Who said I can't build a good system?

They keyword that I'm following nowadays choosing hardware changes (which happen every 3-5years) is best economic/performance ratio. It's not hard to spend 1000$ on CPU/GPU/Mobo and have great performance, however it is a very hard choice to do the same for let's say 200$, no need to even take it further that sometimes more doesn't mean better. So far I've yet to see direct comparison of pretty much same system spec done at home laboratory in WoW, and it's the most important factor. Who cares if X pc runs great in Crysis or w/e.

Personally I'm done with going for world record in 3Dmarks, superpi and max overclocking like I used on my Barton 2500+ on AC cooling with world record at 2772mhz stable and probably world record 3D01 GF4mx DDR2 running CL6 memory at 673mhz

P31 is old, but the performance is not that far away between newer chipsets.
Graphic card, well it's still probably best performance/ratio card on the market atm that you can probably afford for 75$.
Weird ram setup but I did not want to run 2g + 2x1gb or single 2gb (win7) as overclocking would be severly limited unfortunatly, again speed of ram is not a deal in the games, unless we benchmark for world 1st in superPI etc.

Main serious question. How come, that in orgrimmat tests.
E8400 performed at 100%
E4300 performed at 50% of E8400
E2160 performed at best at 25% of E8400. It's pretty similar on the min. FPS on timetests, even taking the avg. of few tests.

Mind that 3.6ghz E2160 should not loose to a stock E4300 running at 1.8ghz and it does in pretty much any test i've done by a large margin in game. Cache IS NOT minor hardware spec apperently.

On another side, I've been always wondering on this thing in game. Sometimes objects that are far away i.e mobs, players are generated either instantly like they should, or they 'lag behind' in being proccessed no matter of video settings, that's some kind of memory buffering by a game, which often can lead to FRAPS FPS tests in flightpaths to also strange behavior.

In regards to cache, I hear people refer to the basic level 2 cache (which I'm assuming is like the primary operator for cache), but what does level 3 cache do? Is it as effective/more effective than L2? For instance, a computer I recently bought has "2MB L2 cache + 6MB shared L3 cache" , does this 6mb on L3 add to my performance as well?

Levels of cache refer to how close they are to the processor in terms of components. So an L1 cache is where the processor tries to draw instructions/data from. If what it wants isn't in L1, it looks in L2. From there, L3, and then RAM, then the HDD. L1 cache is fast, but expensive, so there's not much of it. As you move out, it gets slower, cheaper, and usually larger. Shared usually means that that specific cache carries both instructions and data (and not necessarily an even mix).

Hey, since the 4.0 patch my fps dropped significantly in ultra at around 50-60fps(shadows set to low) Now I have to run Particals in medium and View Distance set to the middle and I am still getting 40 to 50 fps. I have used FPS leatrix or GFX leatrix, but that doesn't seem to help. Any tips or tweaks to increase my fps?
Specs:
Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Hard Drive: 628 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470
Monitors: Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 25" + HP w2207 monitors 22"
Sound Card: Speakers (Audio Advantage SRM Device)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)

The main points raised in that Tom's article seem to be:

1. Nvidia video cards perform better than AMD for some reason (programming shenanigans perhaps?)
2. Intel processors perform significantly better than AMD, possibly due to the superior memory controller
3. SLI and CrossfireX are quite possibly just not working, although some of the article comments dispute this with evidence from other sources. Certainly though something is potentially off seeing as the Tom's reviewer just couldn't get dual cards to work at all.
4. DX11 seems to give a significant performance boost to capable video cards, although some user comments say their performance actually dropped so YMMV.

If we assume the findings in that article are correct, the best options for a WoW-centric gaming PC may well be:

Cheap CPU: Intel Core i3 530
Middle ground CPU: Intel Core i5 760
Go nuts CPU: Intel Core i7 875K

Cheap video card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 768MB
Middle ground video card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 1GB
Go nuts video card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 580 (although it's pretty hard to recommend anything above a GTX 460 tbh, unless you have a huge monitor)

It would have been nice if they'd benchmarked a few C2D processors to see how they compare to the offerings on the newer sockets. I'd imagine a fast C2D with a lot of cache, for example an E8500, should still perform admirably, and might be a worthwhile upgrade for someone with an older, slower C2D chip who wants to improve WoW performance without upgrading the whole system. And of course you can overclock those chips to 3.6Ghz and beyond with very little effort.

DX11 and SLI are definitely giving me performance boosts

Win7 x64
Foxconn Bloodrage
Core i7 920 @ 4.2Ghz
2x GTX 460 2GB
6GB of Mushkin DDR3 1600
2560x1600

SLI nearly doubles my FPS, and DX11 gives me another 20% or so boost on that

I've got a weird problem..
Perhaps you can shed some light on it.

First PC Spec;
OS, Win 7 x64
CPU, Intel, i7 980x
MOBO, Asus Rampage Extreeme III
RAM, 12GB Corsair DDR3
HDD, 120gb Corsair SSD
GPU, Nvidia, Asus 470 1.28GB

Problem,
PC was micro freezing every few seconds, so did a complete format and reinstall of the OS.

Now when i boot up and log into wow I get 2-3 fps when just trying to turn my screen in any zone.
So after lots of investigation ive come up with a solution.

Boot up PC,
Uninstall Graphics drivers,
Reboot,
Let Windows install drivers,
Reboot,
Login to wow get (150-200 fps)
Reboot,
Login to wow get (2-3 fps)

Any ideas how I can even begin to fix this?

I just posted this on another forum and I'll throw it out here too as it could be useful. The links are all to UK-based retailers I'm afraid, but all this shit should be on Newegg or whatever. I did it taking into account the findings in that Tom's Hardware article about AMD's CPUs and video cards being inferior for WoW.

The following options will probably be best for a WoW-centric gaming PC:

Disclaimer: Intel currently has problems with its socket LGA1155 motherboards which has led to a recall.

Affordable budget build
- A gaming/multi-purpose system for those whose budget can't stretch to an i5 processor. The dual core CPU is highly overclockable (4.2Ghz and beyond is easily attainable), which makes it perfect for WoW

• Intel Pentium G6950
• Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H
• 4 GB of DDR3-1333 RAM
• Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
• Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 768MB
• Antec 380W Earthwatts
• Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus with Arctic Cooling MX3 paste
• Coolermaster Elite 342
• Gigabyte Topview 22" monitor 1680x1050

Bang for buck build
- The 'bang for buck' king for gaming and general use, for those looking for a speedy PC without splashing out on high end components. This is the setup most users should go for if they have the funds available

• Intel Core i5 2500K
• Asus P8P67
• 4 GB of DDR3-1333 RAM
• Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
• Crucial C300 64GB SSD -- (optional)
• Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 1GB
• Antec 520W High Current Gamer
• Gelid Tranquillo with Arctic Cooling MX3 paste
• Coolermaster CM690 II Lite
• Iiyama Prolite 24" LED-backlit monitor 1920x1080

M4X H4rdc0r3 build
- Willing to spend a bit more money in order to get great performance in even the most demanding games? Go nuts with this build. Performance per $ is not as good as the 'Bang for Buck' build, however. Don't bother with this if you pretty much just play WoW: it's overkill

• Intel Core i5 2600K
• Asus P8P67
• 4 GB of DDR3-1600 RAM
• Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
• OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB SSD -- (optional)
• Nvidia Geforce GTX 560
• Antec Truepower New 650W modular
• Thermaltake Frio with Arctic Cooling MX3 paste
• Fractal Design Refine R3
• Dell U2311H 23" IPS panel monitor 1920x1080

Peripherals

Mice

• Logitech G500 - Good for fans of the older MX518 or G5 mice
• Razer Naga - MMO-centric mouse with fuck loads of buttons for keybinds. Some are awkward to reach, however, and therefore may as well not be there
• Logitech G700 - New high end wireless mouse with loads of buttons. Costs a hell of a lot though

Keyboards

• Apple aluminium wireless keyboard - Good if you like low profile laptop-style scissor keys, and nice aesthetics. Can be annoying to use on Windows, though
• Logitech G15 - Very popular gaming keyboard. Has lots of buttons and macros and lights and a screen and probably other stuff too I dunno
• Filco Majestouch Brown - Mechanical switch keyboard for people who want a nice tactile action when typing

Gamepads

• Saitek Cyborg Command Unit - I had one of these and it was actually pretty good for WoW. I didn't care for the feel of the keys but the software was decent and the thumbstick was nifty for movement, freeing up the WASD cluster for other keybinds
• Belkin N52te - I've never used one but they're probably the most popular gamepad so presumably they're ok. D-pad thingy looks awkward compared to the HAT thumbstick on the Saitek and Logitech models though
• Logitech G13 - Comfy. Feels a lot more solid than the Saitek, but then it is twice the price. Wish they did a cheaper version without the dumb LCD. Also my hands are too small to reach like half the keys :smith:

The GTX 570 seems like a really good price/performance point for people who run at high resolutions. I just ordered one to swap out for my noisy 5870, so we'll see what its like.

Glayde
Thanks, I've read quit a few things about SSD micro freezing after reading your post, I think i understand the issues better but due to messing around I'm going to reinstall my system tonight and start from scratch with some of these ideas.
I did try another graphics card with no difference. I also moved wow onto a hdd rather than ssd and i still had problems.
Lets see tomorrow =)

Norg
Your top end options seem kinda old are you sure this isn't an old list?
The mobo's are all socket 1156, when for high end systems they have been superseded by 1366.
To get the most out of ddr3 you need to run it in tri-channel so 2x2gb isn't going to be optimal, but 3x1gb or 3x2gb would work better on boards which support it mainly the 1366 range

Glayde,
I've done a complete reinstall of my system, and placed wow on a pair of standard 7200 sata3 drives in a raid 1.
I no longer have the issues i was seeing before. I will continue to monitor this as i reinstall the rest of my software.
Thanks

Norg,
I wasn't trying to say they would see a good fps improvement in wow, after all its not particularly graphics intensive.
But in a previous post you put your 'Go nuts' options I just feel if you are going to go nuts you should do it properly.
The 980x has 6 cores running at 3.33ghz (430mhz more than the 875k), I personally over clock the 980x to 4.5ghz with air cooling and when stressed it doesn't go over 40 celsius.
There is also the factor that you may spend a little more on getting the 1366 now even with a low end cpu but in 18 months time you going to be able to get a significant upgrade without having to change all your internals.