Upgrading graphics card - will it fix my problem?

A

Anirak

New Member
Hello,

I am currently using an HP pavilion a1310n to play WoW on over the summer. I can run WoW on default settings and it looks okay, but the FPS could be better. I will only be able to play for the summer though, so I am not looking to spend a fortune upgrading. I am looking at this card at the moment http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150247.

I have looked at reviews and it seems to be good, but I need to know whether this will for sure fix my FPS problem, and that there may not be a deeper issue here such as memory or processing power.

Some current specs (these are the ones I know how to get to, if you need more, just ask and tell me how to find them):

AMD Athlon 64 3700+
1 GB RAM
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200

Thank you in advance
 
It would. That card can play WoW maxed, though the solitary Gb or RAM might pose a smallish bottleneck. Beside that you'd be capable of many other newer games, If you upgraded to 2gb of RAM.

Your Sandy (3700) is alright. Not a dual core obviously but capable..
 
hermeslyre said:
It would. That card can play WoW maxed, though the solitary Gb or RAM might pose a smallish bottleneck. Beside that you'd be capable of many other newer games, If you upgraded to 2gb of RAM.

Your Sandy (3700) is alright. Not a dual core obviously but capable..
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Thanks, I might invest in the memory upgrade while I'm at it.
 
That'd be provident.

Just as a FYI, compared to some higher priced cards, the 8600gt pales in comparison. It's definitely not the best card to get for the money, if you're willing to spend more $$, but it's got a bigger chance of fitting into small budgets and modest PSU's.
 
hermeslyre said:
That'd be provident.

Just as a FYI, compared to some higher priced cards, the 8600gt pales in comparison. It's definitely not the best card to get for the money, if you're willing to spend more $$, but it's got a bigger chance of fitting into small budgets and modest PSU's.
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So are you saying there are better cards in the sub-$100 dollar range? Or are you just saying that if I spent more, I would get much better performance?

If I can run wow on the card and get full FPS (something around 60) then I would be happy.

Sentiment said:
u may want to look at the 256mb version it uses ddr3 memory allowing it to run faster.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085
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So you're saying this would be better despite the 512mb ram on the other one?
 
im no expert by far... but from what i know yes... the ddr 3 is faster... but i may be wrong

ps... did u see my can i run a 8600gt thread lol... lookin to upgrade to basicly the same card but not sure if my psu can handle it lol
 
The latter. As little as an extra hundred. Not much you can get sub-hundred, that's significantly faster. But going that route you'd need to upgrade your PSU, and definitely your RAM, And your CPU would become a bottleneck... Yeah, that's all I meant, sorry for the confusion. ;)

Edit: I didn't notice that was the 512mb version. THe faster memory would help more often at lower resolutions, but if you're gaming above 1280 x 1024 it might be better to keep that version.
 
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hermeslyre said:
The latter. As little as an extra hundred. Not much you can get sub-hundred, that's significantly faster. But going that route you'd need to upgrade your PSU, and definitely your RAM, And your CPU would become a bottleneck... Yeah, that's all I meant, sorry for the confusion. ;)

Edit: I didn't notice that was the 512mb version. THe faster memory would help more often at lower resolutions, but if you're gaming above 1280 x 1024 it might be better to keep that version.
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I hate to keep bumping the thread, but you just made me realize that if I don't have a way to do TV out I will have to play at 1024 x 768. Would the S-video out on the 512mb model going to a 1080i/720p lcd-screen TV be good enough quality to take advantage of the higher resolutions?

EDIT: Would this be a better choice since it has an s-video to hd converter built in? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130290

Sentiment said:
ps... did u see my can i run a 8600gt thread lol... lookin to upgrade to basicly the same card but not sure if my psu can handle it lol
Click to expand...

Haha, actually I did just see it and wondered whether my posting this thread triggered yours or not.
 
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Anirak said:
I hate to keep bumping the thread, but you just made me realize that if I don't have a way to do TV out I will have to play at 1024 x 768. Would the S-video out on the 512mb model going to a 1080i/720p lcd-screen TV be good enough quality to take advantage of the higher resolutions?

EDIT: Would this be a better choice since it has an s-video to hd converter built in? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130290
Click to expand...

S-vid, no. It's a standard definition connector, the quality would be terrible. Even if you could use a HD VGA/DVI/HDMI connector, 720p is 1280 x 720, and most 1080i Tv's are usually 13__ x 1080, so the increase in resolution is null or very small, offset.
 
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