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jagman04

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Sep 7, 2006
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Hello, im new to these forumz altho i have been reading toms hardware for years. I was just wondering what kind of gaming performance i could expect with my current computer, i do alright im most of the games i play (WoW, wc3 and a fre FPS games). It just seems that my performance should be more even tho i am still using a socket 754 and single channel ram (30fps outside in WoW). Setup is as follows:

Athalon64 3200+ OC'd to 2.4ghz
1.5gb Corsair XMS pro 3200 (with LED's)
BFG GeForce 7800GS OC
GA-K8NS Rev1.1
Maxtor 300gb HD w/16mb cache
Ultra X2 Conenct 550w PS.
Operating system: Vista RC1 and XP home w/sp2 (XP is the one i use for gaming)
 
Your system still seems pretty decent. I hear WOW can bog down quite a bit when there are a lot of players on screen regardless of the machine. I've also read that WOW will benefit from more RAM, but you've already got a decent amount.

How many process do you have running in the Task Manager. You might want to go through it and see what can be eliminated to free up more resources.
 
The only things i run during WoW is my AIM and msn which are always set to invis so nobody is messaging me and i doubt its using much memory, i disable my antivirus software also when im gaming.
 
i disable my antivirus software also when im gaming.
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that's stupid. whenever your computer is connected to the internet, your anti-virus software should be running. your problem might be viruses/spyware. if i were you, i'd try reformatting your hdd and reinstalling windows. it this doesn't work, then at least you know it's not a software issue.
 
i disable my antivirus software also when im gaming.
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that's stupid. whenever your computer is connected to the internet, your anti-virus software should be running. your problem might be viruses/spyware. if i were you, i'd try reformatting your hdd and reinstalling windows. it this doesn't work, then at least you know it's not a software issue.

I just read in numerous places that while gaming your anti-virus takes up alot of system resources, and i dont see how if im just playing WoW i could be getting a virus, also it has been this way for a long time and i havent started to disable it until about 2 weeks ago.
 
Well i guess ill start using it while gaming again but it was still the same performance after a clean install with antivirus/firewall/spyware protection.
 
Try uninstalling all your GPU drivers, use a driver cleaner to make sure you've gotten rid of all old drivers, and install new ones. What type of spyware and virus protection do you have? If they're out of date, there's a lot of crap they could be missing. End any non-critical processes. There could be a lot of crap running in the backround you don't see that start during start up. Go to start: run: type "msconfig": click on the start-up tab. Deselect everything except your spyware and virus protection programs. You can also disable certain "services" as well. Google "Black Viper tweeks guide". It has a list of all the critical and noncritical services, and explains how to disable them.
 
If you have Norton get rid of it, get AVG which is free. Try defraging your drive because that is what happend to me when I was running FEAR and UT 2004. Oh! get at least 2Gigs of RAM.

My System:
X2 4400+ 2Gig Corsair
Asus A8N-SLI Premium,X1900XT
, 250 HD, 550 watt PSU
Xfi Sound Card
 
Candy i have verizon FiOS 15/2 connection, and the 30fps was just an average while im outdoors or in a battleground, when im inside i hit a constant 60 that never changes which seems to be the maximum, i havent played many other games besides WoW that are graphically intensive, i mostly play command and conquer type games and they dont really stress the video card. and to dmantech i was using norton altho i switched to AVG as you suggested and i dont see any difference, i even used symantech symnrt removal program. and as for defragging i use O&O defrag 8.5 professional and it does it every other day automatically so its never very fragmented. I was planning on getting a new cheap 939 X2 3800 system soon so maybe i wont have to worry much about this
 
Defragging every other day is overkill, once a week is fine. Doing it every day is wearing on your hard drive (though these days a few days of life taken off isn't much to worry about).
 
Hello, im new to these forumz altho i have been reading toms hardware for years. I was just wondering what kind of gaming performance i could expect with my current computer, i do alright im most of the games i play (WoW, wc3 and a fre FPS games). It just seems that my performance should be more even tho i am still using a socket 754 and single channel ram (30fps outside in WoW). Setup is as follows:

Athalon64 3200+ OC'd to 2.4ghz
1.5gb Corsair XMS pro 3200 (with LED's)
BFG GeForce 7800GS OC
GA-K8NS Rev1.1
Maxtor 300gb HD w/16mb cache
Ultra X2 Conenct 550w PS.
Operating system: Vista RC1 and XP home w/sp2 (XP is the one i use for gaming)
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Well I definately think socket 754 will hinder you a bit. Number 1 reason is lack of support for Dual Channel. I would definately look at an upgrade... I was in your boat not too long ago either.
I'm a bit surprised at WoW didn't think it was that intense but I was wrong. The HDR effects in WoW put some strain on my video card (X800GTO). The HDR effects in CS:S brought my card to it's knees but once disabled it works just fine.

Anyone who says that Symantec's Norton does not eat up system resources is an idiot... there are much better alternatives that don't use so many resources...

Updating drivers may or may not help the issue... I haven't really seen a increase in FPS from a driver installation unless it was a stability issue in which those are fixed pretty soon after a driver release.

It is absolutely correct that you could be getting a virus while connected to the internet... the only time you would never even have to worry about MS patches is when you have no active connection to the internet.
 
The only things i run during WoW is my AIM and msn which are always set to invis so nobody is messaging me and i doubt its using much memory, i disable my antivirus software also when im gaming.
Click to expand...
I meant you might want to clean up non-essential processes in the Task Manager.

Ctrl Alt Del, Task Manager button, Processes Tab. You might want to Google the processes running to see if they're needed. Once you've identified them you can find out how to switch off the non-essential ones. Similiar to kaotao's advice.

WOW is more memory intensive the most other games. Your 7800GS will have no problems with it, but you might want to think about upgrading to 2GB of RAM with either two 1GB chips or one 2GB chip.

To my knowledge, WOW doesn't support HDR.
 
... when im inside i hit a constant 60 that never changes which seems to be the maximum ...
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It is not the maximum. Thing is that you have Vertical Sync enabled. That will limit your frame rate to 60 FPS.

As for the AntiVirus, the ducky is incorrect. The only ways a virus can get onto your machine when Antivirus is not running or has outdated definition files are as follows:

- You connect to a questionable web site (like www.cracks-r-us.com or something) that will try to install something "On Demand" in the background without your consent. This however will not happen when you are not browsing the web but are simply connected to WoW servers;

- You download and run an executable which contains a virus, but it will not happen because you are not a moron;

- An IP scanner being run by some hacker finds your PC and runs some scripts preying on your OS vulnerabilities. But this will not happen if your ports are closed.

How can you close your ports? Simple:

1. Go to Shields Up!; Click Home, then scroll down to Shields UP! Click that. In the next screen click Proceed. In the Shields Up!! Services toolbar that appears click All Service Ports.... and scan all ports. If any ports are open (reported by Shields Up! as not running in Full Stealth) follow 2 and 3 below.

2. If you have XP SP-2 check the Security Center in the Control Panel and enable Windows Firewall. In the settings choose to allow no exceptions. WoW will run fine even though it is not on the list of Applications for which exceptions are allowed since you are allowing NO exceptions 😎

3. If you have a router between your PC and your cable modem then 2 above does not really apply to you since a half-decent router works as a hardware firewall and masks all your prots. So, read the user manual and see if any ports are open by default (and are reported as open by Shields Up!). If so, close them using your router setup. Also make sure that you change the default log on name and password that is factory installed on your router for initial set up.

If your ports are closed either using Windows Security Center or your Router your PC is invisible to the internet. What happens is that even if you have a static IP address and there is a person out there who knows your IP address and tires to connect to your PC via any of the ports, this person/computer will get the same response as if your PC were turned off.

So do not worry about disabling your AntiVirus. I have been gaming online for years with AntiVirus disabled. I have not had any viruses on my machines for at least 8 years. Just be sure to load your AntiVirus before you begin browsing the web.
 
I meant you might want to clean up non-essential processes in the Task Manager.
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He is right. Read THIS and THIS

Personally, when I need every last drop of performance out of my machines I have no more than 17-19 processes running at the same time.

If you install Sandra and run the performance tune-up wizard it will give you additional information about Windows processes that can be disabled without interfering with normal OS operation. If in doubt whether it is completely okay to Disable a Service, set it to Manual start-up. This way it will never load until specifically requested by an application you are running or another Windows service.
 
Slava, what you replied was exactly what i had been led to believe, and the information about verticle sync was correct, the 60fps max doesnt bother me, just the lower number when i am outside. Also correct about websites such as freeserals.com which ask to download something but i always click no (using firefox), also i only download exe files from known websites that are not fishy, unless its a torrent and even then i always scan it. Did the shields up and im fully stealthed (windows firewall, router). I have had sandra on my computer for months and the tune-up wizard is what i will try next. Thanks for the info,altho i do believe that upgrading to s939 with a dual core and dual channel memory will help me much more.
 
... unless its a torrent and even then i always scan it.
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No need to scan manually. Just enable Real-Time Protection. This will automatically scan any file that is being written, modified or executed. If your definitions are up to date any virus will be reported and any action related to the file will be halted....

Did the shields up and im fully stealthed
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Awesome.

altho i do believe that upgrading to s939 with a dual core and dual channel memory will help me much more.
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Dual channel RAM alone is a major improvement. Your video card is pretty good. It is bottlenecked by the rest of your system.

However, if it is at all possible, do not upgrade to 939 because you will need a new motherboard, new AMD CPU, new cooler, new RAM. Considering how badly new Intel CPUs kick AMDs ass and how many components you will have to replace you may as well think of spending a few more $$$ and getting a Core 2 Duo CPU + appropriate motherboard that supports DDR2 RAM (not the same as Dual Channel). Then you will have yourself a pretty bad-ass rig.

Good luck.

P.S.
60fps max doesnt bother me, just the lower number
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You are absolutely right. Most benchmarks report average frame rates and ignore the minimum and maximum frame rates while minimum frame rates are the only real indication of how smooth you can expect your game play to be. Who cares if in some areas you can hit 150 FPS while in others your FPS drops to, say, 20 (average 85 FPS)? Wouldn't you rather if you had 70 FPS max and 40 min (average 55 FPS)? So keep this in mind when assessing hardware performance.
 
Well, if you change your mind about antivirus, you can always try av that's doesn't hog much of your system resources, such AVG Free (i believed this one's mentioned above, can't remembe, and another one that i can think of is NOD32, it's really small, as in less using sys. resources).
 
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