I used to play WoW at an internet cafe but every hour cost a 1.50$ and when you spend 4-5 hours a day there it can become quite expensive......
So I was wondering if anyone could reccomend a fairly cheap grapics card around 50$ that can run WoW. But the thing is my pc has only pci, no pci-e or agp.
I found these 2 on ebay and I was wondering witch would be better.
http://cgi.ebay.com/nVIDIA-GeForce-256MB-FX5500-256-5500-PCI-Video-Card-v29_W0QQitemZ220068896818QQihZ012QQcategoryZ40161QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Radeon-9250-256MB-DDR-PCI-Video-Graphics-Card_W0QQitemZ120071437212QQihZ002QQcategoryZ40158QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I know pci gpus arent that great but as long as I can run WoW lag free then its fine with me.
And about ram, I currently only have 256mb and I was wondering. 1gb or 512mb? And does it have to be the same brand as my current ram for it to work together?
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Upgrading RAM and GPU for WoW.Follow
I have that exact 256 MB GeForce 5500 FX, 'cept it was from XFX so your mileage may vary. The good news...I can run WoW at 1280x1024 with everything on max minus antialiasing, anitroscopic filtering, and full-screen glow at a decent FPS. The FPS gets a bit better if I shut down every background process and change WoW's priority to Very High. It's not 60 FPS silky-smooth but it's quite palatable. The bad news...it may be great with WoW but with any game released after Half-Life 2, it's pretty much crap. Works great with HL2 and other Source titles but anything after that, like F.E.A.R. and Oblivion, barely even run. I'm not sure why this gulf is so big - anything released in 2004 or earlier can run great on max settings, yet anything 2005 and beyond runs at 3 FPS. Anyway, I'm no expert but I do know it'll handle WoW just fine. If you're strapped for cash and if WoW is your main priority, that GeForce will handle it just fine. At this point in time, it will be little more than a stopgap so you can handle WoW, though. Expect to need to upgrade it sometime soon.
As for RAM, I'd say 512 is minimum. You'll still get long periods of lag-stutters in crowded cities and your gryphon flights will be choppy and unenjoyable, but aside from that you'll be good. Still, I found this annoying and went up to a gig. Instant difference! I've had games where upgrading RAM did diddly to fix the dismal performance, but it really matters in WoW. I no longer get ANY loading lag! Nowhere! Not even in Orgrimmar or Ironforge, or in raids. My gryph flights no longer lag or freeze up the image. My framerate does still go down a bit when my gryph flies over dense trees, but that's because of the video card.
If you're strapped for cash, I would suggest getting at least a GeForce FX card and 512 MB RAM. You can probably run WoW on borderline mid-high settings, or high with some tweaking plus an upgrade to 1 GB of RAM. I know zero about that other card so find someone else's opinion on that one.
As for RAM, I'd say 512 is minimum. You'll still get long periods of lag-stutters in crowded cities and your gryphon flights will be choppy and unenjoyable, but aside from that you'll be good. Still, I found this annoying and went up to a gig. Instant difference! I've had games where upgrading RAM did diddly to fix the dismal performance, but it really matters in WoW. I no longer get ANY loading lag! Nowhere! Not even in Orgrimmar or Ironforge, or in raids. My gryph flights no longer lag or freeze up the image. My framerate does still go down a bit when my gryph flies over dense trees, but that's because of the video card.
If you're strapped for cash, I would suggest getting at least a GeForce FX card and 512 MB RAM. You can probably run WoW on borderline mid-high settings, or high with some tweaking plus an upgrade to 1 GB of RAM. I know zero about that other card so find someone else's opinion on that one.
A general note: If you upgrade to 1 Gig RAM, you'll be ahead of the gang in terms of general software as well. Within the next two years the standard will probably be pushed up to 512, and after that soon 1 Gig (unless they make an intermediary increment in between).
But your computer will run everything better with 1 Gig.
But your computer will run everything better with 1 Gig.
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Thanks a lot for your help.
I'll get the 5500 FX and a 1 gb of ram then.
I'll get the 5500 FX and a 1 gb of ram then.
KPBeta wrote:
A general note: If you upgrade to 1 Gig RAM, you'll be ahead of the gang in terms of general software as well. Within the next two years the standard will probably be pushed up to 512, and after that soon 1 Gig (unless they make an intermediary increment in between).
But your computer will run everything better with 1 Gig.
But your computer will run everything better with 1 Gig.
Just FYI, every major computer now comes with an absolute minimum of 512mb of ram. Most with at least 1GB and decent PCs with 2gb.
I think that that video card will be able to 'run' wow, but then again what processor do you have? that makes a heavy bit of difference as well.
As for being able to run that high of a resolution... I'm not sure. My PC at work is running a 9800pro 128mb (not as much vram, but definitely a better card than that PCI one) with 1gb at 1024x768 (1280x1024 was too laggy) with all medium settings at around 30fps (jumpy too). Luckily my gaming PC in my sig holds up very well.
So just remember, your mileage may vary.
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