How well will this computer run games?

[RobertWhite]

With this setup, and playing primarily WoW what do you think?

ATI 5830

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black, Deneb Core, S AM3, 3.2GHz, 8MB Cache, HT 3600MHz, 125W, Retail

Asus M4A78LT-M, AMD 760G, AM3, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1600/1800, SATA 3Gb/s RAID, Micro ATX, VGA

1GB XFX HD 5830, PCI-E 2.1 (x16), 4500MHz GDDR5, GPU 840MHz, 1120 Cores, DP/ 2xDL DVI-I/ HDMI

500W Coolermaster Elite Power Power Supply (PSU)

500GB Samsung HD502HJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 Classic, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V

Inwin Griffin, Black, Mid Tower Gaming Case, with Side Window & 22" Side Silent Fan, w/o psu

OS: Windows 7


Thanks!

EDIT: And if I used my ATI Radeon 5450 how would WoW run on a HD 1920 by 1080 monitor?

[dfour]

It should be fine s long as you dont use your 5450

If you havent bought this rig yet I would upgrade the 5830 to a 6850 as it is faster and way more power efficient than the 5830.

Or get the xfx 5850 from aria for £99:95 + postage Bit of a bargain there

[MSIC]

Quite simple really, the 5830 will run it all really well, and you'll have to lower the detail settings for the 5450 to get it to run smoothly.
I'm not a WOW player myself, but have read that over the various years and add-ons the specs / requirements have increased, so i suppose it depends on which version / add-on you play ??

[AndyG]

The 5830 will run WoW well (60 FPS) on Good and might manage High or just under, but will not run it reasonably on Ultra. The 5450 will be stuck on Low, it's worse than the integrated graphics in the Core i5-2500K. Use the DirectX 11 codepath option in WoW 4.1, it's both prettier and gives higher FPS.

[RobertWhite]

The 5830 will run WoW well (60 FPS) on Good and might manage High or just under, but will not run it reasonably on Ultra. The 5450 will be stuck on Low, it's worse than the integrated graphics in the Core i5-2500K. Use the DirectX 11 codepath option in WoW 4.1, it's both prettier and gives higher FPS.

I think you're wrong there. My brother has a lesser graphics card than the 5450 and can run it on ultra in many areas smoothly. The 5830 will DEFINITELY max out WoW, no question.

Do you play WoW?

[Rob_B]

http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...0_512mb/17.htm

Default settings seem to run ok on the 5450, whether 'Ultra' would be playable...I dunno.

[planet436]

I think you're wrong there. My brother has a lesser graphics card than the 5450 and can run it on ultra in many areas smoothly. The 5830 will DEFINITELY max out WoW, no question.

Do you play WoW?

Your brother certainly isn't playing at 1920x1080. Without any people around WOW will run fine on fairly low-end gfx cards. In busy cities, raids, large scale pvp or with lots of addons wow will tax high end rigs.

[RobertWhite]

http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...0_512mb/17.htm

Default settings seem to run ok on the 5450, whether 'Ultra' would be playable...I dunno.

53fps is pretty good. I suppose I'll just have to test it out and see how it goes, the difference between medium or high and ultra isn't massive anyway. Just a little more sleek.

[RobertWhite]

Your brother certainly isn't playing at 1920x1080. Without any people around WOW will run fine on fairly low-end gfx cards. In busy cities, raids, large scale pvp or with lots of addons wow will tax high end rigs.

Admittedly he is playing at 1280 by 1024 and he can run it on I think high settings in raids, depending on their size.

[AndyG]

I think you're wrong there. My brother has a lesser graphics card than the 5450 and can run it on ultra in many areas smoothly. The 5830 will DEFINITELY max out WoW, no question.

Do you play WoW?

Yes, currently at 1920x1080 on a GTX 470, 1280x1024 on the IGP in a Core i5-2500K, and on a MacBook Air's 9400M - all at different quality settings. I've also played it (a lot) on a HD 3450, MX440, the Intel IGP in a Mac Mini, a HD 3850, a GeForce 6200 128-bit, a GeForce 7900 GTX and a 6600GT at various points in the last 6 years.

Sorry, but there is no way the 5830 will maintain close to 60 FPS (=max out) WoW 4.1 at 1920x1080 on Ultra, at least not in serious play. Maybe in low-pop areas. A 5450 will not manage the High setting in cities and raids at acceptable FPS. What graphics card does your brother have for his 1280x1024 on Ultra? What FPS does he get?

Some good and recent (latest content patch) benchmarking was done by X-bit labs on a range of GPUs.

Tom's Hardware also looked at WoW hardware last year, which you might want to read - it looks at GPUs and CPUs.

[Dareos]

The problem with WoW is that you really do not want to be running full on effects during a raid anyways, its absolute chaos with 5000 spell effects and glowy sparkly bits and waves of fire etc all over the screen, obscuring your character and pretty much fouling up any chance of you being in the right place for AE effects.

However, choose a better graphics card

Blizzard have moved the goalposts several times regarding the minimum specs for WoW, and its 6 years old now. My folder at last look was over 33 gig (i dabble these days, drop in when im bored of CoD) and the RAM requirements make my 2Gb DDR2 struggle. The graphical requirements have also changed drastically from a Geforce 3 64MB recommended (not required) to being around a 512MB required 1024 recommended. Suffice to say, if you want to futureproof, spend 30 quid extra today, save yourself 200 quid later when you finally hit the end of this expansion, get to the last instances which haven't been coded yet, and find that the final fights require a great deal more in processing power to run smoothly than the current ones do.


just my opinion of course, and a bit of experience in the world of MMO's and their changing habits (7 years in EQ, 6 years in WoW, 2 years in Rehab!)