I needz new computer

Azami

Member
So I haven't had much trouble playing the game before patch 3.1 but these days I can't step foot in Dalaran in the fact that I can just straight up lose my character in there and never be able to log back onto them again (which will be a problem if I need to hand in a tier token, not so much the badge guys because Blizzard itemizes elemental mail to be utter garbage most of the time). I'm not entirely sure what the problem is but I get 132 and 134 errors from time to time.

I've kinda come to the conclusion that my PC is just waaaay too old to handle the game that I feel I'm comfortable with, especially in 25 mans where I have to move around otherwise I just stare at the ceiling to play and set everything to low and still get 7fps, 10 if I'm lucky.

I wanted to see if other people had these kinds of problems with their computers, whether I should get a new computer or not, and if so what kind of computer do you suggest that doesn't cost too much. My current computer is a Dell Dimension 4700 with an Intel Pentium 4 (3GHz) Processor, and an ATI Radeon 300X/550X/1050X series video card.

I included 2 pics of examples of problems that I have commonly ingame while playing where certain textures or objects just disappear or where random shapes and colors just randomly appear. Also when I play in windowed mode the gameplay skips about every 2 seconds and when I play in fullscreen mode the game will randomly skip and and hide my entire ui, all character and certain other things and I'll just see fragments of background.
 
Last edited:
Yeah I agree, to boost on a small budget find a good new lower power consumption video card (Dell is notorious for putting weak power supplies in their computers). What is your RAM at?
 
The dell dimension 4700, was probably pretty good back in 2004. I don't know if there is much you can upgrade. The basic flavor out of the box was 512 DDR2 PC3200 ram. Doubling it might help. You can upgrade the video card if you can find one for the PCIe 1.0 slot, most video cards are 2.0\1.1 complaint.. The cost of those upgrades might well be more expensive then a new computer, they just don't make parts that are compatable anymore.
 
Last edited:
Yeah I agree, to boost on a small budget find a good new lower power consumption video card (Dell is notorious for putting weak power supplies in their computers). What is your RAM at?
think it's 1022 MB RAM

The cost of those upgrades might well be more expensive then a new computer, they just don't make parts that are compatable anymore.
Yea, I figured as much. Just kind of browsing around for a decently priced computer, but I'm not the most computer literate when it comes to hardware specs.
 
pci-e cards are fully backwards compatible so any pci-e x16 card will work in the slot. Get one that does not require external power or you will have stability problems.
 
When I don't build computer, I buy them off the Dell outlet. http://www.dell.com/outlet

Full warranty on refurbished computers and they are usually super super inexpensive. I usually look for the cosmetic defect ones because who cares if the case is scratched? Those are usually really inexpensive.
 
Thoughts about the game... My new computer that I built over this past Christmas break has a Phenom 9850 in it, 8 gigs of ram (due to an ordering mistake...) and a Sapphire Radeon 4870... I still only get about 10 FPS in Dalaran... That makes Odale angry.

In respect to your computer... if you arent going to upgrade soon... kill off some of those addons! Keep the DPS meter, Omen and Deadly Boss Mods. Those are the only ones you need! That should help your performance issue.

Onto the upgrading idea...

Those Inspiron's aren't too bad, but I bet if you really did your homework and researched and shopped around I bet you could build a better computer for around the same price (with of course reusing as much out of the old computer as you could).

Edit! - A quick list:

Case - $30 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147073
Mobo/CPU - $155 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.211646
HD - $40 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148397
DDR1066 Ram - $50 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298
Power Supply - $70 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010

That motherboard has onboard video that you could totally chose to utilize and not buy a graphics card. If you were to buy a graphics card the price would still be in the same ball park as the Dells.
Optional Graphics Card - $100 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121253

Reuse:
  • CD Drive
  • Keyboard, Mouse
  • Monitor
  • The OS from the Dell

On Monday (7/13/09), the total with out shipping is $345.00. (Shipping to my house was an additional $15 which is far less than the tax you would pay if you were to buy these items at a store.)

The total with my shipping charge of $15 with the optional graphics card comes out to be just under $460.

In my past I have used all of those brands (Gigabyte makes stellar motherboards) minus the case's manufacturer... but usually you don't wind up having case issues.

I'm pretty sure I did not forget anything important.

Putting a computer together isn't difficult at all. Get your sister to help... her major is related to this!
 
Last edited:
In respect to your computer... if you arent going to upgrade soon... kill off some of those addons! Keep the DPS meter, Omen and Deadly Boss Mods. Those are the only ones you need! That should help your performance issue.
I've actually disabled all my addons before and I still have seen some of the same graphical issues and crashes.

I've noticed that 25 man raiding hurts my computer alot but 10 doesn't, also if the boss fights are outdoors i.e. Razorscale, XT-Deconstructor, Flame Leviathan, Freya, my performance goes way down and the game starts skipping a little, but on indoor/enclosed fights i.e. Thorim, Hodir, Auriaya, Iron Council, the game plays pretty smoothly.

Well, until I mull this over some more let me add this fun little pic I captured during the middle of the Freya fight.
 
My screen looked very similar to what you screen looked like Azami (I also have a Del but it's a dimension 9100 and is 4 yrs old) What I've been told (don't know how true it us) but Del's life expectancy is approx. 4 yrs. I replace my video card last year and it helped a lot. Lately though, I've been having issues which make me very concerned about the future of this computer.

Today I got a quote from someone locally who builds gaming computers:
2 Nvidea video cards SLI (6 processors?)
4 hard drives (Raid-O?)
(he said onboard sound is more than adequate)
3 gigs of ram
The guy told me that this in a tower only (no keyboard or monitor) would be $1,650.00 and he would warranty it a year with a 5 yr expectation of usability.
Compared to Del, this is a great price, compared to building your own, I know I could get cheaper but I'm very illiterate when it comes to all this stuff. Having no income, being disabled this is a lot of money, but I also have a chance coming up of getting an in home job which requires a computer and seperate phone line, so I really need to make sure I have a reliable computer, and as gaming is my release/hobby, I want a good gaming computer as well.

Any input would be welcome.
 
Back
Top