Video Card or RAM?

[Wiired]

Hey, I'm looking to improve my computer's performance while playing WoW. I know my out of date video card is definetely a problem, but I've also been told I should go from 512 MB of RAM to 1 Gig of ram. How much will that help? Is it worth spending $100 on?

Also.. I usually have a framerate of 10 FPS, so how much would buying an AGP video card for about $150 improve my framerate? On average, I know it could vary depending on my machine.

[Kalos]

We can't tell you how much a new video card will improve performance until we know what the current one is.

[Wiired]

Sorry about that.. I'm currently using an "Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller."

[Kalos]

Had you checked that you have an AGP slot? There has been times in the past where people have confused what slots they have and find to thier disappointment that thier shiny new graphics card doesn't fit into thier motherboard.

As you use onboard, this is a danger. If you do have it however, a Nvidia 7600 GS is a pretty cheap upgrade that is leaps and bounds ahead of whatever Intel can do with graphics. At this point, you shall notice more of an upgrade going from onboard to dedicated expansion graphics than doubling the ram. By going with the graphics card, you'd be freeing up more of the existing ram to reinforce the gameplay which alone should provide a massive boost.

[Wiired]

I'm thinking you're talking about this?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/7_series_techspecs.html

I want to play at near max settings, will this let me do it? If I have a whole bunch of baddies on my screen, will I still maintain a good framerate?

EDIT: I didn't actually open the computer to check if it was AGP. I told someone what computer I'm using (Sony Vaio PCV-RS220) and they told me it should have come with an AGP card.

[Kalos]

That is it, at least, the 7 series to which it belongs. The third party manufacturer makes most of the card themselves, the driving processer is made by Nvidia. Two good manufacturers are Gainward and BFG. XFX aren't bad at thier job either. ASUS aren't very good however, and most of the very small companies are not high quality producers either. As you're in America, I recommend the card to come from BFG, I don't hear many bad things about thier cards.

Don't go by someone's word, you can check yourself with a very simple program. Google and download CPU-Z, there's a section called "Mainboard" and under that you have a small box labled "Graphics Interface". If it is blank, you have neither, if it has detail, type it out. It should either be "AGP 4X/8X" or some form of "PCI-E". If it is blank, it makes upgrading much harder as you can imagine. Hard enough finding cards in AGP, let alone the bandwidth restricted PCI interface.

Very good, and cheap model here, the manufacturer isn't a bad one either: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125039&ATT=14-125-039&CMP=OTC-17exta6 Low power consumption which is a plus. Nice and small (and reasonably priced!), unlike the 8800 series. Definantly be able to handle WoW well. Just make sure you've got that AGP slot.

[Wiired]

Well, shoot. I feel like I just took five steps BACKWARDS. "Graphics Interface" is blank.. how can I upgrade it? How much will it cost..?

[Kalos]

There are only two possibilities. You have no graphical expansion port at all, PCI-E or AGP. Or the motherboard is running some whacky BIOS programming which is misleading CPU-Z. You can phsically check to be sure, but I doubt the program has analysed wrongly. The person who informed you of there being an AGP port is wrong; which is most likely as s/he told you that based on your model brand. Which is completely rubbish, you can't base a prediction upon that for the simple reason that motherboards change even within the same labled product. One Sony Vaio PCV-RS220 may very well have a motherboard with an AGP slot, another one may not, but that won't stop the company from labling them as the same, on the off chance that it boosts sales they won't make a clear distinction unless they have to, it wouldn't make business sense otherwise. Inpolite of them, but the logic is there.

What is the current processor? It may be better to save up and get a whole new processor/ram/mobo/graphic combo, and utilise the rest of the old parts. There'd be little point in investing in more ram now, if you've got poor quality processor/motherboard/graphics provisions all strapping you down.

[Wiired]

Hmm.. CPU-Z tells me I'm using an Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.53GHz. If I save up for all that, how much do you think it would cost?

[Kalos]

It's be hard to say for certain. There's going to be a big price drop around April 19th on processors, similarly at the end of April/beginning of May for Graphics cards. I'd wait till then to buy hardware, then scoop up the middle end hardware like a 7600 GT in PCI-E, PCI-E mobo, and a Core 2 with a gig of DDR 2 for around hopefully $500, post drop. It may drop more, or it may drop less, but it shall drop. Around then, I may link good individual parts for all users looking for this base.

As it stands, I'd probably grab an E4300 or an E6300 Core 2 Duo processor from Intel, the ram would have to be DDR2; thankfully that's got cheaper the last three months. The individual mobo depends on current components. You have to tell me weither your hard drive connects to your motherboard through PATA or SATA, any special features like RAID or Firewire you would want to be included.

Aside from that interface check on the hard drive, can you check the wattage on your PSU? If it's below 400 watts (or 16 Amps on the 12 V rail), it may need to be replaced to handle the new power demands.

[HolyDemon]

Before buying any stuff, I would still recommend doing the physical check, by opening your computer, who knows it has an AGP slot after all, it's worth the try.

And if you buy a new system, I recommend getting at least 1, preferably 2 GB of RAM.

And if you end up upgrading your current system, go with the videocard Kalos mentioned, and be sure to upgrade your RAM as well, I recommend buying 1 GB dual channel.