System Performance Guide
Welcome to Allakhazam's Weekly System Performance Guide
Tweaking your PC gaming experience, one component at a time
As with many PC based games, MMOs will often require special attention to both hardware and software settings to ensure a comfortable gameplay experience. While each game has its own internal settings, this weekly performance guide brings to the community both hardware and software recommendations that will provide MMO game players with updated information on potential computer configurations. Please keep in mind that even though this is a weekly updated guide, game user settings, hardware, and software can all change in a blink of an eye.
If you have any updates for us to incorporate into this guide, especially deals on hardware purchases or workarounds for poor performance experiences, please submit them to us at: pcconfig@allakhazam.com.
We also have a forum post setup for further input and suggestions about guide related material HERE.
Also be sure to read an exclusive performance article in our forums HERE.
Disclaimer: We are only presenting to you the choices and opinions we deem to be the most cost effective, yet performance ready parts for a PC gamer's needs. We are not to be held accountable for your ultimate purchase decisions and outcomes thereof. We are also not establishing any exclusivity to any products or companies listed, so please do not ask us for any special discounts or otherwise (although don't be surprised if we do a contest or giveaway once in awhile!).
Tip of the week: "Backup, backup, backup... you can never backup your important documents, programs or games to another hard drive, DVD rom, or other storage device. Just don't lose those devices!"
Current Hardware Review: An overview of the GPU
Individual MMO System Requirements
System Resource Guide
Individual Community Component Guides
- PSU Need Calculator
- Statistics About Your GPU
- Statistics About Your CPU
- Enclosure Recommendations
- Anandtech LCD Thread
- Understanding CPU Power Scales
- Choosing The Right Graphics Card
Updated: January 11, 2009 (Sunday)
WEEKLY DEALS
(ATI) ASUS Radeon 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Video Card - Retail | ~$125 AR w/FS
* The video card should be one of the more expensive purchases of your system when considering games, so do not skimp on this purchase. Get what will run well for the foreseeable future. Fortunately the Radeon 4850 is a real bargain with some serious horsepower behind it.
* 512MB memory will ensure all games run without memory lag
* 4xxx series supports DX10.1 and the latest games
* Information Link
* Review Link 1
* Review Link 2
* Purchase Link (US)
hec ACE-580UB ATX12V 580W PSU - Retail | ~$50 w/FS
* 580 watts is enough for the average MMO user's system
* 80mm fan for efficient cooling
* Plenty of connectors for most system peripherals
* Information Link
* Review Link 1
* Review Link 2
* Purchase Link (US)
* Purchase Link (US/EU)
CORSAIR 4GB (2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM 800 (PC2 6400) - Retail | ~$25 AR w/FS
* 4GB allocation, giving maximum performance for systems running Vista
* DDR2 800mhz is mainstream, fast, and yet inexpensive
* Information Link
* Purchase Link (US)
Acer X223Wbd Black 22" Widescreen LCD | ~$170 w/FS
* Right up there with the video card, the monitor should be an important element when considering quality in purchasing a system component. Staring at a poor quality monitor all day will more than make your eyes hurt, but also make your wallet feel bad too.
* This is one of those things that requires more to spend if you want something worthwhile. Fortunately, you can have a decent enough 22" LCD for one of the cheapest prices around! I (Berek) happen to own three of these.
* Information Link
* Purchase Link (US)
* Purchase Link (US/EU)
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MISCELLANEOUS COMPONENTS
Cooling Devices (Fans, Heatsinks)
SILVERSTONE FM121 120mm Case Fan - Retail | ~$17
Information Link: http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=fm121&area=usa
Purchase Link (US)
ZALMAN 9500A 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail | ~$60 w/FS
* Information Link1
* Review Link 1
* Review Link 2
* Purchase Link (US)
ZALMAN VF700-CU GPU Cooler - Retail | ~$27
* Information Link
* Purchase Link (US)
Peripherals (Extras)
WD Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT 320GB SATA Laptop Hard Drive - OEM | ~$90 w/FS
* 320GB of laptop storage
* Highest density platters on the market
* Transfer rates and read/write times rivaling other laptop models
* Information Link
* Review Link 1
* Review Link 2
* Purchase Link (US)
CORSAIR Flash Voyager 16GB USB 2.0 Drive - Retail | ~$20 AR w/FS
* Purchase one of these if you limit your system memory to 2-4GB and have Windows Vista installed.
* Information Link
* Review Link
* Purchase Link (US)
* Purchase Link (US/EU)
Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Sound Card - Retail | ~$30
* If you must purchase a separate sound card with higher audio quality than what is offered on the mainboard, we recommend an inexpensive yet fully decked out SB0570. I switched from the Omega card last week, as I just can't recommend spending much on a sound card. Take not that sound cards are not really needed in most systems, as they are often integrated with the mainboard.
* Information Link
* Review Link
* Purchase Link (US)
LINKSYS WRT54GL Wireless-G Router - Retail | ~$65
* A wireless router will provide Internet access for multiple computers as well as protection against unauthorized access to them. Be sure the wireless portion is secured and that all necessary "ports" are opened when a game or other program you trust needs access.
* Information Link
* Purchase Link (US)
* Purchase Link (US/EU)
Air Can Duster | ~$8
Any air can duster designed for office equipment is essential in keeping your computer clean. I suggest buying these are your local office store or Wal-mart for a cheap can. Use this to clean the dust out the inside of your computer (especially fans), keyboard, and other peripherals every couple of months.
RECOMMENDED SOFTWARE & CONFIGURATIONS
Guild/Group Audio/Text Communication
Ventrilo (Free Version)
Whether you want to chat with your guild mates outside of the game, in-game, or both at the same time, Ventrilo is a great tool to allow for text and audio communications between a large number of members.
Information Link: http://www.ventrilo.com/
Guild/Group Audio/Text/Video Communication
Pidgin (Free Version)
Whether you want to chat with your guild mates outside of the game, in-game, or both at the same time, Pidgin is a great tool to allow for text, audio, and video communications between members. Pidgin combines AIM, ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, and more together in one software package.
Information Link: http://www.pidgin.im/
Virus Scanner
AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 (Trial Version)
With this virus scanner updated to 8.0, and a lengthy trial period, AVG is recommended as the current anti-virus software for your game system.
Information Link: http://www.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=triaav
Fragmentation Maintenance
PerfectDisk (Trial Version)
A hard disk will store things in an organized fashion as much as possible, but is ultimately limited in effectivness when programs are continually being added or removed. PerfectDisk will periodically organize all the files on your computer for optimal performance, potentially reducing load times in games.
* Windows Vista comes with automatic defragmentation software. Unless you wish to oversee the process in a more detailed way, PerfectDisk may not be needed.
Information Link: http://www.raxco.com/home_office/home_office.cfm
RECOMMENDED SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS
Particle Effects, Lighting, and Shadows
These three graphical elements may severely hinder your systems performance when playing the latest computer games, especially MMORPGs when in a large group raid situation. If your graphics card has less than 512MB of onboard memory and non-DX10 compliant, you may want to consider turning these settings down to a more modest level.
We personally recommend trying to completely turn off shadows as well, as this will often hinder performance not due to your system limitations but due to lack of sufficient programming on the game development side.
Character Details
EverQuest II is an excellent example of a MMORPG that supports numerous system configuration settings. One must be careful though to exercise control when turning up all of these options. One option you are going to want to keep at a medium level, even if you have a high-end card, are the amounts and high-level details of characters that appear on the screen at any given time.
For example, in EverQuest II you can adjust the sliders to include 40 or more characters on the screen, as well as at least 12 high detailed characters. If you regularly raid with 40 or more fellow guild mates and have even a high-end GeForce GTX 280 video card, you may not want to raise the high-level model details on 12 or more of those 40 characters.
Other Active Programs
Disconnecting frequently from a game and frustrated when it happens to occur at the most inconvenient of moments? It may not be your router or network connection, but instead your background software doing evil deeds "behind your back". Ensure that programs like Anti-virus scanners and Defragmenters are disabled or at a low priority level when playing any sort of network based games.
Your Home Network
Many computer setups in a household today will come equipped with a router. Keep in mind that routers provide two primary uses: 1) Protection against outside unauthorized access, and 2) Multiplicity of the shared Internet connection. Ensure that the router has appropriate ports open for the games that you are running, as well as ensuring adequate protection from "free-loaders" that may use your connection without authorization. This is only in serious concern if your connection is open in a wireless capacity.
Dual Monitor Support
While almost all games do not specifically support dual monitors, having two screens setup is a great way to divide up your gameplay and other tasks you may wish to accomplish at the time. Especially if the game supports any sort of windowed mode, having the game on one screen and all of your Skype/TeamSpeak/IRC windows open can make a much more enjoyable gaming experience, especially when you need to contact your guild outside the game when needed.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Some components will need to be purchased with others! If you have a 2002 computer system and want to upgrade the memory, you are likely going to have to purchase a new CPU, which will also need a new motherboard, which may need a new GPU. Please consult us first if you have any doubts on what needs to be purchased when upgrading or building a system.
Keep in mind that even the latest MMORPGs may not need high-end hardware, so you should be satisfied with our more moderate and cost sensitive suggestions. You can of course move down a tier or two and purchase extremely cheap hardware, but the performance benefits will diminish significantly in many cases, just as there are diminishing returns when paying twice as much for a 3% boost in performance (such as going from DDR2 to DDR3 memory).
In-game settings and software suggestions will allow you to further tweak system performance beyond the limits of the hardware. Combined, these two avenues of performance tuning will give you a pleasant gaming experience (providing the game itself isn't to be blamed for problems, such as any bugs you may encounter).
If you have your own input into our performance guide, please submit all inquiries and suggestions to: pcconfig@allakhazam.com.