Hello Help please? Want to learn OCing

I just joined this forum because I just set up a new pc in which to play wow and other games on, however I am having trouble getting it to go over 22fps and I am sure it is software and overclocking stuff like that which I have no knowledge, and since I have no knowledge I was wondering if someone could tell me where might be best to post like my system specs and a benchmark so I could receive some help. Thanks.
I have just downloaded sisoftware sandra lite and am finishing up installing direct ex and current java, but video card and motherboard drives should be current. I thought I was computer savy, then I saw some of the post on this site, I have been researching for the last few days, but now I am more confused then helped. I blame the blond hair!

First off, welcome to the forum! Glad to have another person in here. I don't really play World of Warcraft, but I have heard its quite addictive, once you get the hang of it. That particular game does not require an arm and leg for PC performance to run, unlike Crysis series.

For the overclocking you mention, be sure that your computer is able to handle the temperature increase as well as the power supply. Those 2 are the key factors in overclocking any piece of hardware.

For the tech guys who know alot on here, it would be wise of you to put down your system specifications to give them an idea of what they can work around to get you the best in overclocking. When you fire up your PC, be sure to get the BIOS menu and post the CPU temperature as well as the Motherboard temp. That will help as well.

Im more of a gaming hardware type of guru more than a software wizard.

system specs, system specs, system specs! We have to know what are are working with

wow is really not a very graphics intensive game, blizzard designed it that way, its one of the reasons they are so successful. While other game makers strive to make things more and more demanding, they cut out a large market of players that do not have the means to upgrade, or simply dont care to mess with a working pc.

But generally, as long as your pc is going to meet the recommended specs you should be just fine. You can test that at a place like system requirement labs which has a little application that scans your pc and gives you the results, or simply check that you meet the listed requirements by blizzard. Sandra should tell you what you have in the information tab. Basically what we need to know is what processor, how much ram you have, what video card, and any other details you can provide such as the resolution you are playing with. Resolution is very important as lower resolutions tend to be more cpu limited while higher resolutions are almost entirely gpu dependent (assuming the cpu can feed it data fast enough).

Last night I was having problems getting wow to go over 10fps, and when I tried a 25m dun I was only getting only 3 fps, I ended up leaving. My system specs off of Belarc are...
Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) (build 7600)
2.30 gigahertz AMD Athlon 5000 Dual-Core
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (2 total)
Not hyper-threaded
ATAPI DVD A DH20A6S ATA Device [CD-ROM drive]
1792 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3A78-EM Rev X.0x
Bus Clock: 210 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 1602 03/27/2009
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics [Display adapter]
SONY TV [Monitor] (October 2004)
550 W Viotek Pro Powersupply

That should give you guys everything you need, I hope, hehe. I am looking at getting a new video card, however, I still wanna get this system running better, I know that it should get better than 3fps. Thanks for all the help.

Thanks for giving the specifications out to the DEV tech guys, they will be more than happy to let you know what you can do for overclocking.

You mentioned the onboard ATi 3200 gpu, im assuming thats pre-built into the motherboard. You also have a 550watt PSU, which is great for your GFX card you want to put in. There are lots of choices in the PCI-Express family so pick one that will best suit your needs in video games. General rule of thumb when shopping for a GFX card, the cheaper it is, the less it will do. I would suggest anything that is 128 bit interface with 1gb of GDDr will be enough to provide you with your gaming needs.

The GFX card is what is slowing you down on that game, 10 frames per second is not really sufficient to enjoy the game. This is why I suggest a 128 bit card. You will notice the graphics change and improvement on your Frames per Second.

So, take a browse in the forums on GFX cards to see what people are putting in their machines. From there, you can visit youtube to see a visual test of these cards at work. Best not do a blind buy.

Well I was told that I needed to get a card that would do something called crossfire, then it would link to my integrated card and supposedly run faster and up to 4screens, is this true? I have also heard to stay with a ATI because my board is AMD/ATI and that a lot of Nivida cards overheat on ATI boards. I have 2 fans in the back of my computer, and one on the side. It should have plenty of vent.

yea simply put you have a great system, it's just let down by the integrated graphics. Your graphics are built into the motherboard, and this is done to keep things simple. It means for some users you dont need to buy a video card, you can keep power consumption down, heat output, noise levels, and it just makes things simple. But for gaming, integrated graphics really are not powerful enough. Things have gotten better over the last few years, but anyone who considers gaming as a priority is still better off buying a dedicated graphics card.

The plus side here is that a decent graphics card for playing wow really isn't all that expensive. You can spend any amount of money on a modern graphics card and get significantly better performance. But first, to clarify you do not need crossfire and you can use an ATi or Nvidia graphics card.

Graphics cards are designed around standards, and to be compliant they all must meet certain criteria. Basically, any graphics card today is designed to work in any system that meets that criteria. Your motherboard accepts PCI Express x16 graphics cards of all types, you can buy any graphics card that fits that slot and as long as your powersupply can feed it the power it requires, it will run. You can use an Nvidia graphics card with an AMD chip/ATI graphics if you find one that fits your needs/budget. There is no problems what so ever in doing this...in fact I do this right now using a slightly newer version of your motherboard (mine is based on the 785G chipset, yours is 780G).

Your board does not support crossfire in the same way as higher end systems. Higher end systems have 2 or more physical pci express slots and each can be filled with a graphics card that is linked to one another, and they share the load of rendering. Motherboards like ours support whats known as "hybrid crossfire" where it lets you pair the built in graphics with a dedicated graphics card you add in. This is fine, but only works if you use a graphics card that is similar to whats built in. In your case, you can only pair it with an ATI HD Radeon 3450. And cards available these days are significantly more powerful. So while its true you can, you are better off with 1 good video card than 2 weak ones.

A graphics card such as this HD 5550 from ATI is a great example of budget performance. And if you compare this HD 5550 to the HD 3450 (which is slightly better than the HD 3200 built into you rmotherboard) you can see here that the HD 5550 is just not even in the same league. And while you'll struggle to get 20fps out of that HD 3200, you'll be getting 3x that out of the HD 5550 with ease. Not bad for $45 after rebate.

If you wanted something more powerful, then you can spend as much as you want, but I would suggest looking at the HD 5670 for $90, or the HD 5770 at $150. These are basically ATI's best values right now and are great alternatives to the HD 5550 if your budget allows. They will all work fine with your system, your powersupply is plenty strong, and these will all allow you to play wow at 1080p or how ever high you can go, without stuttering or having to resort to lower detail settings.

Also note that if you DO use an ATI graphics card with this motherboard, you are able to still leave the integrated graphics on. You will be able to use the integrated graphics to power other monitors, but it will not be in crossfire with your dedicated card. It will simply act as a secondary graphics card. If you were to use a Nvidia graphics card, you would not be able to do this. The integrated graphics will simply be turned off from the bios, and you rely only on the graphics card you add in.

Hope that helps

well said Stang. Very informative.


You dont really need a Crossfire setup. Whomever told you that was going over their head on PC gaming. Yes, an Ati card is known for less power consumption and keeping lower temperatures than the NVidia cards.


There are dozens of cards to choose from, just pick one out that you would think fits your needs to the PC. Also, think about if any other games that come into mind and feel free to check out what they ask for in GFX. 90% of games today are still asking for an NVidia 6600gt or higher, and on the Ati side, a X1800 or higher.

So would the Radeon HD 5670 that he suggested be over the x1800, I guess I don't understand how cards relate cross models and makers, LOL. I would be willing to get that 5670 but I am not sure I wanna spend over 100 dollars, since I just put so much into the system.

My other question, would this be the same as what he posted?
POWERCOLOR AX5670 512MD5-H Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card found it on newegg as well.

Yes, basically heres the order from older series to newer. X1800, X1900, HD 2000 series, HD 3000 series, HD 4000 series, and the latest is the HD 5000 series. So the HD 5670 sits in the middle of the new HD 5000 series and is several generations newer and FAR superior. Right now do not look at anything other than the HD 4000 series or HD 5000 series.

The PowerColor and XFX models have the same processor, same amount of memory, and they run at the exact same speed, so yes, they are essentially the same. The PowerColor model is cheaper but it is not slower. The only reason the PowerColor model is cheaper is because it does not support eyefinity. It offers VGA, DVI, and HDMI display connections while the XFX has DisplayPort, DVI, and HDMI. I dont think you need to worry about the lack of eyefinity support though, unless you intend on buying 2x more monitors anytime soon.

Honestly, the HD 5550 is going to be fast enough for wow. I really dont think you need to spend the extra cash unless you are running at a high resolution. What is your monitor resolution? You posted that it is a Sony TV, is it 720p or 1080p? But if you want to make sure the game is maxed out, knock up the eye candy, or you wanna make sure those massive raids dont slow you down...then the HD 5670 is worth the extra $30.

You have a great system, any of these cards will be worth the money and will give you a drastic increase in performance.

It is 1080i and I am running it at 1920*something. Right now im running WoW at a far lower res to hopefully get more fps. I do play fallout3, spore, borderlands, and I am hoping to play FF14 on this system as well. I do plan on putting 2 more gb of ram in sometime soon, it is maxed at 8, 4 slots, each with 2gb of the faster ram. I can also get a quad core processor as soon as they come down in cash. I am willing to spend a bit of money, I bought this system as to keep it updateable for a few years. I am looking at the 5670 and think it might be the one I get. Thanks for the help, if I order it, ill probably need help with settings etc, and my friend is defiantly saying I need to overclock.

Quick question, would the 1gb for 109.00 be better than the 512mb for 89.99??? much of a difference or is that just overkill, I am talking about the Radeon 5670

The 5670 Radeon will play those mentioned games just fine without any hiccups. Your dual core will play them as well. I have a dual core running fallout 3 at 1920X1080 with all the settings maxxed out and no problems at all.

The 1gb is better since that it the ram dedicated to the graphics card. You cannot upgrade ram for graphics cards, so it is wise to get the 1gb, if possible.

With video cards, more ram is only as good as it is used. If the graphics processor can run settings and resolutions high enough to utilize all that ram, then its helpful. But the more cut down the graphics core, the less likely you are to be able to use all that ram. I generally dont see any improvement in fps comparing a 1gb and 512mb midrange card. The HD 5670 was designed by ATI to be offered with 512mb of ram as they decided that was all the card could need. Some manufacturers decided to add more ram simply to make their cards more attractive, because everything thinks "more is better", but really it doesnt make much of a difference.

I'd stick with the 512mb card for the 4670, but if you want a 1gb card look towards the higher end models. An HD 5750 can be had for $109 (after $15 rebate) in the 1gb model. But more importantly, while the 5670 has 400 shader processors, 8 ROPS, and 16 TMUs, the HD 5750 has 720 shader processors, 16 ROPs, and 32 TMUS. So in terms of raw processing power you have nearly double. So the extra ram paired with card will actually do some good.

When you are comparing midrange cards, sometimes a difference of $20-$30 can mean a lot of performance. So you need to be pretty strict about what you want to pay because there are always other options and we can list those for days to come

If you are playing 1920x1080 then wow will run fine on any of these cards, spore should be just fine as well. But borderlands and fallout 3 really need a bit more punch, so I would suggest the 5750 for those games. In those games, 1gb of ram is certainly worth while, but only on a card that can actually back it up, like the 5750.

Will a pcie 2.1 fit on my board? It says 2.0pcie on the box. I guess I thought a 2.1 wouldn't work.