New
#21
have you installed your chipset drivers? they make a BIG difference to performance
I know why (probably). Your board has a PCI-Express 16x 1.0. So, the video bandwith is limited by the PCIe bay and this is probably why you are not seeing any improvement with your new GTX260.
If you want to improve it, you will need (obviously) to change your mobo for a mobo that has a PCI-Express 16x 2.0.
I know for a fact, my P35-DS3R (not to confuse with your EP35-DS3R) has only a PCI-Express 16x 1.0 (with a GeForce 8500 plugged in). This is NOT a driver issue because if the hardware wouldn't have been limited, you would have seen improvement right away.
PCI-E 1.0 doesn't limit you THAT severely, I have a P35-DS3P and My friend's HD 4890 shows just as much performance in my PC as it does his.. (he has a Core i7 + board)
Overclock that Quad for avoiding bottleneck. 3-3.2 Ghz should be easy and enough. At 3.6 still works better the 260, just try and find the limits.
I hate to sound stupid here, but I would have gone with an ATi card, as catalyst supports Windows 7.
But since you went with Nvidia, then you can overclock your CPU (like robers said), and I would suggest getting a little more RAM, if possible.
EDIT: 600 posts!!
Maybe there are some BIOS Settings that lower your performance?
Try to do the 3DMark Benchmark...
something might be wrong with the 260.. it should get around double or more the fps of the 8800GT. so something is wrong. also maybe you should overclock the CPU a little bit.
Get 3DMark06 and do there trial and run that so we can see your scores of your 260.
Also the PCI-E 1.0 doesn't make that sort of difference, and he has 4GB of ram, he should be more than fine.
Downloading 3dmark Vantage now.
Okey: I ran the first part of the 3dmark test and the graphics is all ****ed up, I couldn't get a print but it's the similiar effect in wc3 (check it here http://i40.tinypic.com/2ld7n0o.png) it gets all red, blue and blurry.
Something is wrong. :/
Please help me with clocking, don't want to mess up anything. :/
Okey the the red and blue blurry thingy got fixed with another drivers.
Still need to fix it. Still got very low fps.
That 3d mark **** wasnt accurate at all, my friends got like 10 fps on it when they can handle crysis on max settings. :P
If your using intel chipset GET THE LATEST CHIPSET DRIVERS for WINDOWS 7 ASAFP (As Soon As Fa*kin' Possible) from: Confirm Download
Like some other guy (MrNeeds) said chipset drivers are DAMN IMPORTANT!!!
If you don't know whether your using Intel chipset or not, just tell us your motherboard model...
BTW, todays graphic card DO NOT NEED PCI-E X16 2.0.... Even a 4870*2 will not show any difference on a PCI-E x16 1.0 mobo compared to a PCI-E x16 2.0.....
PS: If after the Chipset driver update there are still glitches in WoW, I think it would be VERY WISE TO RMA this card... MAYBE thats why you dont see a difference with this card coz it has issues.. DO NOT Overclock this system b4 you get rvreything set up and stable