How to get an overall better FPS in all games

[Jarmen]

So, I am playing Warhammer (The MMO) right now and my frames are horrible. I get stutters, I have to put everything on low res, I even overclocked my graphics card and it got rid of some of the FPS lag.

So here are my PC specs:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+
2.31 GHz, 3.50 GB of RAM
Nvidia 8600 GT


What is the cheapest way to improve my FPS in games such as WoW, TF2 and Warhammer.

 

[DonInKansas]

What res are you playing at on your monitor? Also, make sure as few processes/programs are running as possible while gaming.

 

[Jarmen]

1024x768 is what im playing on


And I usually dont have anything on while I play, not even Firefox.

The only exception would be Steam, only if Im playing TF2 tho.

 

[DonInKansas]

Well, the easy answer is a better vid card. The 8600GT isn't really a gamer. A HD4830 or 8800GT would give you noted improvements. At that low a res though, your CPU is probably holding you back as well as lower res = more CPU oomph needed. Are you running Skt 939 or AM2?

 

[angelkiller]

I think the easiest way to get better FPS is to just get a used midrange graphics card. I know the 8600GT is unusually weak, but I'd at least expect it to do medium-ish settings at 1024x768. You could look around the Buy/Sell forum and try and find a 8800GT or something like that. That should give you amazing performance. Is Warhammer a (relatively) stressful game?

 

[Jarmen]

People say that it doesnt take more than WoW, but Warhammer isnt an optomized game. It has alot of CPU/GPU and memory leaks. But alot of ppl say it runs just fine, but they usually have high end computers.

I was told that my vid card was a decent one, not the best, but it def improved my gameplay now im looking for more.

Ill go on the look for an 8800 GT, if its cheap, if not, then I guess its no more gaming for me.

On the other hand, is my processor and my PC specs fine? Or could they use an upgrade as well?

 

[BroBQ]

Depends on your budget.... but if its a low budget, this is a great card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161252

 

[exon1]

I have played WoW at mid-high graphics and max res with the NVidia 7500LE and the stock e6320, so there must be something else. (40-50fps)

 

[Asylum]

Make sure your graphics card drivers are up to date and if they are try uninstalling them..
Delete your old folder from harddrive...reboot...then reinstall them!!

 

[douglatins]

Overclock CPU and buy new video card

 

[HookeyStreet]

Turn every setting to low

 

[Polarman]

Turn every setting to low

He said he did that already.

Could you post a 3Dmark score to see if its on par with a similar system.

 

[HookeyStreet]

He said he did that already.

Could you post a 3Dmark score to see if its on par with a similar system.

Oh yeah lol, I just saw the title and post

 

[Darren]

People say that it doesnt take more than WoW, but Warhammer isnt an optomized game. It has alot of CPU/GPU and memory leaks. But alot of ppl say it runs just fine, but they usually have high end computers.

I was told that my vid card was a decent one, not the best, but it def improved my gameplay now im looking for more.

Ill go on the look for an 8800 GT, if its cheap, if not, then I guess its no more gaming for me.

On the other hand, is my processor and my PC specs fine? Or could they use an upgrade as well?

8600 GT was mediocre at best when it was released 3 years ago.

The 8800 GT is old as well there are better choices available for cheap such as the ATI 4830 can be had for less than $90. Your CPU will hold you back, you'd either need to overclock it somewhat or replace it.

What is your total budget and we'll try and spec you some hardware.

 

[mlee49]

Cheapest upgrade would be a better graphics card. You can find a 9600GT for around $50 and that would dramatically increase your fps.

You may be able to get $30 for that 8600 so a total $20 upgrade to help improve your experience.

 

[Matt Sakko]

8600GT is not really what is holding you back. They are not weak cards. I am currently using one in one of my pcs and I run Crysis with ease. CPU upgrade will help you.

 

[Darren]

Both the CPU and GPU are issues, but his CPU can always be overclocked to around 2.8GHz ish without much effort. I was able to achieve it with my 3800+ X2 and have no issues maxing out today's games at very high settings, anti-aliasing 4x @ 1440x900 with around 45-120 FPs in numerous games COD 4: WAW, Tombraider Underworld etc - this is running on my current ATI 4830. My 9600 GT got similar frame rates.


But yes, if the thread starter is unwilling to overclock he may want to look towards an AMD 6400+ X2 or 7750+ X2, perhaps even a Phenom X3/X4 if he wants higher resolution gaming and longevity.

The 8600 GT has been on its last legs since release, it maintained the mid-range GPU market for like 2 minutes because people realised it was sometimes slower than its predecessors (19xx, 79xx series)

 

[MilkyWay]

a better cpu even when i went from a x2 4200+ to a x2 5000+be it was better, the faster clocks helped out a lot
an 8800gt 512mb should be fast enuf
x2 7750 is the best cpu for AM2 for a budget gamer

 

[KainXS]

is the memory running in dual channel mode

one of the limiting factors in mmo's is ram

 

[francis511]

http://www.tweakguides.com/

FPS tweaking etc.

 

[Wyle]

Don't forget to do your typical PC clean up of all spyware. May want to look into boosting your performance and shutting off any unnecessary services that windows uses.

 

[aCid888*]

is the memory running in dual channel mode

I'm happy someone asked that, seeing 3.5GB of RAM listed makes me think its single channel and that will hurt performance.

Also the OP never said if the card he has is GDDR2 or GDDR3...that can be the biggest difference in playing a game at acceptable FPS and playing a game like a slide show.

More info from the OP is needed I think; GPU-z and CPU-z showing the cards specs and the CPU/board/memory he has would help a lot.

 

[WhiteNoise]

The 8800GT will eat up WAR no problem so that or something better will do the trick. Your cpu should get you by but if you can clock it up a bit that will help. Running 4GB of ram would be ideal for MMO's.

 

[hat]

Get rid of that 8600gt. I had an 8600gts and it was okay, but then I got my 9800gt and it was awesome (8800gt is the same thing as the 9800gt). Unfortunately, when I ran 1.375v through my quad core on this cheapo board, the board blew up taking the graphics card with it. :shadedshu

 

[MatTheCat]

So, I am playing Warhammer (The MMO) right now and my frames are horrible. I get stutters, I have to put everything on low res, I even overclocked my graphics card and it got rid of some of the FPS lag.

So here are my PC specs:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+
2.31 GHz, 3.50 GB of RAM
Nvidia 8600 GT


What is the cheapest way to improve my FPS in games such as WoW, TF2 and Warhammer.

Cheapest way with your setup may be to get yourself a decent sound card. Aside from freeing up a bit of CPU power for your sounds you will unlock all the high end sounds into your gaming experience and unlike every other type of PC gaming component, sound card will last you giving satisfactory performance for years.