02-04-2005, 03:26 PM
You might want to check out this test.
Basically, they ran a few different tests, with the following results.
WoW graphics settings don't have much impact except for Terrain Distance, which can have a large impact on your framerate.
Both your graphics card and your system memory have a large impact on the smoothness of the game.
With a high end system gimped with 256 megs of ram, gryphon flights showed only a few frames the entire flight. 512 made a HUGE difference, but still a bit of choppiness, and 1024 ran smoothly. They didn't do any tests in highly populated zones like Ironforge IIRC, which is unfortunate because I'd imagine it'd make an even bigger difference there.
I don't believe they did any tests on slower ram speed.
So in short, the amount of memory you have has been proven to have a very significant impact on WoW performance. As others have said, for your price range, your best bet is probably going with ram since the graphics card upgrade wouldn't be very significant.
Basically, they ran a few different tests, with the following results.
WoW graphics settings don't have much impact except for Terrain Distance, which can have a large impact on your framerate.
Both your graphics card and your system memory have a large impact on the smoothness of the game.
With a high end system gimped with 256 megs of ram, gryphon flights showed only a few frames the entire flight. 512 made a HUGE difference, but still a bit of choppiness, and 1024 ran smoothly. They didn't do any tests in highly populated zones like Ironforge IIRC, which is unfortunate because I'd imagine it'd make an even bigger difference there.
I don't believe they did any tests on slower ram speed.
So in short, the amount of memory you have has been proven to have a very significant impact on WoW performance. As others have said, for your price range, your best bet is probably going with ram since the graphics card upgrade wouldn't be very significant.
Less QQ more Pew Pew