WoW Hardware Questions - Answered!

[Poots]

I've seen many posts on this (and the official) forum about system-specific lag, and I would like to take the time to try and explain why this might be, and try and help you with your questions if they arise.

I've been in the computer business for around 6 years now, and I deal with hardware every day. I am very familiar with World of Warcraft and what it requires to run the game, and run it well. Let me try and answer the specification concerns as simply as I know how.

First off, the minimum specs (PC-wise) for World of Warcraft are as follows:

800MHz or higher CPU
256MB or more of RAM
32MB GeForce 2 or better

When Blizzard lists a minimum specification list, it is not saying that the game will run "great" or even "good" on said computer, but that the game will not run at all if your computer is less than. Now, with that being said, World of Warcraft (and any successful major MMORPG, for that matter) is a RAM hog. It is safe to say that 512MB should be considered the minimum amount of RAM required to play the game decently. This brings me to my next point: games are very rarely solely dependant on a single system resource. That is why I find it rather... odd that people think that lower-end computers with bulks of RAM run the game.

World of Warcraft should ideally have a 1.8Ghz or 1800+ rated CPU/processor. This is, obviously, due to the fact that much information is being rendered in the game, including AI. Obviously if you have a 1.6Ghz or 1.2Ghz you'll be ok, but to make sure that you're hiccup-free you're best off with something in the 1.8Ghz+ range.

Now we get down to the largest culprit of lag in World of Warcraft: the video card. Many people, when they think of computers, might not nessicarily know very much about them, which is why it comes to no suprise that the video card is not something the general consumer/user would take into consideration, even when playing games. This is the very same reason why those with 2.6Ghz CPUs and 512MB of RAM are very confused when WoW doesn't run well. They figure "hey, if I have the processor and RAM, why the heck won't it run?".

Well, basically you'll need one of the following (or better) to be able to play WoW decently. That's not to say other cards that might be lesser wouldn't run the game, but that these are the most common cards.

nVidia:
GeForce 2 (does not include MX)
GeForce 2 Ultra
GeForce 3 (or Ti series)
GeForce 4 (or MX)
GeForceFX 5200 (does not include XT)
GeForceFX 5250
GeForceFX 5600 (or XT)
GeForceFX 5700 (or XT)
GeForceFX 5800 (or Ultra)
GeForceFX 5900 (or Ultra, or XT)
GeForceFX 5950 (or Ultra)
GeForce 6

ATI:
Radeon 9000 (or Pro)
Radeon 9100
Radeon 9200 (does not include SE)
Radeon 9500 (or Pro)
Radeon 9600 (or Pro, or XT)
Radoen 9700 (or Pro)
Radeon 9800 (or Pro, or XT)

Now let me conclude by giving you a couple of examples of system configurations.

Can play WoW:

Pentium 4 2Ghz
512MB RAM
GeForce4 Ti4200

AMD AthlonXP 1700+
1024MB RAM
GeForce2 Ultra

AMD Athlon64 3000+
512MB RAM
Radeon 9100

Can not play WoW:

Pentium 3 600Mhz
1024MB RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro

Pentium 4 3.6Ghz
256MB RAM
Radeon 9500 Pro

AMD AthlonXP 2100+
512MB RAM
GeForce 256 (otherwise known as GeForce 1)

Of course, the last system (with the GeForce) might be able to play World of Warcraft. Of course, so could a computer with 384MB of RAM (or even 256MB RAM if you get desperate), as CPU/RAM/GPU are not the only things that determine overall system performance. However, the guide above is a general overview of what one needs to know when attempting to troubleshoot lag. In the end, you're best just trying what you've got (as you most certainly would do anyway) and seeing, as this is meant more as an informative and comparative guide, if nothing else.

Please feel free to ask questions if you have them, I (or somebody else, surely) will try to answer them to the best of my ability. Hopefully a mod can sticky this (or similar) post in the hopes of avoiding multiple other posts from popping up, as they seem to go.

[Poots]

If you're looking for a new video card for World of Warcraft, let me take a moment to recommend some models, and give some prices on those models. All of these video cards run World of Warcraft, meaning all are compatible. This list will be in order of cost (and performance) from least to greatest.

Radeon 7500LE 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-346&depa=1) - $45

Radeon 9250 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-125-153&depa=1) - $54

Radeon 9600SE 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-129-015&depa=1) - $71

Radeon 9600 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-022&depa=1) - $79

Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-257&depa=1) - $109

Radeon 9600XT 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-008&depa=1) - $136

Radeon 9800 (Non-Pro) 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-369&depa=1) - $142

GeForce 6600GT 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-150-080&depa=1) - $249

GeForce 6800GT 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-177&depa=1) - $344

GeForce 6800GT 256MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-195&depa=1) - $399

Radeon x800 XT 256MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-397&depa=1) - $461

Obviously the more expensive you go, the better the computer you're going to need to get the maximum potential out of the card. That's not to say you can't buy a Radeon x800XT and just get a new computer later and re-use the card, it's just that a Radeon x800XT isn't going to be "as fast" in a Pentium 4 2Ghz as it would be in a Pentium 4 3Ghz.

[Ryzier]

Great post Poots!

Though I suggest staying away from the GeForce FX series and the LE/SE versions of both Radeon and GeForce cards as they are usually OEM versions which have some corners cut compared to their retail counterparts.

I would really suggest getting at least a Radeon 9600 since most cards which are older than that do not have Direct X 9.0C support.

[Poots]

Well, you're half right. All the cards posted here have their full 128-bit memory buses intact, I made sure of that, so no corners have been cut. But this is for all people, not just those who want to spend $100. If you're only playing World of Warcraft, you really needn't spend $300 on a video card. :)

[noregister]

If you're looking for a new video card for World of Warcraft, let me take a moment to recommend some models, and give some prices on those models. All of these video cards run World of Warcraft, meaning all are compatible. This list will be in order of cost (and performance) from least to greatest.

Radeon 7500LE 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-346&depa=1) - $45

Radeon 9250 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-125-153&depa=1) - $54

Radeon 9600SE 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-129-015&depa=1) - $71

Radeon 9600 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-022&depa=1) - $79

Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-257&depa=1) - $109

Radeon 9600XT 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-008&depa=1) - $136

Radeon 9800 (Non-Pro) 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-369&depa=1) - $142

GeForce 6600GT 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-150-080&depa=1) - $249

GeForce 6800GT 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-177&depa=1) - $344

GeForce 6800GT 256MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-195&depa=1) - $399

Radeon x800 XT 256MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-397&depa=1) - $461

Obviously the more expensive you go, the better the computer you're going to need to get the maximum potential out of the card. That's not to say you can't buy a Radeon x800XT and just get a new computer later and re-use the card, it's just that a Radeon x800XT isn't going to be "as fast" in a Pentium 4 2Ghz as it would be in a Pentium 4 3Ghz.

I recommend never getting the se for any version of any card... just go for the best version of the set before. for example when i bought my card i wanted to buy the from 9800 series, but i could only afford the se, for the same price i went for the 9600 pro and the bechmarks are much higher

[Syndakit]

I have 256MB RAM, just got myself the 9600XT, and a 1.8+ processor. The game runs great, except when I first start out(in the Inn), and sometimes when there is a lot of action.

Im looking to update my RAM for sure, but I got that 184-Pin RAMBUS RDRAM and it always says 16 bit RDRAM needs to be used in pairs....

[Shimrod]

World of Warcraft should ideally have a 1.8Ghz or 1800+ rated CPU/processor.You can't compare those speeds one on one. An 1800+ Athlon Xp is closer to a 2.4G 400fsb Intel. Besides, cache size and fsb also add to the equation.

[fitterhappier]

Hi there. I'm currently running an HP Pavilion computer...that is hopeless for gaming.

It boasts:

1.8 ghz celeron processor
368 mb DDR ram
Intel Integrated 'graphics card' - not really a graphics card at all.

Now I'm looking to upgrade...but I only have about 250 dollars american or so to spend. I know almost nothing about computing..let alone what I should be looking to upgrade.

Should I got video card or processor or memory card? A lesser video card and some RAM?

Any advice would be most appreciated :)

[TykeMörbult]

In the OB I had this system:

P 4 1.7 GHz
256 Mb RAM
GeForce 2

Sure it lagged sometimes.. but so it did for everyone in the OB... about the thing that you can't run WoW on 256 Mb RAM, you can actually...
But I will for sure get a new computer, I'm not saying that the game ran perfectly smooth but you could definatly play it!!

~Tyke

[sct13]

My system specs during open beta:

AMD Duron 1Ghz (995 Mhz)
320 SDRAM (256 + 64)
Radeon 9600 Pro running at 4x cause thats all my mobo supports!

Game ran fine in low population areas, however, serious lag was encountered in heavily populated areas such as Brill or the Crossroads.

Also lagged badly during flights between major centers (but i still made it!), and even stalled out once during the opening sequence of the night elf character start.


:lol:

Anyway, the game will run on such a crap system, and yes, i do plan to upgrade soon. I even suspect upgrading to 512 of DDR ram will help immensely.

[Demerzel_]

Im really looking for a video optimation guide for wow. Like how to get the most fps out of a decen system at decent visual quality.

[goki]

What about Radeon 9550? I didn't see it on your list of video cards.
I want to buy new video card, but I don't have money to buy 9800, so I thought about 9550. I've heard that 9550 is quite good.
What you think about it?

[Paladia]

I know people who play decently on a P3 450Mhz with 512MB ram. You are obviously taking too much focus (or guessing really) on the CPU whilest not putting enough on RAM.

[red.13]

During OB I was playing on such comp:
Ath 2200+ (going to change to Ath 3200+ Barton)
1GB DDR
GeForce 6800

I set the video options to max and resolution to 1280x1024 and besides the lag caused by server I didn't encounter any playing problems.

[jeffmd]

some inconsistancies i'd like to clear up. I think the cpu recomendation may be a little extreme. I think any AMD XP or P4 should be fine, celerons should be of real high speed (2g+) and durons close behind the celerons. How ever cpu is actually doing very simple things for the video. The game client is actually pretty "dumb". There is no AI, every single monster or other player movement is simply a message from the server. the server has the AI, not your computer. Even the flight paths are server instructed and you can get stuck in mid air if you get disconnected.

the video card list is pretty extreme. geforce 2 is listed as working but not the 5200 XT? also I question the quality of a geforce 2 or 3, your really going to be using a low res, low texture quality, mostly no special effects, and a close view plane.

"games are very rarely solely dependant on a single system resource." this is a good point but dosnt really limit itself to games. The ram/cpu/graphics trifecta has to work together for good graphics to happen. The video card and cpu still work together alot, and video cards will get bottlenecked if the cpu isnt powerfull enough. System ram is pretty self explanitory, alot of people like to give a "minimum" for ram but I like to cut it straight. You need a gig of ram. No matter the cpu, no matter the video card, no matter the sound card, no matter the motherboard, if the game needs data to render a scene.. and that data is not in ram, it WILL halt all updating of the video untill it succefully pulls the data from the HD, to the ram, and then to the video card. Worst of all, the most common time for this to happen is when you either move into a new area, or encounter a new monster. You couldn't ask for a worse time. I've been running my system with a gig of ram and no more for a couple years now and my battle has been nothing more then upgrade cpu and upgrade video. Also, more ram dosnt just improve games, it will imrove windows performance too. You have prolly noticed (but no one knows why) but windows will page out ram to the hard drive even if you arnt any where near filling up all your ram. Maybe it's in preperation for loading new programs and data in, but it really sucks to leave the web browser in the background for 20 minutes and then tab back to it only to have to wait cause it was paged out, no? More ram isn't a cure, but it gives you a bigger buffer of ram to use before windows starts liberaly paging out.

Also.. taken a look at your system tray lately? These days you prolly have a firewall, antivirus, video control panel, custom audio control panel, Quicktime or realvideo, maybe a wifi config client, instant messanger of some sort, steam (you can stop that from loading on start up you know. ;) ) and i'll tell you now, most of those programs are not real optimised size wise. Infact some of the most common programs like anti viruses and creatives control panels (Theres the new ATI control panel that is farging gigantic, but im pretty sure none of it stays resident in ram since it takes 30 minutes to startup) are really huge. Drivers are also not immune, infact I would nominate creative labs as the biggest offender of bloated drivers. Years ago they were taking up nearly 70 megs of memory on startup (one reason I ditched em completely). Considering I havn't heard of them improving this, I shudder to think the problem still exhist.

[Prisma]

Buying graphic cards:
Numbers do not represent performence. When buying video cards the price is more representative. You might want to check out comparisons (benchmarks), which you can find on the internet (eg. www.tomshardware.com).
Also there are AGP cards (all older&recent PCs) and PCIe(xpress) cards (newest PCs). If you upgrade you will most probably need an AGP card (check mainbord manual). If you also upgrade your motherboard I suggest getting an PCIe mobo & grapic-card for upward compatibility.

Buying ram:
Read the manual of you motherboard to check what ram is supported.
There's SDRam 100/133 (older PCs) and DDRRam with various speeds (newer PCs).
SDRam might be hard to get (my fav hardware dealer doesn't sell it anymore), but of course there's eBay, and it's very cheap there.

Buying CPUs:
Check your motherboard what CPUs it supports. In most cases you have to upgrade you motherboard too, which might bring up more problems: Will your new mobo support other Ram? Will you get an PCIe mobo and a new GPU or stick with your old graphic card? Are you experienced enough with computers to excange motherboads?


My specs:
CPU: 1.2 Ghz AMD
Ram: 256MB SDRam
GPU: Geforce 4200Ti

Open beta was playable most of the times. The bottleneck is definatly the ram. I had to reboot my PC quite ofen to clean the ram, and had ram-reload times of ~5-15 minutes every time I changed zones (especially in Stormwind, since each district is a like a new zone to my ram, and of course during gryphon flights).
My CPU & GPU worked very well, as long as I didn't switch to resolutions above 1024x768, although 1280x1024 was playable too.

To ready my PC for WoW(Europe) I'll either get +512Ram or get a whole new machine. Since upgrading CPU means a new mobo, which means I'd need new ram too, and maybe even a new PCIe GPU.

[fasterhooves]

I'd suggest a defrag to anyone who hasn't done one since installing the client. No matter what your current specs are this should help!

[Hells]

I was having some pretty lag at higher resolution and detail, I should've been ok though.

3200+ XP AMD athlon
512 MB of ram
9600pro

With default settings standard play was very okay, but as soon as a raid was going on, or taking a flight, or using the hearth stone, it complete froze for a few seconds at a time. It might be the ram I think :)

[alevjen]

these r my specs, will this me ok 2 play wow without any lag on my part:

Athlon XP 3200+
512mb Ram
GEForce FX 5600 256mb

[FlyngTrmpt]

In the OB I had this system:

P 4 1.7 GHz
256 Mb RAM
GeForce 2

Sure it lagged sometimes.. but so it did for everyone in the OB... about the thing that you can't run WoW on 256 Mb RAM, you can actually...
But I will for sure get a new computer, I'm not saying that the game ran perfectly smooth but you could definatly play it!!

~Tyke

I have the same specs there TykeMorbult!! I do have some trouble occassionally with the game "pausing," well its really just system lagging which can really suck if it happens in the middle of a monster area especially since i will keep running the whole time. But it generally only happens near town.

Now my parents just bought a new Dimension 3000 from Dell,
2.4GHz Celeron
512MB RAM
Integrated intel graphics card....

Their computer runs the game with absolutely no problems, now all the settings aren't maxed but they are higher than they are on my computer and the game runs with no system lag. The 3000 was pretty cheap so just going for a prebuilt system isn't always a bad idea if you have a little money and can't build something yourself. Just get one of the specials somewhere that includes the RAM upgrade to at least 512MB.

[Paladia]

I was having some pretty lag at higher resolution and detail, I should've been ok though.

3200+ XP AMD athlon
512 MB of ram
9600pro

With default settings standard play was very okay, but as soon as a raid was going on, or taking a flight, or using the hearth stone, it complete froze for a few seconds at a time. It might be the ram I think :)

With just 512MB ram, you will experience hiccups when entering a city, flights will become a slide show and major pvp will be almost impossible due to the disadvantage, it is like being stunned every few seconds whilest your HD is swapping. The only thing WoW requires to be decent is your ram. You need 768MB, or better yet, 1GB if you want it to be seamless.

[s12demon]

My comp
2.6Ghz (p4 i think)
256Mb ram
SIS 650 grahics card (64Mb)

Havent played WoW yet (am in UK), so how well will my comp run WoW?

Am planning to upgrade it soon with 512Mb more ram, a 128Mb graphics card(prob a radeon 9800) After this how will it run?


Going slightly off topic but does anyone know what chipset a SIS 650 actually uses? Because i dont :scratch:

[Xenosis]

As a preface my specs are as follows:

512 megs of PC3200 RAM
Pentium 4 3.4 Mhz
Radeon Mobility 9700 w/ 128 Megs of RAM
60 GIG 7200 RPM HDD

Now about 80% of the time I get a near perfect framerate, well over 60 fps, but I encounter huge slowdown whenever any new area is loading up. I assumed in beta it was just because there were no zonelines and this is just how the game was but since I haven''t seen anyone else complaining about it I just wanted to check and see if my experiences were similar to others. A good example of the problem is when I take a bat flight back to the Undercity, the speed with which i travel causes a huge amount of loading lag and generally results in between 1-5 frames per second.

[PathMaster]

P4 1.8
512 RD Ram
G3 Ti200

I ran OB @ 1024x768. I got around 20-30FPs in outdoor zones except Elwynn. Stormwind almost always knocked me down to ~10fps. Easily playable. Griffon Flights destroyed my fps tho. Almost always around 1fps, sometimes I could watch the zone below tho, thats was cool. Was mostly a slideshow during those flights. Especially when landing in IronForge..oo that was the entrance then me being on the ground. And thats how my OB eneded too, I was just about to land in IF, when I was disconnected, OB ended! That sucked but eh, I had lots of fun.

/discuss

[Ryzier]

Alright guys. Here are some additional tips.

Given that you have a decent processor, say 1.5 GHz and above, the best bang for your buck when upgrading is to get more RAM.

256 MB is hardly enough these days, especially if you're running Windows XP with a lot of background programs like antivirus, firewall or miscellaneous scheduler programs. Obviously, it's not a good idea to turn off the AV and firewall when online.

While WoW requires at least 256 MB RAM (with the lowest settings of course), 512 MB will do ever better. You'll hit the optimal RAM size with 1 GB of RAM. Another thing to take note is that I see people using SDRAM. These are considerably slower and dated but I believe they should still work fine. Problem with SDRAM is that they're almost out of manufacture and it'll be hard to upgrade for SDRAM. I'd like to highlight that those using Intel Integrated GFX should get more RAM since the system RAM is shared with the GFX RAM. You get even less free RAM for WoW to use.

The next upgrade you should consider should you have sufficient RAM is your video card. I recommend a Radeon 9600 Pro if you want to play at Medium Settings on 1024 x 768. If you are willing to compromise on resolution and image quality, then by all means, settle for something within your budget. Since WoW doesn't use exceptionally large textures, 128 MB of video RAM is more than enough.

Finally, I'm sure there are tons of you with many background programs. Try to make sure that any un-necessary programs are closed before running WoW. Use maintenance utilities such as TuneUp Utilities (http://www.download.com/TuneUp-Utilities/3000-2086_4-10280149.html?tag=lst-0-1) and anti-spyware programs like Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10289035.html?tag=lst-0-2). Also, defrag your hard drive. I recommend the excellent O&O Defrag (http://www.download.com/O-O-Defrag-Professional-Edition/3000-2094_4-10248313.html?tag=lst-0-1).

Hopefully, all these tweaks will ensure smooth gameplay. Happy playing.

[Urthop]

:lol:

Was able to play very nicely with my ancient machine.

I've got a:

P3 450 MHz
256 Mb ram
Geforce 4 TI 128 Mb video ram.

Given... When changing between area's I had some heavy transition lag... And some heavy lag in area's with a lot of players... But out hunting, not as much as a hickup :clap:

[SiGiN]

As an addtition: a lot of people currently using WinXP, either it be Professional or Home. The problem with those, are that when those OSes installed, there are a lot of services enabled by default that most of users hardly need.

Every each and one service it taking some memory and some CPU resource. Although not much - why don't take advantage of it?

Look this link for quite comprehensive guide to disable unnecessary services from your system. Believe me, its hard (although not impossible) to screw up, and WILL make your computer faster and more stable.

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Additionally, you can optimize your swapfile(pagefile). First - make it constant size. It can be accomplished like this:

Start[menu]->Control Panel[menu]->System[icon]->Advanced[tab]->Performance "Settings"[button]->Advanced[tab]->Virtual Memory "Change"[button]

Once you are in dialog window, called Virtual Memory, find which disk (if you have multiple that is) contains your pagefile/swapfile/virtual memory(all names are for the same thing). Choose it, and the Radio option is on "System managed size" by default.

That aint very good, because swapfile due to dynamic size defragments VERY fast, and since OS always read/write to it, defragmentation of this file impacts system most. So what are we going to do? We are going to make it fixed size and them defragment it with free util.

Change Radio option from "System managed size" to "Custom size" and enter EXACTLY THE SAME ammount into "initial size" and "Maximum size". Once again - this is IMPORTANT that value is the same, otherwise what we do makes no sense at all.

You might ask what value to put it? It depends on your memory.. If you have for example 512mb, than entering 1024, 1024 will do fine. As a rule of thumb, you can enter 3*(your memory size):
IE: 256Mb -> 768,768
512Mb->1536,1536
1024Mb->3000,3000 (no need to be exact)

(as an advanced tweaking, it would be very nice to make separate partition exclusively for swap file, and place it in physical beginning of HDD, but thats way too advanced IMHO - if there are willing, I'll describe that process as well, but not now)

After you done putting values, feel free to press Ok all the way up.. Os WILL eventually ask to reboot. Do so.

After you've rebooted, go and get free util to defrag swapfile from here:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/pagedefrag.shtml

Its free and works very well, and since defragmentation of swapfile is impacting performance much more than defragmentation of almost any other file, this utility is almost of same importancy as some commercial behemoth-defragmenters.

Once you done defragmenting your fixedsize swap file, you WILL notice performance boost.


Oh, and once again - don't be afraid of doing it.. Swapfile is temporary file, so if you screw it or delete it somehow, windows will generate new one.. Only thing that you can go wrong is putting too small value for swapfile size, but if you have 256 RAM windows WILL boot even with swap turned off (although VERY VERY slowly)

Hope that helps.. if you find those helpful, dont hesitate to tell me, i might have some others tricks up my sleeve, as well as explanations how it actually works (never liked automatic "Tuning utils", since its very hard to understand what is actually going on)

Edit: Added some info about pagefile defragmentation.

[TheBigDonkey]

I played through the 2nd stress test, open beta and now retail on a 2.4 GHz P4 with 1 Gig PC800RDRAM and GeForce 4 Ti4600.

FPS @ Various Resolutions

800x600 All low detail: 60+ FPS
1280x1024 Medium detail: 30-35 FPS
1600x1200 Medium detail: 15-25 FPS

I played for a week or so on 1600x1200 but I recently switched back to 1280x1024 because it plays much smoother.

[Snarl]

From the FYI Department...

On my Son's PC with;

Win XP Home Ed
PIII 1Ghz w/133Mhz FSB
512MB PC700 RDRAM
128MB Sapphire Radeon 9600XT
Aureal Vortex II

1024 x 768
High Textures
everything else toned down, no AA or AF, Trilinear Off, Shaders on, Vertex Shaders On, Vsync off, Triple Buff off, 1/4 on the Fog Slider, Screen Glow Off

Run's very well so far, laggy on startup but after a few minutes very smooth. If there's lot's of action going on around it Lag's a bit but nothing to bad, overall an excellent gaming experience. I have not tested in flight yet but my Son is very happy with the performance.

My Spec is a WinXP Pro, PIV 3Ghz HT 800Mhz FSB, 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro, 1 Gig PC3200 DDR DC SDRAM, Audigy 2 and it rocks big time, and it should on that spec, not cutting edge but high Medium to low top end :)

Oh yeah, so far I'm seeing 540MB or there about of memory useage after playing (Task Manager) I don't doubt it will go higher but I haven't checked after every session so this is what I've seen so far (On both machines).

Both Systems have tweaked installs i.e. no unneeded services (Process count 22 on PIII, 28 on PIV System, Black Vipers excellent site get's credit there) and Anti Virus is disabled during game play.

How do you get FPS ? is there a command for it ?

[MadMike]

No offense guys but you will not get this game running in the higher level riad dungeons or bigger PvP battles with anything less then a GiG of ram 9500 or better (= Nvidia or better ) and 2k plus CPU. I dont say this off the top of my head. I have an internet cafe containing various machines and during open Beta we had an average of 8 peeps at a time playing. Of those, 6 of us were from Alpha and played closed. When it was busy and we had use the older machines, the game play degraded astronomicaly. Sure the game will boot and possibly move around with less, but like i said. Forget about playing the end game or massive PvP, regardless of what anyone tells you including blizzard. And yes we ended game at level 55 plus, 2 of us at 60.

Integrated Video card with a gig of Ram = Not playing
P3 450 with ANY video card and Ram = Not Playing
$250 US computer of any kind = Keep playing Frozen Throne till you upgrade.


Save your money for a better comp. This is a next GEn game that 'runs' on lower level machines, Like a HAM strung Gazelle being taken down by Lions.


AMD 3200 64 ... 9800 xt ....3 gig RAM .... Raid 5 ..... <( Video and sound Editing machine, Capture card as well, irrelevant to gaming )

Not a flame or a dig . Just telling you to save your Euro's or Pounds or Dollars and upgrade, you will NOT enjoy the game if you play with constant system lag. Especially if you have seen it run flawless somewhere else. UPgrade :thumbsup:

[jeffmd]

Ryzier and madmike reminded me of a few things.

First, antivirus, it would be a good idea to DISABLE the realtime scanner when ever you play games (Except.. if its the first time playing like a DEMO you just downloaded. The chances of getting a virus from a cd installed game of course is really darn rare. Once you have playd the downloaded game once and seen that its free of virus, disable the scanner). The scanner has to scan a file anytime it is accessed.. and the program accessing the file has to WAIT till the scanner says its ok. The symptom of this is increased loading times.

Madmike also brings up something that I would like to say as I was also in an endgame guild in everquest. Raiding and large battles stress your systems to the maximum. Most of the time you will probably be attacking targets with far more people then originaly designed while in a raiding guild. More is allways better right? Well if your system can't handel these stressed conditions, you can't control your character, you get lagged, and are esscentialy useless. So if you solo.. fine, don't worry about it, but if you plan to play with the big dogs, or heck, just want to get it on with what im sure will be many random PVP battles, you will want to have a good rig. Otherwise you will be dead before you know what happened.

btw for "how my rig runs" information collecting, im running an amd barton 2800 with my ram at 266mhz. 1 gig of ram, 9600xt non overclocked. I pretty much run at 1280 x 1024, 4x AF, no AA, full shaders and I also use that overbrightening effect which is pretty sweet. This is what I found to play at "easily acceptable" levels. Also a little insight on some of my logic, I feel in MMORPGS it is better to beable to see what is ahead of you clearly then anything else, just like first person shooters, so a high resolution is much prefered over using a res like 1024x768 and pumping up the AA.

[softpain]

I was having some pretty lag at higher resolution and detail, I should've been ok though.

3200+ XP AMD athlon
512 MB of ram
9600pro

With default settings standard play was very okay, but as soon as a raid was going on, or taking a flight, or using the hearth stone, it complete froze for a few seconds at a time. It might be the ram I think :)


Your CPU is very fast for WoW.

512 is good if you dont play above 1280 x 1024 and the clip plane at 50%; in the gryphon or in any big cities ( it will swapp a bit of course).

Now with 30 players on your screen with 512 mb it will swapp a LOT when you see them all at once the first time...

Your vid card is decent but the 9800 pro is 2x faster...and the nvidia 6600 GT 2.5 times, with your cpu of course!!

I wonder what kind connection you have?

Huge raids = lots or ram and a faster vid card will help a lot.

Your cpu can be matched with a video card a lot faster than a 9600 pro.

[softpain]

From the FYI Department...

On my Son's PC with;

Win XP Home Ed
PIII 1Ghz w/133Mhz FSB
512MB PC700 RDRAM
128MB Sapphire Radeon 9600XT
Aureal Vortex II

1024 x 768
High Textures
everything else toned down, no AA or AF, Trilinear Off, Shaders on, Vertex Shaders On, Vsync off, Triple Buff off, 1/4 on the Fog Slider, Screen Glow Off

Run's very well so far, laggy on startup but after a few minutes very smooth. If there's lot's of action going on around it Lag's a bit but nothing to bad, overall an excellent gaming experience. I have not tested in flight yet but my Son is very happy with the performance.

My Spec is a WinXP Pro, PIV 3Ghz HT 800Mhz FSB, 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro, 1 Gig PC3200 DDR DC SDRAM, Audigy 2 and it rocks big time, and it should on that spec, not cutting edge but high Medium to low top end :)

Oh yeah, so far I'm seeing 540MB or there about of memory useage after playing (Task Manager) I don't doubt it will go higher but I haven't checked after every session so this is what I've seen so far (On both machines).

Both Systems have tweaked installs i.e. no unneeded services (Process count 22 on PIII, 28 on PIV System, Black Vipers excellent site get's credit there) and Anti Virus is disabled during game play.

How do you get FPS ? is there a command for it ?


CTRL R

Yes a fast P 3 with a decent video card with the settings your son has is decent.

The far clip plane at 1/4 is a compromise so is the 1024 res otherwise is fps would drop to much!

[nikkifairy]

Im looking to update my RAM for sure, but I got that 184-Pin RAMBUS RDRAM and it always says 16 bit RDRAM needs to be used in pairs....

I have the same type of RAM and we just found 2 sticks of 256 for $140 on ebay. Or you can always get one stick then get the dummy for the second slot for something like $4.

[Ryzier]

Just for the record, I'm running on

Intel P4 3.0C
1 GB Corsair RAM
GeForce 6800 GT

Pretty much allows me to get max settings and a decent framerate.

[TheVirus]

i have a p3 550

512 ram

and a radon 9500

the game still runs great with no lag or freezes unless there is a huge 200v200 raid war going on then it gets hard to target stuff with melee chars but like 40vs40 it can handle with only an ocasional spike.

the graphics that i use is all medium to high not maxed though...

[SabraCadabra]

I don`t know alot about computer specs, i just play the games.
I have a Pentium 1.4, 256 ram and a Geforce 4 something or other.
I`ve read all the posts but don`t know what`s what.
If i want to run this game as smooth as can be with near perfect graphics could someone please post the things i need to get this.
I am planning to upgrade my machine.
Thanks.

[softpain]

I don`t know alot about computer specs, i just play the games.
I have a Pentium 1.4, 256 ram and a Geforce 4 something or other.
I`ve read all the posts but don`t know what`s what.
If i want to run this game as smooth as can be with near perfect graphics could someone please post the things i need to get this.
I am planning to upgrade my machine.
Thanks.


I'm not sure if you mean a pentium 1,4 giga hertz ( that is the speed of the cpu.

If you are sure you have only 256 MB of system ram get another 256 Mb at least.

How old is your system? And how much do you want to spend?

You must know if you have a Pentium 4 or a celeron and wich video card you have before we can give any sound advice ;-P

But with 512 Mb of systeme ram you can play on the p v e servor and put all the setting to the minimum see if how far you can raise them step by step as you play?

Perfect graphics and very smooth well that will be a new system....but you will be able to upgrade and get very nice graphics if you have a 1.4 giga hertz with a good video card...i'm afarid you have a gf 4 mx ? not a real GF 4 TI 4200

[Urthop]

i have a p3 550

512 ram

and a radon 9500

the game still runs great with no lag or freezes unless there is a huge 200v200 raid war going on then it gets hard to target stuff with melee chars but like 40vs40 it can handle with only an ocasional spike.

the graphics that i use is all medium to high not maxed though...

Heh I know what you mean... People seem to overrate processor speed a bit...

[Poots]

My system specs during open beta:

AMD Duron 1Ghz (995 Mhz)
320 SDRAM (256 + 64)
Radeon 9600 Pro running at 4x cause thats all my mobo supports!

Game ran fine in low population areas, however, serious lag was encountered in heavily populated areas such as Brill or the Crossroads.

Also lagged badly during flights between major centers (but i still made it!), and even stalled out once during the opening sequence of the night elf character start.


:lol:

Anyway, the game will run on such a crap system, and yes, i do plan to upgrade soon. I even suspect upgrading to 512 of DDR ram will help immensely.



That's more of a proccesor bottleneck, I'm afraid. While you don't have the ideal amount of RAM for WoW, the 1Ghz Duron could definately be replaced. You can find 1.4-1.6Ghz Durons online for $45, or 2100+ CPUs for about $60. Hell, I even have an 1800+ for sale for $30. ;)

The reason the Duron is so bad is because it not only has a lower front side bus (compared to Athlon/AthlonXPs), but it has much less Level 2 Cache (64kb compared to the AthlonXP's 256kb, and the AthlonXP Barton's 512kb). Now the Front Side Bus difference doesn't do a whole lot (as FSB stopped mattering quite a while ago), the 192kb L2 Cache difference is major. As a general rule of thumb you should at least have 256kb L2 Cache (AthlonXP, some Pentium 4s), but ideally you'll want 512kb (AthlonXP Barton, most new Pentium 4s). You can even get CPUs with 1024kb (or even 2048kb of L3, like the P4 Extreme Edition) but really 512kb is the sweet spot. This, my friends, is the only real difference between say a Celeron and Pentium, or Duron and Athlon.

[Poots]

I don`t know alot about computer specs, i just play the games.
I have a Pentium 1.4, 256 ram and a Geforce 4 something or other.
I`ve read all the posts but don`t know what`s what.
If i want to run this game as smooth as can be with near perfect graphics could someone please post the things i need to get this.
I am planning to upgrade my machine.
Thanks.

That could be problematic, as many Pentium 4 CPUs below 2.0Ghz are in the contested "could be one of two and a half cores" area. It could be a Williamette (which means you're just screwed, as you could be using SD-RAM or RD-RAM for your memory, and the latter is $60+ for 128MB, give or take). It could also be a a Williamette that uses DDR (which I consider the A.5), or it could be the Northwood, which again can use SD-RAM but mainly uses DDR. Chances are that it's one of the two Williamettes (as the Northwood actually didn't come out until 1.8Ghz), which leaves you with quite a problem. Honestly, from an upgrade stand-point, it would be much cheaper to just replace the CPU, RAM, and motherboard that to upgrade a computer like yours. You can get a full trio of those three parts for about $200, as opposed to the possibility of $200 just to upgrade your current system's RAM (and the next trio would be much faster).

My suggestion to you is the following: take your computer to a place such as Best Buy or Circuit City, ask them to look at the inside of your machine and tell you what kind of RAM it uses, what Socket the CPU is, and what the motherboard's chipset is. Have them write that stuff down, and bring it back here so we can help suggest something. That, or have them suggest and install the upgrades for you, because the computer you currently have can be quite the tricky setup.

[Poots]

From the FYI Department...

On my Son's PC with;

Win XP Home Ed
PIII 1Ghz w/133Mhz FSB
512MB PC700 RDRAM
128MB Sapphire Radeon 9600XT
Aureal Vortex II

1024 x 768
High Textures
everything else toned down, no AA or AF, Trilinear Off, Shaders on, Vertex Shaders On, Vsync off, Triple Buff off, 1/4 on the Fog Slider, Screen Glow Off

Run's very well so far, laggy on startup but after a few minutes very smooth. If there's lot's of action going on around it Lag's a bit but nothing to bad, overall an excellent gaming experience. I have not tested in flight yet but my Son is very happy with the performance.

My Spec is a WinXP Pro, PIV 3Ghz HT 800Mhz FSB, 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro, 1 Gig PC3200 DDR DC SDRAM, Audigy 2 and it rocks big time, and it should on that spec, not cutting edge but high Medium to low top end :)

Oh yeah, so far I'm seeing 540MB or there about of memory useage after playing (Task Manager) I don't doubt it will go higher but I haven't checked after every session so this is what I've seen so far (On both machines).

Both Systems have tweaked installs i.e. no unneeded services (Process count 22 on PIII, 28 on PIV System, Black Vipers excellent site get's credit there) and Anti Virus is disabled during game play.

How do you get FPS ? is there a command for it ?

Honestly, I'd suggest turning down the resolution to 800x600, and turning a few other things up a bit. You won't really notice a difference between 800x600 and 1024x768, as the game is designed to look good at any resolution (much like Doom 3 was).

[SabraCadabra]

That could be problematic, as many Pentium 4 CPUs below 2.0Ghz are in the contested "could be one of two and a half cores" area. It could be a Williamette (which means you're just screwed, as you could be using SD-RAM or RD-RAM for your memory, and the latter is $60+ for 128MB, give or take). It could also be a a Williamette that uses DDR (which I consider the A.5), or it could be the Northwood, which again can use SD-RAM but mainly uses DDR. Chances are that it's one of the two Williamettes (as the Northwood actually didn't come out until 1.8Ghz), which leaves you with quite a problem. Honestly, from an upgrade stand-point, it would be much cheaper to just replace the CPU, RAM, and motherboard that to upgrade a computer like yours. You can get a full trio of those three parts for about $200, as opposed to the possibility of $200 just to upgrade your current system's RAM (and the next trio would be much faster).

My suggestion to you is the following: take your computer to a place such as Best Buy or Circuit City, ask them to look at the inside of your machine and tell you what kind of RAM it uses, what Socket the CPU is, and what the motherboard's chipset is. Have them write that stuff down, and bring it back here so we can help suggest something. That, or have them suggest and install the upgrades for you, because the computer you currently have can be quite the tricky setup.

Thanks for the help guys. Im not sure what the pentium is lol, other than its 1.4.
I asked someone yesterday about this and they told me i need a new motherboard to do what i want to do. So i guess im going to buy a new motherboard, cpu, ram and video card. About ram, DDR S-DR, i dont know what all this means. Sorry to be a pain but like i said i just play the games and don`t know alot about the workings of the machine, it played WC3 fine but i`m getting machine lag with my set up, Stormwind being particularly bad. So could one of you please make a list of the type of machine i need, and explain what type of RAM i need, DDR SDR as i don`t know what this means.
Cheers.

[TimeBeing]

I've run it on 2 different laptops, and its playable, not great but very playable. I wouldn't PvP on them, but questing and grinding works.

One was a Gateway 1.4G with 243? ram (thats what it says)
the other is a dell Inspiron 1150 2.4Ghz with 384 ram.

Its not the best but did let me keep playing over the thanksgiving holiday.

[MadMike]

HMmmm all these "My machine runs the game fine and i have an 386 dx 66 " messages are confusing people. My point was that with a base or near base machine you will NOT get full value of the graphics and gameplay as it was designed for. Hiccups and stuttering to 'me' is intolerable in a game nowadays. I understand not everyone can afford to go out and buy the latest and greatest comps. Do the best you can with what you can afford.

And yes i agree with that post that said replacing rambus is pointless. For the price of 256 stick you can get MSI MObo 512 ram AND the 2200 XP AMD .... not half bad upgrade from your present system at all ...

[jeffmd]

ahh yes.. rambus. Yea one thing I want to mention here.. hardware that you should seek to replace immedietly. Mother boards that have rambus ram. ;) Also motherboards that have Built in video chipsets like the intel ones. These OFTEN do not even have an agp slot. If you seriously intend to play any of todays games like WoW, you will need to buy some motherboard with an agp slot (as well as a video card for it now that you wont have the intel chipset) so you can support any of these video cards. And don't give the pci versions of these cards a first look. Not only is the performance still not enough for what you need, the COST of these cards often cost more then buying a mobo and agp version of the same card.

[Snarl]

Honestly, I'd suggest turning down the resolution to 800x600, and turning a few other things up a bit. You won't really notice a difference between 800x600 and 1024x768, as the game is designed to look good at any resolution (much like Doom 3 was).

Okay Poots I'll give it a Whirl, so far other than the in game menu text is hard to read at 800x600 I don't see a performance difference yet. I will do some more testing and see how it goes.

[Madskills]

Poots:

Sorry, you're wrong on one thing so far:

The game DOES run on systems below minimum spec.

I own a 733Mhz Pentium 3 with 512 ram and a Geforce 4. I run the game at 1280x1024 at about 15FPS.

I couldn't play a shooter like this, but I sure can hit monsters and heal ppl fast enough, especially since the hardest stuff is in caves, where the framerate goes almost to 30.

Just FYI. don't be afraid to buy the game if your proc is below minimum spec, but be afraid of a graphics card older than a Geforce 2.

[Madskills]

Ultimate World of Warcraft machine:

-Athlon 64 FX-53 (fastest gaming CPU, period)
-1GB Corsair DDR400 RAM (fastest timings, 2GB is not used at all)
-BFG Geforce 6800GT Ultra (fastest vidcard on DirectX 9 games, most memory -bandwidth, meaning ability to crank up antialiasing and anisotropic)
-Raptor 72GB (WoW streams zones from the HDD. just one tho, b/c anandtech has proven RAID does not improve game load times, it actually slows it slightly.)
-SB Audigy 2 ZS
-Klipsch 5.1 speakers (WoW doesn't encode more than 5.1 channels, so 7.1 is a waste)
-Widescreen CRT monitor (gives you more view of the sides, and CRT has more accurate color and gamma reproduction)


Cheapest machine to crank everything up with decent FPS:

-Athlon 64 3200
-Via PT880 mobo
-1GB DDR400 kingston ram
-ATi 9800 Pro (256MB is needed for newer games and for anisotropic & AA)
-Maxtor Maxline III HDD with NCQ (almost as fast as Raptor)
-SB Audigy 2 OEM
-Creative 5.1 speakers
-NEC 19" CRT monitor

[Poots]

Ultimate World of Warcraft machine:

-Athlon 64 FX-53 (fastest gaming CPU, period)
-1GB Corsair DDR400 RAM (fastest timings, 2GB is not used at all)
-BFG Geforce 6800GT Ultra (fastest vidcard on DirectX 9 games, most memory -bandwidth, meaning ability to crank up antialiasing and anisotropic)
-Raptor 72GB (WoW streams zones from the HDD. just one tho, b/c anandtech has proven RAID does not improve game load times, it actually slows it slightly.)
-SB Audigy 2 ZS
-Klipsch 5.1 speakers (WoW doesn't encode more than 5.1 channels, so 7.1 is a waste)
-Widescreen CRT monitor (gives you more view of the sides, and CRT has more accurate color and gamma reproduction)


Cheapest machine to crank everything up with decent FPS:

-Athlon 64 3200
-Via PT880 mobo
-1GB DDR400 kingston ram
-ATi 9800 Pro (256MB is needed for newer games and for anisotropic & AA)
-Maxtor Maxline III HDD with NCQ (almost as fast as Raptor)
-SB Audigy 2 OEM
-Creative 5.1 speakers
-NEC 19" CRT monitor


Well first you'll notice that I made it very clear in my post in several different parts to not be afraid to try the game if you're below spec. I also made it clear that I was setting guidelines for the best performance for your buck, as nobody hear is going to be spending $3,000 on a World of Warcraft computer.

This brings me to my next point: while your high-end specifications are actually a bit off, they are also in fact not even needed. Nobody here is going to be spending that kind of money on a World of Warcraft computer... not a damn person. In fact, if anybody here were to be spending $3,000 on a computer it would be a more than safe bet that it would be going through Dell or the like.

The AthlonFX... the 55 is faster, and about $20 more than the 53. 1024MB RAM is used, yes, however if you're going "extreme" why not go all-out and suggest 2048MB? There is no such thing as a GeForce 6800GT Ultra. The 6800GT and the 6800 Ultra are two very different cards, and I must point out that the Radeon x800XT (Plantinum Edition, if you must get technical) is currently the performance king, therefore the GeForce name should not even be mentioned in such a list. The Raptor comes in a 36GB and 74GB capacity, not 72, and it's not really even adviseable, as you won't see much out of that in terms of WoW. Last I checked, widescreen CRTs didn't exist, however you can get a Widescreen LCD if you'd like. If you're going to extreme, you can find a 30" Widescreen LCD/TV for around $1599.

Technically if you were going for "cheapest possible while still maintain framerates" you could go with an Athlon64 2800+, or even an AthlonXP 2500+ and still be safe. At the Athlon64 level, the chipset really doesn't matter (especially not in this case) as even the crappiest of s754 chipsets outperforms the competition by a boatload. Again, "bang for the buck" would probably go with 512MB RAM, however to your credit you can find 1024MB of non-matching PC3200 sticks for around $160 total (albiet at higher latencies). Also, "bang for the buck" users would probably choose a Radeon 9600XT, as it runs around $60 cheaper than the 9800 Pro, and does the job fine enough. (side-note, most people here who would even take our advice wouldn't know what AA or AF were) The harddrive is a non-issue as long as it is at least 7200RPM (and prefferably 8MB Cache). Such drives can be found cheap... $70 for 80GB, $120 for 200GB. If you're on a budget, you're not going to buy a soundcard, and since the off-processor sound processing would only save you about 10 frames per second in, say, UT2K4, that matters even less. Speakers are also a non-issue, as is the monitor size or brand.

[Ryzier]

I forgot where the benchies were, but a hardware site showed that 2 GB of ram actually scored lower on memory tests as compared to 1 GB.

[Hells]

Go for 4 GB ram. Create a ram drive and install WoW on it :)

[Ryzier]

Go for 4 GB ram. Create a ram drive and install WoW on it :)
You'll never have to turn off your computer again

[hellspit]

amd barton 2.4Ghz
512Mb DDR
old Ati Radeon 7500 (got some new drivers from guru3d.com wich fixed most in WoW )

Worked fine , not smooth but just fine ;]
Probably getting Ati R. 9800 cuz of WoW + 512Mb DDR more

[Concillian]

I just would like to add for people who have a low spec video card and are looking for a cheap upgrade the following used cards:

Radeon 8500LE: ~$30-40 or so from eBay
GeForce 3 Ti 200: ~30-40 or so from eBay

Even though those are old, they are (believe it or not) faster than cards like the GeForce 4 MX series and the GeForce FX 5200, though they lack DirectX 9 extensions, they will work fine.

Next tier is the
GeForce 4 Ti 4200 / 4400 / 4800SE / 4600 / 4800 (listed in order of low to high speed): ~$50-80 from eBay
Again, these lack Directx9 extensions, but they are signficantly faster than the GeForce FX 5200 that seems so popular in the low end. This is more in line with the Radeon 9600 / GeForce 5700 type cards. The 4600/4800 is more like the speeds of the pro versions, just without the DirectX 9 extensions.

next up is the
Radeon 9500 pro: ~$80-100 from eBay
This card is faster than a 9600XT in most games. It actually has a faster graphics core than a 9600XT, but slower memory. In most games memory speed is less important than graphics core speed. I do not reccommend the 9500 non-pro. At it's price point, the Geforce 4 Ti series is a better value, the same speed or faster but gives up DX9 extensions.

and finally:
Radeon 9700 / 9700 pro : ~ $100-130 from eBay
I have personally used a Radeon 9700 Pro with WoW in OB and it was capable of running 1280x at high terrain distances without issue (~30 FPS with dips into the 20s). Excellent "middle-high end" card for WoW.

Don't go nuts spending money on a card for WoW. WoW is just not tremendously grpahics intensive. If all you need is a basic card, the GeForce3 Ti 200 or Radeon 8500LE are both great cards for the money, just realize that you will need to lower down the options a little. The Ti 4200 is still very usable in many modern games, and I expect WoW to be no exception.

Even though I have an x800 Pro, I'd never buy that just for WoW. It's totally overkill for WoW. If I only played WoW, I would definitely have stuck with my Radeon 9700 Pro.

[MadMike]

Go for 4 GB ram. Create a ram drive and install WoW on it :)


NICE ! ! ! ! ! ! Didnt think of that till you brought it up ! I HATE you now. :idea:

[Hammet]

I'm looking at asking for a new computer for X-Mas. I've looked around and found a good gaming computer at a fair price. I just would like to know now, would it work for WOW? Here is the link:

GX5010T (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops/compaq_gaming&series_name=GX5010T_series&catLevel=2&tab_switch=true&tab=specs)

Thanks in advance.:)

[Concillian]

I'm looking at asking for a new computer for X-Mas. I've looked around and found a good gaming computer at a fair price. I just would like to know now, would it work for WOW? Here is the link:

GX5010T (http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops/compaq_gaming&series_name=GX5010T_series&catLevel=2&tab_switch=true&tab=specs)

Thanks in advance.:)

WAY more than adequate.

Realistically, unless you're getting a VERY high spec video card, you don't need the high end CPUs offered in those gaming systems. For the most part, games are limited by video cards and rarely by CPUs (at least for current CPUs sold in retail).

If you outfit a Compaq SA4000Z similarly to the GX series computer, you will save about $300 and perform every bit as well in pretty much all games.

The GX5010T is a particularly poor choice unless you go with the 6800 Ultra video option. Their only other option is an x600, and that is a HUGE step down in performance. The x600 is not nearly as good as the 9800 Pro offered in their AGP models. If you feel like you need the the features of the GX5010T and are considering the x600 video card option, I strongly encourage you to look at the GX5000Z with the 9800 Pro option instead. The 9800 Pro is significantly faster, and the AMD CPU is faster in games than the P4 too. The price difference is zero when comparing an A64 3800+ vs. a P4 3.0 GHz. You end up with a faster video card and a faster CPU.

As I said though, you will get 99% of the USABLE speed from a similarly spec'ed SA4000Z (9800 Pro / A64 3200+) and save about $300 over a GX5000Z or GX5010T that is spec'ed out EXACTLY the same except for the CPU. If I were in your shoes, that is exactly what I would do. It's a shame they don't offer the 128MB 9800 Pro, because performance is pretty much the same as the 256MB version, and that could save you another $50.

My 9700 Pro is adequate to play WOW at 1280x1024 resolution with good view distances and all useful options turned on. A 9800 Pro is about 10-15% faster than a 9700 Pro, so you should be good to go at pretty high video settings with a 9800 Pro.

None of the CPUs offered will be anywhere close to limiting your performance in WoW. Even in most first person shooters, an A64 3200+ is more than adequate when paired with a 9800 Pro.

[Hammet]

Wow, I didn't even see that at all. So I heard the majority say that ATI Radeons are better than GeForces, so I'll go with them anyways. Thanks a lot Concillian, you just saved me some cash!:)

[Concillian]

Wow, I didn't even see that at all. So I heard the majority say that ATI Radeons are better than GeForces, so I'll go with them anyways. Thanks a lot Concillian, you just saved me some cash!:)

You're quite welcome. There is no market as confusing as the video card market.

Generally in the low and lower-mid range ATi has better value giving more speed for the money spent. However in the upper end of the range nVidia has a very strong lineup right now. Anything nVidia GeForce FX 5xxx is gnerally a poor buy compared to an equivalently priced ATi card. Anything nVidia GeForce 6xxx is generally an equal or better buy to an equivalently priced ATi card.

But there is no reason to even look at the upper end of the video card market for WoW, cards like that are just overkill. (says the man who now has ATI x800 Pro in his main computer, but I got it "cheap"... $300, and I play first person shooters too)

[Bassoonitic]

Thanks, this has been really helpful, and was exactly what I was looking for. My own system is:

Pentium 4 1.8 ghz
512 Megs of Ram
Radeon 7000 series video card

So it would appear as if a new video card is in order? If so, which one? Someone said buying a super good one is pointless, as to get the most out of it you need a comprable computer. As you can see, I too just like playing games, but know little about computers. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I actually have a second, slightly off topic question. I might be obtaining a second computer cabable of running WoW (I'll get back to you guys with it's specs, won't know till monday). This would mean both my brother and I could have WoW on our own computers. Now, my question is: could we play together with only one copy of the CD? For Diablo II, this is possible, even on B-Net, but in Warcraft III we can only play LAN, and not online. I assume we would been seperate accounts, but is blocked via CD key as well? Thanks for all the help.

[Snarl]

The video card question is a toughie as there are many opinions out there and, to one degree or another, they're almost all filled with valid points. Now having said that...

If you want to keep costs down (IMHO ATI Rules this range still, better than NVidia's FX5000 Series) and still want a descent performer;

1st Choice
ATI 9800 Pro 128MB
2nd Choice
ATI 9600XT 128MB

If you want the best (In this range NVidia may have a slight edge but depending on the games you play ATI still can perform Tops);

1st Choices;
NVidia 6800 Ultra 256MB
ATI X800XT PE 256MB

2nd Choices;
NVidia 6800GT 256MB
ATI X800XT 256MB

and so on...

Good Luck

[Concillian]

See my post on used cards a few posts up (#55)

Rarely are youever 100% CPU limited. If you are, you can turn up resolution and Anit-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering options until you're GPU limited again (except with the VERY high end cards, that is).

If all you play is WoW, I'd go for something like a 9500 pro or a 9700 at most. These support DX9 shaders well and will run WoW well on your system. You can move down to a GeForce4 Ti 4200/4400/4800SE/4600/4800 and get pretty close performance to a 9500 pro, but would will lose out on the DX9 shaders that enhance the graphics a bit, as these cards only support DX 8.1 shaders.

If you need a new card, the 9600 XT is about equivalent to a 9500 Pro, but quite a bit more expensive. A 9800 128 bit is a little better than the 9600XT, and a 9800 Pro or 6600GT is about as high as I would go with your machine. So you're looking in the $60-130 range used and $130 - 200 range new.

On your second question, you cannot play both from one account at the same time. If you both want to play, you have to pay two monthly fees.

[theclam]

Here's the best cards to get. These have the best performance for the price.

Nvidia Geforce3: <$25
ATI Radeon 9600XT: $136
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128-bit: $155
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256-bit: $200
Nvidia Geforce 6600GT PCI-e: $190
Nvidia Geforce 6600GT AGP: ~$200

The Geforce3 is the card to get if you don't have much money to spend. The Radeons are all very good buys at those prices. The Geforce 6600GT may be hard to find as AGP, but if you have PCI-e then that's the way to go. If you spend more than about $250, you don't really get that much performance but pay a LOT more, so only get a 6800GT and up or Radeon X800 Pro and up if you have money to burn. The Radeons and Geforce 6600GT PCI-e are all from www.newegg.com, the Geforce3 is from eBay. The 6600GT AGP may be hard to find, but that is the price you want to pay.

[this.is.a.dud]

i have a pentium 2.35ghz and 512 mb ram, but a geforece 2 mx

reading this part:

nVidia:
GeForce 2 (does not include MX)

freaked me out.. can i play wow? i rmb getting price of persia sot and it couldnt work T-T

[PathMaster]

I have a P4 1.8ghz, 512RD Ram, and a G3TI200..I get around 25fps almost all the time @ 1024x768 with view distance turned all the way down.

[Concillian]

i have a pentium 2.35ghz and 512 mb ram, but a geforece 2 mx

freaked me out.. can i play wow? i rmb getting price of persia sot and it couldnt work T-T

It technically meets the requirements of Hardware Transform and lighting + 32MB, however, I'm guessing the card is too slow to be considered "supported". The GF 2 MX is a pretty slow card.

It will likely play, but you will have to play at pretty low resolution and view distances, and even then may be choppy in places.

[Rijilliac]

When Blizzard lists a minimum specification list, it is not saying that the game will run "great" or even "good" on said computer, but that the game will not run at all if your computer is less than..

This may be true with regards to PC's. It is not true of Macs. In fact I run WoW on a system with HALF the hardware specs and it functions.

(G4 - 450Mhz, 256Mb RAM, stock ATI card (32Mb))

No, not WELL, but an order of magnitude better than say EQ. I believe this has to do with the fact that a lot of the shaders have not been enabled for macs in the initial release of the game. Since a lot of that will depend on Apple's OS update releases it will be a little while - according to Blizzard anyway.

Now that being said - I dont reccomend it - I'm just saying it Works - for now. Of course if you're not running OS/X 10.3.5+ then forget it. The software actually matters more.

This is important for people to know if they desperately need a WoW fix but they're scared off by the required specs. The frame rate is low but not so low you can't play effectively.

- Rijilliac

[RagnarRoark]

This may be true with regards to PC's. It is not true of Macs. In fact I run WoW on a system with HALF the hardware specs and it functions.

(G4 - 450Mhz, 256Mb RAM, stock ATI card (32Mb))



The Mac specs for a +1GHz chip seem to forget that many Powermacs are running dual chips. I run a dual 533 G4, with 640 Mb ram and the stock 32 Mb ATI card. The game runs fine. Although, I plan to max my ram (1.5 G) and upgrade my card soon.

[Rijilliac]

Here's a link to what I was referring to:

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/archives/dec04/120204.html#S18485

[scubastevemsu]

HI all i had a question on what settings i could run with this setup

Compaq R3240US laptop
AMD athlon 64 3200+
797 mhz, 512 mb RAM
WIN XP home
Nvidia Geforce4 440 GO 64 MB

most of the posts deal w/ desktops so i havent seen a lot about the laptop gfx cards so i was curious. I dont have to have all of the stuff on or anything i just want it to look nice. and also what is the conversion of the AMD 3200+ into GHZ i couldnt find it earlier.

Thanks a lot

[Concillian]

Compaq R3240US laptop
AMD athlon 64 3200+
797 mhz, 512 mb RAM
WIN XP home
Nvidia Geforce4 440 GO 64 MB

most of the posts deal w/ desktops so i havent seen a lot about the laptop gfx cards so i was curious. I dont have to have all of the stuff on or anything i just want it to look nice. and also what is the conversion of the AMD 3200+ into GHZ i couldnt find it earlier.

A GeForce 4 440 GO is much like a GeForce 2. You will likely be forced to use lower resolutions, but the lack of shaders may actually be a speed benefit. It will work, but it is a mediocre at best graphics solution.

There are three AMD 3200+ processors:
One that runs at 2000 MHz with 1 MB L2 Cache and Single channel memory
One that runs at 2000 MHz with 512k L2 Cache and Dual channel memory
and
One that runs at 2200 MHz with 512k L2 Cache and Single channel memory

The last of those tends to be the fastest in gaming benchmarks. Generally the 3200+ scores better than a P4 3.2 GHz in gaming benchmarks, but lags a bit behind in media encoding benchmarks.

However, CPU means absolutely nothing (to gaming) in your case. Your notebook's video card will be the primary limiting factor by far.

[Fallen Star]

This may be true with regards to PC's. It is not true of Macs. In fact I run WoW on a system with HALF the hardware specs and it functions.

(G4 - 450Mhz, 256Mb RAM, stock ATI card (32Mb))

I have G4, dual 800mhz, 768mb SDRAM, GeForce 2 with 64MB VRAM... Mac OS 10.3.6... do you think I could run it? Do you think I could run it with reasonable graphics? I was planning on getting a top-of-the-line graphics card (Radeon 9800) before I played, but do I need to before I buy the game or should I see how it works currently first?

If I absolutely have to update the card to have fun and get good graphics, I'd rather do it before I buy the game, and not after. But if I don't have to upgrade at all, well, that'd be great.

[Lilly.m]

Radeon 9200 (does not include SE)

I have ati 9200se 128mb :( What's wrong with it, the 64-bit bus? Can I still play? I can't afford a new card, I just bought this one to play WoW (go figure) T_T I'm fine with all low settings, so long as I can play it ok~

2gig p4
768 ram
the aformentioned 9200se

[alevjen]

ok, so what setup do you think would be minimum for all graphics options set to full?

[Concillian]

I have ati 9200se 128mb :( What's wrong with it, the 64-bit bus? Can I still play? I can't afford a new card, I just bought this one to play WoW (go figure) T_T I'm fine with all low settings, so long as I can play it ok~

2gig p4
768 ram
the aformentioned 9200se


It will play fine with low settings, as long as you are okay with low graphics quality you should be fine with that.

Yes, it is the 64 bit memory bus width that is the issue. There is a reason no serious gaming cards use anything below 128 bit, and have not since BEFORE the Riva TNT.

Here is a good example of what 64 bit memory does for gaming performance:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-06.html

Look at the 9600 vs. the 9600 SE. The only difference with the 9600 SE is the 64 bit memory vs. the 128 bit memory of the 9600, yet it's only 2/3rds the speed of the 9600 as measured in this game. If you look at the other games benchmarked in that review, you'll see that 64 bit is a severe limitation.

Now the core of the 9200 is definitely not the greatest thing out there either, so that plays into the equation as well.

As I said, you definitely won't have a problem actually running the game, but your resolution, terrain distance and other video options will have to be limited.

[Telomar]

I have G4, dual 800mhz, 768mb SDRAM, GeForce 2 with 64MB VRAM... Mac OS 10.3.6... do you think I could run it? Do you think I could run it with reasonable graphics? I was planning on getting a top-of-the-line graphics card (Radeon 9800) before I played, but do I need to before I buy the game or should I see how it works currently first?

If I absolutely have to update the card to have fun and get good graphics, I'd rather do it before I buy the game, and not after. But if I don't have to upgrade at all, well, that'd be great.You'll definitely need to upgrade the graphics card before you play.

[Lilly.m]

It will play fine with low settings, as long as you are okay with low graphics quality you should be fine with that.

Yes, it is the 64 bit memory bus width that is the issue. There is a reason no serious gaming cards use anything below 128 bit, and have not since BEFORE the Riva TNT.

Here is a good example of what 64 bit memory does for gaming performance:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-06.html

Look at the 9600 vs. the 9600 SE. The only difference with the 9600 SE is the 64 bit memory vs. the 128 bit memory of the 9600, yet it's only 2/3rds the speed of the 9600 as measured in this game. If you look at the other games benchmarked in that review, you'll see that 64 bit is a severe limitation.

Now the core of the 9200 is definitely not the greatest thing out there either, so that plays into the equation as well.

As I said, you definitely won't have a problem actually running the game, but your resolution, terrain distance and other video options will have to be limited.


Thanks. The newest game I've played is StarCraft, so WoW will probably look pretty good anyway :)

[Rijilliac]

I have G4, dual 800mhz, 768mb SDRAM, GeForce 2 with 64MB VRAM... Mac OS 10.3.6... do you think I could run it?
Yes.
Do you think I could run it with reasonable graphics?
'Reasonable' is completely subjective. I can't answer that. Suffice to say the graphics will look the same - it's the framerate that is the issue. I use a G4 450Mhz - which is WAY below the spec. I play every night & it works for me. I know damned well that it doesn't refresh as fast as it should. Like I said in my previous post - it works - it doesnt work WELL.

The singular limitation I've found is that joining raid parties is basically pointless. The screen doesnt refresh fast enough to acquire a target fast enough & you get waxed before you can see who you're fighting. That's on MY machine. Your milage may vary.

Before anyone bothers saying anything - I KNOW my machine sux. I'm waiting until Feb. to get a new one - that's when Apple traditionally drops the prices on the machines they push during the holiday season.


I was planning on getting a top-of-the-line graphics card (Radeon 9800) before I played, but do I need to before I buy the game or should I see how it works currently first?

As you can probably guess - my answer is to get & play the game & have fun with it. But that's my OPINION.

If I absolutely have to update the card to have fun and get good graphics, I'd rather do it before I buy the game, and not after. But if I don't have to upgrade at all, well, that'd be great.
Again, you're being completely subjective. I find the game to be a LOT of fun. And again we're talking framerate. If you're dungeon crawling then the framerate goes up quickly. If you're outside it drops. If you're in a raid it drops a LOT.

HTH!

- Rijilliac

[Hammet]

Rather than make a whole new thread, I figured I'd ask my questions here.

First off, anyone know the minimum video card (perferably ATI) I'd need to run this game smoothly at high detail settings?

Second of all, is 1 GB good enough RAM?

Third of all, I've been considering getting a new desktop computer for World of Warcraft mainly because I want a gaming computer. For some reason Dell computers impress me with their looks, but are they reliable? And I've been looking at this (http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dimen_xps4?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs#tabtop) computer. Would this be sufficient enough to live up to World of Warcraft and future computer games? Could I find something relatively cheaper and still get the most out of World of Warcraft?

Thanks guys. Sorry, I just don't know a whole awful lot about computers.

[Concillian]

Buying a new system right now, there are a couple things:
1) Video cards limit resolution and/or visual quality in the majority of cases. So It's good to decide on a video card first, and buy a system based on that.
2) Because video cards limit framerates in the majority of cases, CPU is not tremendously important. Even something like a P4 2.8 GHz or an A64 2800+ is adequate to make the video card the limiting factor in most cases (not using ultra high end video cards.)
3) I'd get 1GB RAM at this point.

For WoW, you can get pretty nice graphics with something like a 9800 Pro. Before I got my x800 Pro, I was using my 9700 Pro at 1280x1024 with options fairly high. The x800 Pro allows 1600x1200 with high view distances and Anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing. WoW is definitely not close to the most demanding out there.

Other good gaming video cards are (in order of performance)
Radeon 9600
Radeon 9600XT
GeForce 6600
Radeon x700
Radeon 9800 Pro
Radeon x700 Pro
GeForce 6600 GT / Radeon x700XT
GeForce 6800
Radeon x800 Pro (generally a worse value if the 6800GT is offered, as the GT is generally around the same price, but faster)
GeForce 6800 GT
GeForce 6800 Ultra / Radeon x800XT (about the same performance, ATi leads in some games, and nVidia leads in others)

Personally, I'd get something at least with 8 pixel rendering pipelines, in the list I just gave, that would be the 6600 or above.

As for brands, Dell is good. HP/Compaq have moved up to the point where they are at least as good as Dell, if not better. I'd look at all of those and see which gives you the best hardware for what you want to spend (or the lowest price for the hardware you want.)

[RandomCL]

GeForce 4 MX440 64MB PCI slot
1152MB SDRAM
1.3GHz PIII Processor

How will it run on low visual settings?

[Sando]

I've been reading trough this topic and as it seems there wont be a chance for me to run WoW on my computer. It's 1 year old (my mom bought it so it's pretty bad). So I'd like to know if there's any chance for me to run it on a decent setting without buying any new hardware or what hardware that I should buy incase I cant run it.

My computer:

Amd 2600+ 2,0Ghz
Ati Radeon 9200 se :(
512 mb RAM

My guess is that i need a new video card and maybe some more ram to increase performance at raids, flights and big cities and things like that. If i need some new things could someone please give me some advice on what i should buy? My budget is very limited. I have only got about 100 euros and thats a pretty big investment for me right now. Thank you.

[Vilkku]

It *will* run, it ran without any problems on my computer (1700 mhz, 512 ram, geForce 4200 ti)

[Visage]

i got 512 mb ram, 2.80 ghz proc, and intel intergrated extreme graphics 2 :( .. will wow run on this system before i upgrade it

[Sando]

i got 512 mb ram, 2.80 ghz proc, and intel intergrated extreme graphics 2 .. will wow run on this system before i upgrade it

I dont know about the video card but if it will run on mine it will probably run on yours.

Also... another question:
About connections this time. I ahve got a 512kb/s dsl connection right now but it will be upgraded to a 1mb/s before ill buy WoW. Is this enough?

[Sando]

i got 512 mb ram, 2.80 ghz proc, and intel intergrated extreme graphics 2 .. will wow run on this system before i upgrade it

I dont know about the video card but if it will run on mine it will probably run on yours.

Also... another question:
About connections this time. I have got a 512kb/s dsl connection right now but it will be upgraded to a 1mb/s before ill buy WoW. Is this enough?

[myazuid]

512 is more than enough, you really needn't upgrade.

[Cap]

I might be getting Wow tonight so....
Will this run it at least to the "Good" standard?

NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200
Pentium 4 CPU 1.70GHz
1.70 GHz
768 MB of RAM

[MySQL]

How might these specs do?

AMD Tbird 1.4ghz@266fsb
ATI Radeon 9600 Atlantis
2x256 PC2700 DDR RAM
56k Modem (LOL)

[sy-duk]

These are my specs and i still get some choppyness in the game when i play it...

P4 2.53 ghz
(1)512 PC2700 DDR ram
Geforce4 Ti4200 or 4800 i forgot which one
Verizon DSL

I remember the resolution and solution was at default and it was so choppy...so i lowered the resolution and solution to its lowest and the only choppyness left was the sky....

Im planning to get another 512 ram stick but i dont know wut kind of videocard to get. Think the Geforce FX5700 is enough i just want the choppyness to go away and put the resolution back to default since my cousin told me not to lower the resolution and leave it at default.

[Elros Duran]

Im getting WoW this week so im wondering if it'll work well on my machine

AMD Athlon 1.2ghz(non XP)
Geforce4MX On-Board (currently using 64mb, should put it up to take 128mb?)
768mb DDR333 ram (3x 256mb chips)

An old computer gonna upgrade later.
Im wondering if letting the video card take up 128mb ram will help than having 64mb? , or its better not letting it? ,thanks

BTW what resolution and settings are good for it?
Thanks

I have a radeon 7500 with 64mb agp around , should i use it instead to play WoW?

[hogsloth]

Hello,

I was wondering if the following system would be able to run WoW on its minimum settings. All I want is for the game to play smoothly. I am not worried about graphical quality :)

Athlon 1800+
512 MB of Ram
Geforce 3 Ti 200

Thanks for the information.

[UnsungHero]

how do you install a pci express card, and how do you know what kind of slot you have?

[Dionysus]

I want to buy a laptop for college, but also be able to play WoW on it. How do you think this system will perform?
3.0ghz Pentium 4-M
512 mb DDR-SDRAM
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000

I can get that for less than a grand, which would rock.

[w.t.g]

Hey, i don't wanna start new tread, so i post this Q here
Which is better:
1)
Athlon xp 1600+ (1150mhz)
768 sdram
ATI radeon 9200SE

or
2)
Athlon xp 2800+ (2000 mhz?)
512 ddr ram
GF ti 200

specs above are something that my current computer will be next week, unless you say that choice 2 is better:D. Problem is, my current computer has old motherboard (ECS K7S5A), and it can use only sd ram, and maximum CPU speed is 1400 mhz.

If choice 2 is better, quess i'll have to go to shop and buy new comp^^.

-W.t.g

[Tr1cK]

ECS K7S5As can use DDR and SDR RAM. I know, I have an old one laying here. It will hold a 2400+ (2.0ghz) chip I know and run pretty good with DDR RAM and a good video card.

[w.t.g]

ECS K7S5As can use DDR and SDR RAM. I know, I have an old one laying here. It will hold a 2400+ (2.0ghz) chip I know and run pretty good with DDR RAM and a good video card.

K7S5As and K7S5A are same thing? u sure?

-W.t.g

[Poots]

These are my specs and i still get some choppyness in the game when i play it...

P4 2.53 ghz
(1)512 PC2700 DDR ram
Geforce4 Ti4200 or 4800 i forgot which one
Verizon DSL

I remember the resolution and solution was at default and it was so choppy...so i lowered the resolution and solution to its lowest and the only choppyness left was the sky....

Im planning to get another 512 ram stick but i dont know wut kind of videocard to get. Think the Geforce FX5700 is enough i just want the choppyness to go away and put the resolution back to default since my cousin told me not to lower the resolution and leave it at default.

You would greatly benefit from adding an addition 256 or 512MB RAM. Bumping up past 512 makes a huge difference performance-wise, trust me. ;)

[Poots]

Hey, i don't wanna start new tread, so i post this Q here
Which is better:
1)
Athlon xp 1600+ (1150mhz)
768 sdram
ATI radeon 9200SE

or
2)
Athlon xp 2800+ (2000 mhz?)
512 ddr ram
GF ti 200

specs above are something that my current computer will be next week, unless you say that choice 2 is better:D. Problem is, my current computer has old motherboard (ECS K7S5A), and it can use only sd ram, and maximum CPU speed is 1400 mhz.

If choice 2 is better, quess i'll have to go to shop and buy new comp^^.

-W.t.g

Well more RAM is prefferable, however the second "option" with more RAM would be ideal.

[Poots]

Also.. taken a look at your system tray lately? These days you prolly have a firewall, antivirus, video control panel, custom audio control panel, Quicktime or realvideo, maybe a wifi config client, instant messanger of some sort, steam (you can stop that from loading on start up you know. ;) ) and i'll tell you now, most of those programs are not real optimised size wise. Infact some of the most common programs like anti viruses and creatives control panels (Theres the new ATI control panel that is farging gigantic, but im pretty sure none of it stays resident in ram since it takes 30 minutes to startup) are really huge. Drivers are also not immune, infact I would nominate creative labs as the biggest offender of bloated drivers. Years ago they were taking up nearly 70 megs of memory on startup (one reason I ditched em completely). Considering I havn't heard of them improving this, I shudder to think the problem still exhist.

The reason Creative Labs has "large drivers" is because they hide proprietary software within those drivers. Also, the guide was written with the assumption the reader had some sort of basic idea of system resource management. ;)

[masterchief30]

Just thought I'd post my specs to see if you guys think WoW will run well on this setup.

AMD AthlonXP 2.0ghz
512mb ram
Will be buying Visiontek Xtasy 9550 128bit.

I want to play this game, but not unless my machine will runi it well enough.

Thanks for your input.

[Nalfein]

masterchief30 it will run just fine i have a worse system but when you get the chance punch in another 512mb of ram

[masterchief30]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.

[greenwyrm]

Greetings.

I played in the 2nd Strees test beta, put the game down after encountering tons of lag. (plus Halo 2 came out) Now, after tiring of playing with juveniles and cheaters on XBL, I long for a more "mature" gaming experience.

My system:
Intel Celeron D 2.66 Ghz
Intel Xtreme Graphics Integrated 64 MB video card
256 MB ram
Sound Blaster Live! sound card
60 GB harddrive

Any suggestions?

[w.t.g]

Greetings.

I played in the 2nd Strees test beta, put the game down after encountering tons of lag. (plus Halo 2 came out) Now, after tiring of playing with juveniles and cheaters on XBL, I long for a more "mature" gaming experience.

My system:
Intel Celeron D 2.66 Ghz
Intel Xtreme Graphics Integrated 64 MB video card
256 MB ram
Sound Blaster Live! sound card
60 GB harddrive

Any suggestions?

CPU: ok
RAM: get least 256mb more
graph card: Integrated cards ****! try to get least gf3, it should run WoW. They don't cost too much in these days.
sound card: good thing to have, but it isn't "must"
hardrive: well, WoW takes about 5gb...so it shoulbe ok.

-W.t.g

[oursugarisyours]

Since I noticed quite a few posts here with system specs similar to mine... here's my hardware.

Athlon XP 1700+
512 MB DDR RAM
GeForce 3 Ti200

When I was in the beta, I got between 8 and 25 fps, depending on where I was and the number of characters/monsters on screen. Definitely playable, but I'm considering upgrading so my computer doesn't die during huge PVP battles. Not sure whether it'd be better to add more RAM, upgrade my video card, or both, though.

[macka]

Hey poots and others,
You guys are keeping up with the hardware much better than I ever could so I thought I'd run this past you.
I'm looking at upgrading 2 machines here, just the MB/RAM/VID/CPU
I got a quote for $1550AUSD on;
Asus P5GDC-V Deluxe Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 LGA775 CPU
1G DDR400 RAM Memory
X700 PRO PCI Express Video Card 256M (I have to check if our suppliers has got it in stock)
Cooler master Sliver Case
PRICE: $1550.00 Inc GST
(firstly is this anygood and after what I've read tonight the X700's seem to be out of date already)

kk so I freak out a bit cause it's a PCIE card and I know nothing of this newer tech besides people bagging it out.
Now I have read a lot tonight and read that the Radeon X800XT is a great ballsy card how ever when I search for it I find there is ONLY a PCIE version of this card ??
ASUS Extreme AX800 XT Platinum Edition, (256 MB) Graphic Card
ATI RADEON X800 XT VPU, PCI Express Interface, 256 MB (DDR SDRAM)

Then I've been reading that the Athlon64 3000 is a great Chip to buy as it outperforms Intel for games... kk is that the (754) or the (939)?
Also even though I've tried finding this .. I can't seem to figure out if the Athlons support PCIE cards or not on their motherboards... *it's getting late now 2.14am so I thought I'd ask instead of getting to work looking like a junkie tomorrow*

Heh long winded way to ask does AMD have pcie support and if so will the x800XT run fine with windows XP on it... :scratch:

All these GTO MMX DDR SDR FFS drive me nuts to keep up with :) You think ya buying a x800XT but the GTO at the end means it's been ripped to **** by some manufact that cuts the price down yadda yadda
k heading to bed... any advice / links would be great thanks all

[Concillian]

macka:

On CPUs:
WoW is not very CPU intensive, so go with the best value. I currently have an Athlon 64 2800+ (S754 runs 1.8 GHz) I can run the CPU at stock speed or overclock it to 2.4 GHz and I see no difference in my FPS. This is the lowest end A64 available, so just about anything new Intel or AMD will work for WoW. AMD does tend to perform better in games, however either will be adequate.

If I had a choice of what to buy right now, it would probably be the S939 3000+, which is essentially a S939 version of my chip that AMD uprates because the S939 supports dual channel memory. I would mostly choose it because of the value ($ to performance ratio)

On the graphics cards you mention:
The x700 cards are not a bad value. The nVidia cards competing with it at the same price level tend to perform slightly better, so you hear more people talking about 6600GT. It should be adequate for running 1280x resolutions and reasonably high video options.

x800XT is certainly available in AGP form factor. You just haven't found the right place. The x800XT PE (or Platinum Edition) is slightly faster, but very rare and commands a significant price premium.

Example of an AGP x800XT:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-289&depa=1

The x800XT is probably signifcant overkill for WoW. I use an x800 Pro (overclocked some) and that is adequate to keep me at a MINIMUM of 40-50 FPS range at 1600x1200 with all video options available except Anti-Aliasing. An nVidia 6800 GT is probably a better fit for the ultimate WoW card, which is the card I would have gotten if I didn't find such a good deal for my x800 Pro from someone who decided they didn't need such a high end card and sold it to me for cheap.

As for AMD and PCI-e, there are motherboards available, but they are rare at the moment. Many local computer stores probably won't have any yet, you probably have to buy them online.

Here is an example of one:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-152-049&depa=1

[macka]

Thanks heaps for the prompt reply.
I'll prob also be looking at running Maya on this system so I'm not totally concerned about having a card that outperforms the requirements of WoW as I'm sure I'll push it very hard in Maya :)

Macka

[Concillian]

Thanks heaps for the prompt reply.
I'll prob also be looking at running Maya on this system so I'm not totally concerned about having a card that outperforms the requirements of WoW as I'm sure I'll push it very hard in Maya :)

Macka


Maya's speed is generally measured by rendering time. Rendering doesn't use the video card at all. CPU and RAM are generally far more important to a program like Maya than a killer video card.

For example look here:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040816/opengl-pcie-18.html

The FireGL V3100 is essentially an x300 card (in other words a slower 3d card than any you're looking at)
The V5100 is essentially an x800 Pro, one step below the x800XT. Yet it benchmarks virtually indentically to the v3100 with the crappy GPU.

Maya is a reason to get tons of RAM and CPU, not a reason to get a killer gaming card.

[macka]

CPU and RAM are generally far more important to a program like Maya than a killer video card
Whilst I don't dissagree re ram and cpu but um have you tried to run maya with a **** video card? omg it sucks!
Just need something that copes at home okay if I need to take work home... :)

Macka

[Jeff123]

I recently bought a Dell with the minimum graphics card: ATI Radeon X300 SE 128 MB and WOW won't play. Is the card my problem? I've got a Pentium 4 3.0 GHz and 1 GB of Ram. I want to upgrade the card but I'd like to know if that's my problem.

Thanks.

[IronArthur]

it exist any program to test if my pc could handle wow? i've arrived late to sign for european final beta :(

My pc:

athlon 1Ghz,512Ram,radeon 9000pro 64mb.

i know the min reqs, but we all know that with just min reqs the game will run very slow... my pc is a lit better than mins....


Note: Sorry for my english.

[Spiffmana]

So, I don't understand why I average 10-15 fps. I have a Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 1GB DDR (333mhz i think), and a GeForceFX 5600XT 256mb. Can anyone explain to me why I would be running so slow, even with the graphics turned down, newest drivers, and NOTHING running in the background (even in systray)?

[AimWithPrecision]

So, I don't understand why I average 10-15 fps. I have a Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 1GB DDR (333mhz i think), and a GeForceFX 5600XT 256mb. Can anyone explain to me why I would be running so slow, even with the graphics turned down, newest drivers, and NOTHING running in the background (even in systray)?
Your specs should easily run this game, a few things i would try : Defragment your harddrive, scan for viruses and spyware, that should do the trick, if all else fails i guess you could reformat.

[Spiffmana]

Your specs should easily run this game, a few things i would try : Defragment your harddrive, scan for viruses and spyware, that should do the trick, if all else fails i guess you could reformat.

I've actually done all 3 to no avail.

[Grimsy]

Here's my (to be) config:

AMD Athlon XP 2200+
368 SDRAM
Radeon 7000 32MB

Would WoW work w/ this config, or should I change something?

[DerangedMutant]

Here's my (to be) config:

AMD Athlon XP 2200+
368 SDRAM
Radeon 7000 32MB

Would WoW work w/ this config, or should I change something?

That video card is pushing it quite a bit. It will run just don't expect to see it in all its glory...

[BGP Spook]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Grimsy
Here's my (to be) config:

AMD Athlon XP 2200+
368 SDRAM
Radeon 7000 32MB

Would WoW work w/ this config, or should I change something?



That video card is pushing it quite a bit. It will run just don't expect to see it in all its glory...

I would agree your video card "should" run it. (in theory, but reality can differ a bit, there might be DirectX version compatibality issues, but I don't really know)

I would get at least a GeForce Ti 4200 or better.

I would also not get less than 512 Mb RAM. (the game will run MUCH better with 512, and even better with 1 gig)

[Posidus]

Just wanted to know how this setup will run WoW.

Gigabyte K8NS pro mobo
athlon 64 3000+ CPU
2 x 512mb corsair memory
80gb WD HDD
ATI RADEON 9700 pro

[TRODGE]

same question:
AMD Athlon 1800+ 1.5gh
768MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128Mb

will this play wow, bearing in mind i dont care about large scale battles, i will be pleaying with friends in 5vs5 battles, will they play alright?

[Navix]

Im about to buy the game tommorow but im kinda worried about my videocard
i got an ' Intel(R) 82 865G graphic controller' Intel(R) Extreme graphics 2'
the videocard is mentioned on the official wow site, but im worried i borrowed Everquest II yesterday and installed it and gives a: 'Pixel Shader error'

so my question is: Am i able to play the game with this video card? and if not will my old Geforce 2 MX400 run?

worried :(

[Poots]

Just wanted to know how this setup will run WoW.

Gigabyte K8NS pro mobo
athlon 64 3000+ CPU
2 x 512mb corsair memory
80gb WD HDD
ATI RADEON 9700 pro

This setup will run World of Warcraft more than fine. ;)

[Poots]

same question:
AMD Athlon 1800+ 1.5gh
768MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128Mb

will this play wow, bearing in mind i dont care about large scale battles, i will be pleaying with friends in 5vs5 battles, will they play alright?

It should do fine, just be sure to avoid large-scale PvP-based raids.

[Poots]

Im about to buy the game tommorow but im kinda worried about my videocard
i got an ' Intel(R) 82 865G graphic controller' Intel(R) Extreme graphics 2'
the videocard is mentioned on the official wow site, but im worried i borrowed Everquest II yesterday and installed it and gives a: 'Pixel Shader error'

so my question is: Am i able to play the game with this video card? and if not will my old Geforce 2 MX400 run?

worried :(

Well I'm pretty sure the integrated video card you have will not run World of Warcraft (although it doesn't hurt to try), and I can say about the same for your Geforce2 MX. Although you would do good to keep in mind that EverQuest 2's system requirements are unlike any other MMORPG out there, especially World of Warcraft, and you can't really make a determination about WoW using EQ2 as your source.

[Poots]

it exist any program to test if my pc could handle wow? i've arrived late to sign for european final beta :(

My pc:

athlon 1Ghz,512Ram,radeon 9000pro 64mb.

i know the min reqs, but we all know that with just min reqs the game will run very slow... my pc is a lit better than mins....


Note: Sorry for my english.

Your computer will run World of Warcraft, however you will almost certainly experience lag in larger-scale PvP (assuming the server doesn't lag out before your system does) and in main cities (Ironforge and Orgrimmar being the two worst, as they contain each faction's Auction House).

[Poots]

Hey poots and others,
You guys are keeping up with the hardware much better than I ever could so I thought I'd run this past you.
I'm looking at upgrading 2 machines here, just the MB/RAM/VID/CPU
I got a quote for $1550AUSD on;
Asus P5GDC-V Deluxe Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.2 LGA775 CPU
1G DDR400 RAM Memory
X700 PRO PCI Express Video Card 256M (I have to check if our suppliers has got it in stock)
Cooler master Sliver Case
PRICE: $1550.00 Inc GST
(firstly is this anygood and after what I've read tonight the X700's seem to be out of date already)

kk so I freak out a bit cause it's a PCIE card and I know nothing of this newer tech besides people bagging it out.
Now I have read a lot tonight and read that the Radeon X800XT is a great ballsy card how ever when I search for it I find there is ONLY a PCIE version of this card ??
ASUS Extreme AX800 XT Platinum Edition, (256 MB) Graphic Card
ATI RADEON X800 XT VPU, PCI Express Interface, 256 MB (DDR SDRAM)

Then I've been reading that the Athlon64 3000 is a great Chip to buy as it outperforms Intel for games... kk is that the (754) or the (939)?
Also even though I've tried finding this .. I can't seem to figure out if the Athlons support PCIE cards or not on their motherboards... *it's getting late now 2.14am so I thought I'd ask instead of getting to work looking like a junkie tomorrow*

Heh long winded way to ask does AMD have pcie support and if so will the x800XT run fine with windows XP on it... :scratch:

All these GTO MMX DDR SDR FFS drive me nuts to keep up with :) You think ya buying a x800XT but the GTO at the end means it's been ripped to **** by some manufact that cuts the price down yadda yadda
k heading to bed... any advice / links would be great thanks all

Everything else was already touched on, so I'm going to go ahead and comment on the system you are purchasing. Assuming the calculation I made was correct, $1550 AUD (or AUSD) converts to roughly $1,220 USD. For the system you listed, that is a very nice deal. Regarding the x700... it is a good card. In fact, I personally feel it is better than the 6600 series (at least in certain areas) and will definately perform well in World of Warcraft as long as basically any other game you were to run on it.

"Then I've been reading that the Athlon64 3000 is a great Chip to buy as it outperforms Intel for games... kk is that the (754) or the (939)?" as for that, really both do. Obviously Socket 939 is much better, however in my experience even a 2800+ Socket 754 Athlon64 (1.8Ghz/512KB L2 Cache) out-performed my friend's 3.4Ghz Pentium 4 (Canterwood) in relation to gaming. That's a 1.6Ghz difference, which I think speaks for itself.

[Samutin]

same old question
BTW now its time to laugh for my computer
Its have 1.7ghz celeron prosessor
64mb card on motherboard
512 mbs ram

so will it work
i dont care about how big resolution i am gonna use or is textures low or high but i dont wanna play with 5 fps for every second

[nxt-Gen]

same old question
BTW now its time to laugh for my computer
Its have 1.7ghz celeron prosessor
64mb card on motherboard
512 mbs ram

so will it work
i dont care about how big resolution i am gonna use or is textures low or high but i dont wanna play with 5 fps for every second

looking for this same info

[Sando]

I played in the beta with a 2.0 ghz 512 mb ram radeon 9200 se on 1024x768 on middle good settings and i got around 25 fps. If you play on the absolute minimum settings you will prolly get around 30 fps. And thats really enough. You don't need more than 25 fps so start playing.

[nxt-Gen]

update to previous post;

got a celeron 1.8g processor, 256ram (buying another 512 if feasible) and looking to get a cheapish graphics card (old one just died) like a ati 9200 or something that would help run the game 1024x768 @ about 25+ fps (if that be a possibility, lol)

any info would be much appriciated

[Sando]

update to previous post;

got a celeron 1.8g processor, 256ram (buying another 512 if feasible) and looking to get a cheapish graphics card (old one just died) like a ati 9200 or something that would help run the game 1024x768 @ about 25+ fps (if that be a possibility, lol)

any info would be much appriciated

Yes, the 9200 would be the card for you. But dont get a se.

[nxt-Gen]

Yes, the 9200 would be the card for you. But dont get a se.

what would be better out of the 9200 and the 9250?

[nxt-Gen]

And is there much performance difference between 768 and 1024 mb of ram?

id be pushing it to get 1 gig but if its alot better then i think i can.

[nxt-Gen]

:clap: comp spec's - got a celeron 1.8g processor, 256ram (buying another 512 if feasible) and looking to get a cheapish graphics card (old one just died) like a ati 9200 or something that would help run the game 1024x768 @ about 25+ fps (if that be a possibility, lol)

at 1024x768 res, high textures, medium terain, second lowest setting for terrain distance runs at a constant 20-30 fps and thats only with 256ram (not including large cities), getting 1gig in post next two weeks!! cant wait to see the difference it makes.
only prob i got atm is major cities and lack of background (terrain) would be nice to see into the distance a little!!

just thought id reply to myself incase ne1 was looking for low spec info.

[The wraith]

i cant find out bout GEfource but will a althlon 2000+ with 480mb of ram work?

p.s. how do i find out what GEfource i got?

[Natalyah]

My specs are:

Pentium 4 2.8 GHz w/ HT Technology
512 MB DDR226 RAM
GeForce Ti4200 128 mb
120 GB hard drive (just under half full)

I lag HORRIBLY in Ironforge (I have made sure to keep my video drivers up to date), and my flights are always choppy too. Everywhere else the gameplay is fine. I don't understand why I lag so badly...I have an HT technology processor, huge hard drive, good video card. I'm told that upgrading to 1 GB of RAM will fix my problem...I am praying that they are right. I mean, I ran DAoC beautifully (played with all expansions through ToA) and the hardware requirements are way higher than those of WoW. I don't understand why my lag is so bad.

[The wraith]

i havent got GEfource or raedon i have a


S3 Prosavge KM113(TM)


will it work what u think its made by S3 Graphics, inc

[Hayek]

I lag HORRIBLY in Ironforge (I have made sure to keep my video drivers up to date), and my flights are always choppy too. Everywhere else the gameplay is fine. I don't understand why I lag so badly...I have an HT technology processor, huge hard drive, good video card. I'm told that upgrading to 1 GB of RAM will fix my problem...I am praying that they are right. I mean, I ran DAoC beautifully (played with all expansions through ToA) and the hardware requirements are way higher than those of WoW. I don't understand why my lag is so bad.

This type of lag has a lot less to do with your PC - which is more than adequate, to say the least, to run WoW - and much more with Blizzards servers. IF is laggy because there are so many people there, so a LOT of info needs to be swapped between your PC and the server. The output of the server can at times be insufficient to handle that - the same things can happen during raids. Yes, more RAM will mean that less info will have to taken from your hard-drive and will probably improve things somewhat, but i wouldnt bet on a lag-free IF. Sorry.
On a brighter note: Your choppy flights will almost surely get better when you get more RAM (have 512 myself as well, so I cant verify, but plenty of people have confirmed this, and it makes sense), but there potentially is a server issue as well: in my experience, flights are more smooth if the city where you departed from is less populated. My speculation: while in flight, you're still considered to be in that city, so the server send you all kinds of info about players in that city you don't need. I don't know this for sure, but it is the only explanation I've heard so far that fits the facts.

[Hobbez]

If you're looking for a new video card for World of Warcraft, let me take a moment to recommend some models, and give some prices on those models. All of these video cards run World of Warcraft, meaning all are compatible. This list will be in order of cost (and performance) from least to greatest.

Radeon 7500LE 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-346&depa=1) - $45

Radeon 9250 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-125-153&depa=1) - $54

Radeon 9600SE 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-129-015&depa=1) - $71

Radeon 9600 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-022&depa=1) - $79

Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-257&depa=1) - $109

Radeon 9600XT 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-008&depa=1) - $136

Radeon 9800 (Non-Pro) 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-369&depa=1) - $142

GeForce 6600GT 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-150-080&depa=1) - $249

GeForce 6800GT 128MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-177&depa=1) - $344

GeForce 6800GT 256MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-195&depa=1) - $399

Radeon x800 XT 256MB (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-397&depa=1) - $461

Obviously the more expensive you go, the better the computer you're going to need to get the maximum potential out of the card. That's not to say you can't buy a Radeon x800XT and just get a new computer later and re-use the card, it's just that a Radeon x800XT isn't going to be "as fast" in a Pentium 4 2Ghz as it would be in a Pentium 4 3Ghz.





Okay, so I have 358 MB of RAM, and a DirectX 9.0 driver, and... Er... Don't take this to heartr, but I believe 857 MHz (But Im not sure if that's CPU, I just kinda guessed), and then I buy the 45$ Radion and install, in theory, it should run? I sure hope so... THANKS FOR A RESPONSE!

[det]

Okay, so I have 358 MB of RAM, and a DirectX 9.0 driver, and... Er... Don't take this to heartr, but I believe 857 MHz (But Im not sure if that's CPU, I just kinda guessed), and then I buy the 45$ Radion and install, in theory, it should run? I sure hope so... THANKS FOR A RESPONSE!

I think the very first post answered that...and other threads have poved it: You really want 512 MB at the least. 368 MB might just be totally annoying...

Also IIRC in the first post you are looking at a 2 GHz CPU.

I am not sure how the game would run on my 1.6 GHZ P4, 512 RAM, GeForce 4200Ti...but I might try it out one day. Could be sort of the lowest setup that isn't too annoyingly choppy.

[Abysal]

I'm thinking of buying a computer for roughly 100$ american, which includes:

intel pentium 4 2.8ghz
two identical 512mb ddr memory
120gb hard drive
chaintech geforce fx5200 256mb
linksys wmp11 wirless network card (I'm assuming I need this for my wireless conection, don't know much about network cards though)
windows xp home OS

The exact computer can be found here (http://cybertronpc.com/Customkititems.asp?CartId={99DC1E8E-7B67-4796-9AEC-C6998FD348B2}&kc=PCGXBL2800ISV) , but note that I customized it to include the improved RAM, hard drive, video card etc. etc.

What I want to know is if this is too expensive, and is there anything better I could get for $1000 (would be best if it wasn't a barebone system, but I'm pretty sure I can do it along with a cousin who is very likly to know how to build them)? I know the video card may not be up to standards, but seeing as it seems like the best deal out of all the video cards I could choose on the aforementioned link. Also I don't want to spend much more then I am, so if I get a better video card I will either need a website with better deals or severly limit some of the other things that will be going with it. Note that I can't order that computer without a video card, and the cheapest one to order with is roughly $50, so if I want a different video card then the link allows, I would need to choose a different desktop.

[Implodation]

I really need help guys.

Petium 4 2GHz
256 RAM
Nvidia Geforce4 MX420

alright..... I really just have two questions.....

1. I plan on getting a 512 upgrade to my RAM only problem is i dont understand the kind i need. the dell book here says (word for word) "128-, 256-, and 518-MB non-ECC DDR SDRAM".

so knowing this, what am i looking for on the label when im buying the RAM

2. will my video card run this game well? or is this card really bad....?
if it is bad than what is a REASONABLE choice of Geforce?

please help me people. i will be eternally greatful!

[SuperMike]

my pc:
AMD Athlon Xp 1500+ 1.3 GHz
256 Mb RAM
Radeon 7000 series 64 MB

Will i be able to play WoW ??

[avoidtheecho]

Why do all your computers suck? I just bought mine and i didnt upgrade anything and it runs wow with no lag once so ever. I only paid like 500 dollars for it.

[AaManiac]

I really need help guys.

Petium 4 2GHz
256 RAM
Nvidia Geforce4 MX420

alright..... I really just have two questions.....

1. I plan on getting a 512 upgrade to my RAM only problem is i dont understand the kind i need. the dell book here says (word for word) "128-, 256-, and 518-MB non-ECC DDR SDRAM".

so knowing this, what am i looking for on the label when im buying the RAM

2. will my video card run this game well? or is this card really bad....?
if it is bad than what is a REASONABLE choice of Geforce?

please help me people. i will be eternally greatful!


DELL's are tricky my secondary laptop (A DELL) only recognizes(sp) Memory chips bought from the dell site some internal circutiry or something....


-Maniac

Why do all your computers suck? I just bought mine and i didnt upgrade anything and it runs wow with no lag once so ever. I only paid like 500 dollars for it.




I'd like to know your computer specs. that you have buying a Rig for 500 and not experiencing any "LAG"...


-Maniac

my pc:
AMD Athlon Xp 1500+ 1.3 GHz
256 Mb RAM
Radeon 7000 series 64 MB

Will i be able to play WoW ??


SuperMike go to this site.....

http://www.nzone.com/content/nzone/srl/nzone_srl.asp?gameid=2091

run the safe ActiveX conrtol and find out for yourself....
if you have any questions or concerns let me know... and I'd be happy to offer help/advice


-Maniac