is a bit tricky for me since I haven't opened up the case yet. When I ran CPU-Z it told me I had an ECS Mobo model was Alhena5. The North Bridge was listed like RS400/RC400/RC415 or something like that. It's a LGA 775 socket, but I can't exactly tell what speed ram I need to throw in their other than DDR2.

So right now do you guys think if I just use the quadro in conjunction w/ another 512 stick I can get wow to at least run on low graphics settings?

I checked out your motherboard on google and there isn't much for me to look at. I did find something just as "Alhena5" and it had a PCI-Ex16 slot, so you could essentially find a cheapo graphics card and see if it works with your build. I would recommend getting the graphics card over the memory because out of the two, it gives you a much better difference.

I was leaning to the gpu upgrade as well, but I'm scared of only 512 ram in Vista in conjunction with the fact that I have that quadro laying around.

Even if it's not that much better than the onboard it would still take off some of the demand on the Ram right?

Is your PC an HP Pavilion a1410y CTO Desktop PC
If yes then your mobo could be this one
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc [...] 035&dlc=en

It supports the following processors
Pentium D 9xx Dual Core
Pentium D 8xx series Dual Core
Pentium 4 6x1 series
Pentium 4 6xx
Pentium 4 5xx
Celeron D

And Max. Ram
2GB DDR2 400/533 (240Pins)

With Vista you need at least 2GB Ram
It has one PCIX16
so you can upgrade your graphic card

upgrade to at least 2 gig ram. If you want to play on integrated graphics then you will need to put all settings on low. Should run wow (not great, but playable).

Crack the case and see if you're running a single 512 stick or 2:256. Many OEMs will pop in 2 sticks due to inventory management ease and costs. You'll also want to see what your PSU is rated at, does it have the necessary 6pin to run a decent vid card should you want to upgrade the card down the road? Is the PSU even a standard ATX design?

You can buy a 1g ddr2 667 quite cheap, most systems built in the past 3-4yrs will recognize a 1gb chip.
$30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145505

Don't forget you may have to go into the bios and disable the onboard video after installing the graphics card. That will also give you a slight boost right away with Vista as you're eliminating the drain on your RAM via the shared graphics.

edit: I'm assuming the case is a standard mid-mini tower and not a low profile design?