Looking to Build a decent rig to play wow.. Please help

[The Carpenter]

Hey guys, First off great Board you have here.. I've been reading on here for a couple weeks... Ok I'm just a carpenter lol I'm such a noob when it comes down to computer building.. But I have the faith I can do it with the help from this board.. I'm looking to spend about 900-1000 bucks for everything including a Monitor.. Basically everything I'll need but the cheaper the better ... I'll be mainly be playing world of warcraft doing some minor photo editing... Basic use outside of gaimg.. From what I read WOW doesn't need much to play at its best level, but I'd like to have a computer that will have room for future upgrades and be able to play other games... I've been screwing around on newegg.com and taking recomendations from this website but I have no clue guys... I would so much appreciate some help from you guys for something will be solid and full proof... I know it takes time to make a nice list of parts that all work together and believe me, I would totally try harder if i had more knowledge on this subject... Just don't want you to think i'm being lazy lol... Well thanks guys and if ya need any advise on a building project i'd love to help

 

[gators1223]

wow will run on high on some relic from the '80s now that said if you aren't actually going to us it for much else you could get away with a $500 budget,
heres what i came up with for what you said and you could probably build a pretty sweet wood case for it

Motherboard: ASUS P5Q SE LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131333

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

Video card: PALiT AE=4870S+0452 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261029

RAM: pqi TURBO 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141366

HD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218

PSU: Antec earthwatts EA500 500W ATX12V v2.0 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007

THis will run most stuff you throw at it and it is $700

 

[lunyone]

Okay where do I begin.....

CPU - $120 shipped!! Plenty of power for what you want to do. If you need more, spend more now, or OC your chip for no $!!!
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

PSU - $45 shipped!! Plenty of power for a single GPU (34amps on the 12v rails). 80% efficient!
Antec earthwatts EA500 500W ATX12V v2.0 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

Mobo - $140 - $20 MIR = $120!!! Has about everything, but the kitchen sink!! 2 x Firewire/8 x USB/RAID/x-Fire/etc.
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

GPU - $170 - $20 MIR = $150!! Best budget GPU out right now.
SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Memory - $79 - $20 MIR = $59!!! Plenty for what you initially need.
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Hard Drive - $90 shipped!! Pretty fast and definately worth the $
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Case - $80 shipped!! One of the better and cooler cases out there for the $.
Cooler Master 690 without Power Supply
Newegg's link. Has more details, pictures, and customer reviews too.

DVD Burner - $30 shipped!! Retail version, so you'll get all of the necessary software to read/burn DVD's with.
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - Retail

Monitor - $195 shipped!! 22" of LCD screen!! What else do you need for this price??
Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support 300 cd/m2 700:1 - Retail

OS - $100 shipped. What you need to take advantage of 4gb's or more of DDR2.
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM

Total = $1043 - $60 MIR's = $983!! Obviously you can get a smaller LCD to lower the price more. Everything here is all that you'd need to build your PC. Gators at $756 w/shipping and was still lacking an OS, Monitor, and Case so he's going to be over the $1000 mark. Everyone has preferrences, so pick out the ones you like and make up your preferred build.

Edit: Went over budget, so I adjusted a few things and also forgot a HD

 

[dirtmountain]

^ not a bad list.(Gators) I like this memory more. DDR2 800 1.8v Mushkin
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731
The E8500 is only $20 more expensive then the E8400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036
I'd save a chunk of money and go with a cheaper graphic card, the HD4870 is way overkill on WoW and similar games, even Age of Conan. I'd go with a 9600GT or a HD4850 depending on what you want to spend, they will both run WoW on high with a 22" (1680x1050) monitor.
9600GT $80 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125099
HD4850 Sapphire $150 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770
This case with a quality power supply included (will run both GPUs i recommend) with it is a GREAT deal right now, a good quiet case and one of the combo deals that comes with it is a DVD R that you basically get for free $80 after rebate (deal ends 9/19 )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024
LiteOn SATA burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106265
Monitors are a tough call, I went to a big box store and compared many side by side. Picked the one i liked the best. Look for good refresh rate 2ms-5ms. I have 2 LG Electonics. I've heard good things about Samsung, Dell, Acer and others.
This system is actually more than you need for WoW, but it's a solid system that should last quite awhile
Gators motherboard and hard drive, with my case/psu/DVD combo deal, 4850, E8500 would come to $680 or so after rebates and before shipping. Operating system go with Vista Home premium 64 at $100. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488 keyboard/ mouse and monitor still to go.

 

[lunyone]

This case with a quality power supply included (will run both GPUs i recommend) with it is a GREAT deal right now, a good quiet case and one of the combo deals that comes with it is a DVD R that you basically get for free $80 after rebate (deal ends 9/19 )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024

Even a better deal if you get the x2 5400+ Black Edition CPU from AMD!!! You basically get the CPU thrown in!!! All you have to do is get a $25 CPU HSF and your good with that setup. Otherwise the CPU/PSU/Case Combo for $152 - $50 MIR = $102 for all 3!!!! Can't beat that right now, should've looked at this combo before!!

 

[The Carpenter]

Hey guys.. Thank you all so much for the quick replies and taking the time to give me a nice build... I won't be ordering for at least another week so I won't be able to take advantage on some of those combo deals such as the case and burner... Well here is what I have come up with.. I know you guys just put this together But in a final review does this look like a pretty decent PC? Total Comes to 1,266 Bucks... Looks great as far as i'm concerned and is right up my alley as far as price and reviews on all these parts read great.. Anything else I would need or possibly CHANGE/SWAP? maybe cables/ cooling/etc? Thanks again guys..

Mother board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128344

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218

case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024

Cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731

Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094

Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106265

Mouse: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104178

KeyBoard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109137

OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

Speakers: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121130

 

[The Carpenter]

Another question... Would this setup also play games such as COD4 or crysis?or is that asking for to much... I mean I know I want a pc over geared for wow.. But also would like it to be flexible towards other games I'd like to eventually try out. thanks again guys...

 

[mexpedip]

Mother Board ?

I would recommend the following heatsink...
XIGMATEK HDT-S963 92mm Rifle CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233001
and bracket
XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233019

Your build will be able to run anything currently on the market.

 

[megamanx00]

Yeah, you should be able to run Crysis on High with that. Since your monitor is 1680 x 1050 you may want to lower some of the settings to medium during some parts of the game. By the way you forgot to include a motherboard! I say go with a P45 base board like this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128344

For a budget build though I would say go with a AMD Phenom X3 and a 790X crossfire board, or a 770 based board if you only planed to use one graphics card.

 

[gators1223]

1k isn't really a budget build...
anyhow you will need a motherboard, srry i didn't include speakers etc in the original build, i guess i assumed you had dome any way that motherboard is quite nice, and you could play crysis on high, i have the 8800gts 512, which is slower and i can play most of the game on high at 1920x1200

 

[The Carpenter]

Wopps sorry guys.. I added the motherboard that lunyone and dirtmountain recomended...

 

[The Carpenter]

1k isn't really a budget build...
anyhow you will need a motherboard, srry i didn't include speakers etc in the original build, i guess i assumed you had dome any way that motherboard is quite nice, and you could play crysis on high, i have the 8800gts 512, which is slower and i can play most of the game on high at 1920x1200

Yes gator I agree It's deff not a budet pc... But it's a start i guess.. I really have nothing atm... I've been living without a pc in my apartment for about a year since i moved out.. My old one at my mothers house.. a pentium 4 HP crapped out.. Currently I'm posting on a labtop.... I really need to get a computer in my apartment lol.. It's so frickin boring...

Guys my exp is really limited when it comes down to pc's... I wish I could tell you exactly what I want lol.. But i really have no clue... All I know is I want to build something that will play games well... I miss playing wow and would like to get into other games at a moderate level... But yes keeping this build as low as possible would be great... 800-1000 bucks for everything would totally be in my range.. I really appreciate the help from you all... I'm basically looking for someone to say here get these items and put it all together... Keep the suggestions coming... Thanks again all

 

[lunyone]

Everything you selected in the last build is fine and will work together. One thing you might want to consider, is a headset. I use one, so other people don't hear the game noise and I also use the microphone attached to talk to people in game!!! I'd much rather use a head set than speakers and a seperate mic.
If you want to save a bundle and still have a decent rig, I'd go with the Antec Sonata III Case/PSU/AMD x2 5400+ Black Edition combo for $152 - $50 MIR = $102, like I mentioned earlier. Yes the AMD isn't quite as good as the e8500 you selected, but for bascially FREE, you can't complain. This would save you $165 on the CPU alone (need to add $26 CPU HSF to the package). You can decide, but if your budget is pretty tight, than I'd opt for the AMD x2 5400+ Black Edition. You'll just need to buy the combo by 9/19 to get the deal!

Edit: Forgot to mention that you'll need a different motherboard, if you decide to go with the AMD CPU chip.
$100 AMD mobo, has just about everything you'll need too Has latest chipset, which will support the upcoming Phenom FX chip!!
BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail