10 replies to this topic

[romann921]

Hello all. I'm new to the site and the whole upgrading thing. Now with Guild Wars 2 around the corner , I'm trying to do this upgrade with about 200-250 bucks. PC Goals: I want Guild Wars 2 to run very smoothly. Also, I want to be able to run WoW flawlessly (thats all my brother plays). Note: GW2 was playing ok, but was very laggy in high pop. areas, and WoW plays nicely, until 25 man raids take place and everything goes to hell. My PC specs are as follows:

OS: Windows XP Home Edition
MoBo: Asus M3A78 Pro (AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD) 140W CPU Support
Graphics Card: MSI N9600 GT-T2D512-OC
Ram: OCZ Platinum Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core Black Edition
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0Gb/s
Power Supply: ULTRA LSP 550w PRO
Computer Case: Raidmax Smilodon Extreme Black

If it's at all possible, I would like to only replace the Graphics Card and maybe, the CPU. But keep all the other parts, since replacing them would probably cost me way above my budget. Good luck and thank you in advance.

[Lakevren]

The CPU doesn't seem likely to be upgraded (might be wrong, unfamiliar with the AM2 and AM3 upgrade options) to something worthwhile. The Graphics card is easy enough, and seems to be the most viable.


But nonetheless, it all needs to be upgraded. You are still going to get HEAVILY bottlenecked by the CPU, and you'll need to do so by CPU+Motherboard+RAM.

What you can do is get an AMD HD 7850 right now and save some money later for a CPU+RAM+Motherboard upgrade. The latter is going to cost more than the AMD HD 7850, just an FYI.

I'm not sure which way GW2 is more dependent on: CPU or GPU. For me, it's not utilizing more than 20-30% of either CPU or GPU, so it's still not fully optimized. We'll see how it goes in the July 20th beta test.

[Beiufin]

I'm not sure which way GW2 is more dependent on: CPU or GPU. For me, it's not utilizing more than 20-30% of either CPU or GPU, so it's still not fully optimized. We'll see how it goes in the July 20th beta test.

Currently, GW2 is MUCH more dependent on the CPU (and really only the CPU clock speed) but that is only because they have not finished optimization.

Hello all. I'm new to the site and the whole upgrading thing. Now with Guild Wars 2 around the corner , I'm trying to do this upgrade with about 200-250 bucks. PC Goals: I want Guild Wars 2 to run very smoothly. Also, I want to be able to run WoW flawlessly (thats all my brother plays). Note: GW2 was playing ok, but was very laggy in high pop. areas, and WoW plays nicely, until 25 man raids take place and everything goes to hell. My PC specs are as follows:

OS: Windows XP Home Edition
MoBo: Asus M3A78 Pro (AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD) 140W CPU Support
Graphics Card: MSI N9600 GT-T2D512-OC
Ram: OCZ Platinum Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core Black Edition
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB 7200 RPM Sata 3.0Gb/s
Power Supply: ULTRA LSP 550w PRO
Computer Case: Raidmax Smilodon Extreme Black

If it's at all possible, I would like to only replace the Graphics Card and maybe, the CPU. But keep all the other parts, since replacing them would probably cost me way above my budget. Good luck and thank you in advance.

This isnt as much a case of upgrade as it is building a new computer... Pretty much everything on you computer is severely dated, I would recommend starting to save up money for more parts (~600 for mobo+CPU+Ram upgrade, $50+ for a new HDD, and what ever a newer version of windows cost at the time). But in the meantime for $250, take Lakevren advice, as far as performance upgrades go, the GPU is the only choice for $200-$250 ( and the 7850 is a pretty strong card for its price).

[romann921]

Will the AMD Radeon brand give me the best results? Heard that some other brands performer slightly better. Also, will the 7850 give me awesome WoW fps? I ask since its the only thing my brother asks out of this upgrade.

Added: Found out that Asus is working on their own version. ASUS Readies HD 7850 DirectCu II Dragon Edition Graphics Card
It looks pretty sweet and seems to be able to OC quite easily.

[Silentverdict]

AMD makes the reference card, and you can buy that from them, but its essentially same as the third party. Any high rated third party (Sapphire, or Asus is fine) will be a fine place to buy a 7850, as long as it's reviewed well and has a good warranty (usually 3+ years) you're good to go.

Also yes, you probably want to get a video card now, and save up for the rest later. You don't have much upgrade room in your CPU, but that's going to hurt you in the long run when playing GW2. The 7850 will give you all the graphics power you need for Gw2 and Wow, but the CPU will limit how high your FPS is, usually in areas with tons of people.

[romann921]

Interesting...but its a good first step. Now is it the dual core that's hurting it? Or that its only 2.7GHz?

And thanks for the quick responses guys, appreciate your time to answer my questions .

[Lakevren]

GHz doesn't matter. An Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.0GHz can beat the liquids off of a Pentium 4 3.6GHz, or at least be very on par with each other, even if only one core was enabled. In the same way, a 2.7GHz i7 3570k with two cores running can also absolutely demolish your current CPU. So, no, it's the WHOLE package. 1Hz from one CPU may not mean the same Hz with another CPU. It's all about the CPU's architectural design.

[Silentverdict]

Yeah a new I3 running at 2.7Ghz would actually not do a terrible job of GW2. The dual core doesn't hurt it, but its all about architecture. That's why most people think the cheaper AMD processors are such a great deal, because you'll get quad core computers with decent GHZ ratings, but they're not comparable in actual speeds to the new i5s. Not saying AMDs are trash or anything, but it can be apples to oranges sometimes when it wouldn't seem like it on the surface.

[romann921]

Thats some interesting stuff O.O...So first step is the graphics card. Any recommendations on the potential mobo and cpu replacements?

[Beiufin]

If I were rebuilding my computer Id be going with an i5-3570k and as for a motherboard... Id probably grab an MSI Z77A-G45. That comes out to ~$400.

[romann921]

Sorry I haven't responded, was out sick. As for that mobo and cpu, seems doable. Thanks for the great advice, guys