I need a cheap WoW casual gamer build

1rkrage

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I'm looking for a cheap alternative to my dying Athlon x2/8600gt SLI build.

my goal is to play World of Warcraft, StarCraft 2, and a few Steam games (Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike:Source, Portal, etc.) all on Ultra/Max.

i'd like these main components if possible as they're inexpensive:

$342.98 w/ $30 MIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.663120
■ Core i3
■ Radeon 6870
$64.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145520
■ 1.5 tb Sata 6gb

and also a wireless card

Approximate Purchase Date: today or tomorrow

Budget Range: 600-700. $500 must be on newegg. (preferred account)

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, psu

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, microcenter

Country of Origin: US

Overclocking: maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1080p (1920x1200)
 

Exarr

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Try this:

CPU: AMD Phenom II 955 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&cm_re=amd_phenom_ii_x4_955-_-19-103-808-_-Product

MOBO: ASRock AM3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157243&cm_re=ASRock_am3-_-13-157-243-_-Product (or other good companys asus, msi ect.)

GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102924&cm_re=sapphire_6870-_-14-102-924-_-Product or for a little more you can get some better performance with the Geforce 560Ti - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565&cm_re=msi_560_ti-_-14-127-565-_-Product

Also i would go with a Samsung Spin point HDD like this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=samsung%20spinpoint%20f3
(very fast and about the same price)

Any other questions i would be glad to help.
 
Solution

1rkrage

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I read that Intel performs better for Blizzard games on raw processing power so I wanted to really go Intel for this build after several years of being an amd fanboy.

I went for the 2500k + mobo deal from Micro Center for 240 after taxes. figured I can spend a little extra on processing power after all.


for the rest, i'm waiting for my preferred account at newegg to be sorted out since I plan on paying the rest in installments. While waiting, can I have critique on:

case: RAIDMAX Quantum ATX-798WB Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 54.99 (44.99 after MIR)

psu: APEX|AL-D500EXP 500W 44.99

Graphics: XFX|HD-687A-ZNFC HD6870 184.99 (169 after MIR)

HDD:1.5T|HITACHI HDS723015BLA642 $64.99

RAM: 4gbx2 GSKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL $54.99

Monitor: ACER|LCD 23" 5MS G235HABD $139.99

so all in all the system costs around $670ish before rebates

can I sacrifice a bit more (besides cpu + graphics) and still achieve my goal?
 

1rkrage

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the mobo was this: DH61BEB3 LGA 1155 H61 mATX Intel Motherboard


i looked at this chart from this thread and it looks like the 6870 is ahead of the 460. i wanted a DX 11 minimum card and wouldn't like to shell out the extra dollars (newegg preferred account purchase as close to 500 as possible) for the GTX 560 considering i can get the 6870 for 160 after rebates.

also found a link to http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_6950_1_GB/17.html and it says that theres only a 2 fps increase from 6870 to 560 ti on 1080p. so i guess i'm going to stick with the 6870
 

internetlad

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geez he doesn't need a 6870 to run WoW. Just throw a mid-range cheapo card in the rig (hell, a Llano chip would probably even run it) 2-4 gigs of ram (it's cheap anyways) a cheap (msi/asrock/foxconn) mobo and whatever dual core chip you want and you're off to the races.

WoW, as it stands even after the cataclysm pack, is a ram hog, the graphics are wildly outdated and so long as you have a dual core chip over 2.4 Ghz you should run it fine, even moreso if it's an i series with dedicated gfx.

Edit, just re-read OP's post. go with the 6870 if you're going to be playing tf2/sc2, 4 gigs of cheap ram, a cheap mobo, and an AMD Tri or Quad core. Valve games should support multithreading IIRC.

Not too into AMD cores but the low end ones on the tom's cpu sheet are Athlon II X3 455 and Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition for 80 and 115 respectively.
 

Exarr

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I didn't say he needed a 6870 for WoW, you can run that on an old 8500GT. Didn't know if he would be into playing anything else in the future. It could be a possibility.

But yeah i agree it doesn't need much and you can play those on high settings with what you mentioned above.
 

1rkrage

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i was running the one that just broke down on basically 1 8600gt (my sli was crap i think) and it was slowly getting into the low end of the graphics settings. I couldn't do 25 man raids at all even with low settings iirc.

i think that I'm comfortable with this $660 budget pc so far.


also i was wondering if I could reuse this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371001 from my dead computer. i'm pretty sure that it still works well. it's roughly 3 years old so it might be nearing its lifetime though. it has 2 pci-e connectors and i don't know if it works in pci-e 2.0 cards
 

Exarr

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Yes it should work fine, i would just stick to your build you had planned everything should work out just fine.
 

1rkrage

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Alright thanks everyone for the help. i think that I have my #winning rig now that I will order Thursday

CPU: Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor 179.99

Motherboard:DH61BEB3 LGA 1155 H61 mATX Intel Motherboard 44.99

Case: NZXT Gamma 35.99 + $6 shipping

PSU: Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply with Three 12V Rails $0 since i'm using old one

GFX: XFX HD695XZDDC Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 259.99 -30 MIR

MEM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) 38.99

DISPLAY: Acer G235HAbd 23'' WideScreen LCD monitor 139.99

HDD:HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723015BLA642 (0F12114) 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" 54.99

Micro Center $246.92 after taxes
Newegg: $535.94 -30 MIR

Final Build cost for tower after rebates: $612.87 :bounce:
 

1rkrage

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^^ thanks. i think i'll be happy with this.




yeah i'll eventually overclock it. i've read good reviews for that and the H60 watercoolers. I don't have to do it now though so I think i'm going to leave that out for now.
 

1rkrage

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i'm tired of getting boned in 25 man raids with 3 fps :na: hopefully 80 fps on whatever place in the game the above benchmarks got fixes this.


i also watched the battlefield 3 trailers and i think I want to play that too.
 

1rkrage

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i finally ordered and after some thought i went even further with the graphics card and went for the XFX dual fan 6950 2gb.
I'm hoping to play Battlefield 3 when it comes out so i wanted a 2gb card :D 570s wont do as my PSU is not up to par apparently with only 19 amps on the rails

then replaced the 1.5tb with a spinpoint 1tb since it was on sale.

can't wait to test this on tuesday/wednesday :)
 

Exarr

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Oh yeah! You will def. enjoy the 6950, cant wait for BF3 myself along with some others. Tell me how everything turns out.
 

1rkrage

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parts are here. trying not to open the H61 mobo i have right now since i caved in and also bought a P67 open box mobo but it's coming on thursday :(

these parts are looking nice :(