Good news: the new components out there are built in a friendly enough way such that they'll fit in with my older system.
Bad news: they'll fit, but either won't work or will be significantly crippled.
Time for the way back machine.
2006, December.
The Burning Crusade expansion was due any minute and I wanted to make sure my enh visuals didn't get so bogged down as to make my gameplay unworkable. My old computer let me play WoW, but I had to have plenty of things turned down (distance you could see terrain and distance you could see objects, in particular). I wanted a computer that I could grow with, one that was ammenable to upgrades. I normally selected components that were a supreme bargain for their surprisingly good performance, but ones that didn't have an obvious next step. But I figured, this time, I want to be able to buy my computer 'presents' every so often.
I went with the newly debuted AM2 socket and made the leap to DDR2 ram. I knew I was paying a minor premium for going this route, but it would be worth in the long run. My dual-core CPU was something that even put a little swagger into my step. I picked a solidly performing graphics card that could gain a twin when the prices went down thru SLI.
- AM2 nForce 590 motherboard with PCIexpress x16
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0Ghz dual-core CPU
- GeForce 7600GT 256mb video card
- 1gb DDR2 800 ram
My computer was everything Blizzard recommended and then some. My FPS were pretty good overall, but bogged down in Shattrath. I poked at some forums and my situation was similar to what other people were experiencing. The concensus was: download new drivers, be patient while Blizzard improves the code. I grumbled as I turned down my settings, but the game was mostly playable, so I moved on. Over the next ~two years, I added more ram (woot, up to 3gb) and was able to increase the terrain distance; islands magically appeared off the coasts. But no other upgrades were added to my machine. If it works, don't try to fix it. Also, as long as I've got my ears plugged singing "La-la-la-la" -- I'm not reading about the new hardware advances that are going to tempt me.
Two years pass. Wrath of the Lich King (3.0) introduces lovely new graphical effects; the world is beautiful; my shadow dances with me... and my previously-ok system is now doing slideshow FPS. I double checked Blizzard's system requirements and amazingly, my 3 year old computer was still at their 'recommended' level. Blizzard also maintains that they don't support multiple graphic card solutions, and I've read from plenty of unhappy SLI'ers that they're not getting better FPS, so I didn't plunk down the money to see if that might help. As I detailed in an earlier post, by turning off the shadows effect/detail, I was able to salvage playable FPS.
But the 25man raids (even with many settings lowered) is dipping into single digits. Word to the wise: don't turn down spell effects -- that's what shows you, say, the poison clouds from Grobbulus (voice of experience).
Alrighty then, my machine was built with an eye to the future. Let's see what wonders of technology can be implemented!
Video cards
The arm wrestling between Nvidia and ATI has continued to benefit the consumer. The graphics capability on a current sub-$100 card exceeds that of the cards that were $500+ when I built my current system. Yay progress. The new cards are on the PCI-Express 2.0 standard which increases the bandwidth available to the data; they're backwards compatible, so they'll still fit in my PCI-Express 1.0 slot, but won't have the bandwidth available. Um, yay? I can get a new card that will be oodles faster, but how much of that will be apparent on my system is a bit vague.
CPU market
AMD has fairly recently rolled out their new Phenom II line. They've done so in a particularly socket-friendly way; they're releasing versions in both the new AM3 as well as the older AM2+ sockets. Eh, what? AM2+ Oh crap, my motherboard is AM2 (no plus). Research reveals that while the sockets may be physically compatible, the BIOS has to support the new architecture. No big surprise, 3 year old motherboards aren't so much with the continued support. There are motherboards that even will support AM2/AM2+/AM3 -- so I could get a new motherboard and even use my old CPU in it. The previous AMD line, Phenom, is generally reviewed as sucking ass, so hoping to get a good deal on a mid-range/older CPU doesn't hold a lot of appeal.
RAM
The initial release of AM3 chips requires the use of the newer (and currently substantially more expensive) DDR3 memory, but the second (already out) and future rounds of chips will be even more flexible with dual-memory controllers and able to use either DDR2 or DDR3 memory. It'll just depend on what memory your motherboard uses. For those playing along at home, that means the 'advanced' memory I bought several years ago is still viable.
So, while all the new important components will still 'fit' in my supposedly forward-looking system, they'll not work or not work very well. So the least sexy upgrade (the motherboard) is the first priority. As I look to keep costs down, maybe have the upgrade be a rolling one with the essential ones bought first and followed up with the more supporting roles later... I could buy just the motherboard. My old CPU will work just fine in it. My old video card will work just fine in it. My ram will work just fine in it... and my FPS will most likely have not improved one iota.
Woot?
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