Pc for wow

tjosborne · Mar 30, 2012

im looking for a pc mainly for wow. i want to be able to max it out and get good frame rate. which hardware should i be looking for? $500 would be a great budget. thanks

nekulturny · Mar 30, 2012

Wow isnt very intensive in terms of hardware specs, (I'm a Runescaper myself--booo hiss!! :non:

) should be able to work something out in that budget range..

I'd ask you what parts you already have that you think or know can be reused. (Monitor, power supply, case, keyboard, mouse, hard drive, etc)

Also do you prefer an AMD or Intel based system? I'd lean towards an FX-4100 right now, yea yea.. all those ppl saying they suck, they're only 100 dollars now and its more than good enough for WOW. One that you want to upgrade later or one that will get the job done now? Will you need to buy Windows?

venur · Mar 30, 2012

tjosborne :

WoW would be easy too reach 50-60fps on a 500$ budget.

That link might help ya even if its a 650$ budget gaming PC.: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-gaming-pc-overclock,3159.html

Asrock have good cheap mobo and I'd just tell you to get a good brand PSU. A budget build don,t requierd a big PSU but never make the mistake to get a cheap one. Your mobo will fry in a year or two trust me.

If your not willing to pay 650$ dropoing the 6950 for a 6850 would be an easy way to save some $ and would probably run WoW just fine.

I run it at 60fps on a core 2 quad and a 8800gtx wich is a 4-5years old GPU if I'm right.

nekulturny · Mar 30, 2012

Both of these systems will kick the crap out of WOW.

AMD Based
CPU- FX-4100 $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103996

Mobo- Asus M5A97- $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767

Video Card- EVGA 550 TI factor Oc'd- $130

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

RAM- Corsair 2x4 1600mhz - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233180

Case- You choose that, everyone has different tastes. Plan on spending at least $50 for a decent one.

PSU- Corsair CX500 -$60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

HDD- WDC 500GB- $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

Optical Drive- LG DVD-R -$18
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136247

Total: $543

Notes: Price doesn't include a case nor an operating system.

Intel Based

If you want to go with an Intel build.. Change out the following:

CPU-i3 2120 $128
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115077

MOBO- $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128524&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=zowwxoau6uqv

All other items remain unchanged.

This changes the total to: $541

venur · Mar 30, 2012

nekulturny :

1600speed RAM isn't would be a waste of money. He won,t see any difference vs the 1333 at a cheaper price and intel warrranty won't work if your using the 1600 ones.

I don't know about AMD but several benchmark just proved that 1600 bring nothing over the 1333 for gaming so I wouldn't risk my warranty for that personaly.

Corsair PSU are pretty good as well as about anything made by corsair.

nekulturny · Mar 30, 2012

venur :

No they really don't 1600mhz is just force of habit for me. Theres almost zero price difference across the board for quality brands. Save 7 bucks for a big mac meal if you want....

The reason I usually go with 1600 recommending a build is overclocking, when you overclock at the FSB you're also overclocking the RAM, so a higher mhz rating in theory is guaranteed to be stable by the manufacturer.

HugoStiglitz · Mar 30, 2012

@venur

I'm sorry but can you link where u found 1600mhz ram voids warranty?

I'm sure most of us are aware of the 1.5v DRAM sandy bridge reccomendation's which is why in nekulturny's build he has selected 1.5v modules

nekulturny · Mar 30, 2012

I missed the comment about 1600 voiding a warranty. LOL. No, it won't void the warranty, even if it did, neither Intel nor AMD have any way I could comprehend that they could actually prove you were running 1600mhz rated RAM to begin with unless you told them....

I'm not sure, but I believe that by default an i3 will run 1600mhz RAM at 1333mhz anyway (I'm an AMD guy, so help me out here if I'm wrong). The RAM speed is its theoretical speed its rated for, it does not necessarily have to run at that speed. I have 1600mhz rated RAM, I'm running mine at 1450 something with my OC.

HugoStiglitz · Mar 30, 2012

I'd stand by nekulturny's build, always good to build in a little extra PSU wattage and RAM speed as who knows what happens down the track.

add an extra video card or upgrade to Ivy Bridge (im sure they will be 1600-1866mhz required)

but if u only selected 1333mhz now then its an added cost later on.

Save $7 now and possibly spend an extra $50 later on.........

nekulturny · Mar 30, 2012

HugoStiglitz :

Only problem is, for the intel board I recommended an H61, I'm not sure if those are going to be Ivy Bridge capable...

HugoStiglitz · Mar 30, 2012

the link just brings up a list, not sure which one u picked,

can we squeeze a Z68 in there? (maybe even a gen3)

nekulturny · Mar 30, 2012

I guess we could try to squeeze a Z68 in there, you probably are more familiar with Intel than I. I had picked this one, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128524

I'll go edit it since the link is dead. But lets see what Newegg has in the Z68 flavor.

This one is a 120, I was trying to keep it under 100. Maybe you or someone else has a better one in mind.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

tjosborne · Mar 30, 2012

nekulturny :

this pc is for a friend and he has everything but the pc. and i have windows 7 for him. i was kinda thinking intel but it doesnt really matter, and maybe a 6950. i would like to have him be able to max wow with dx11 at 60fps.

nekulturny · Mar 30, 2012

Both the i3 and FX-4100 will run wow fine. I feel comfortable recommending the 4100 now because in my opinion its now priced on par with its performance. (It should have never been a 150 dollar chip)

The 6950 does look like it benches better than the 550TI, but again, both of them will do fine with WoW, I played WoW for a couple weeks on this computer (550TI card on my system), I never once had any complaints about the graphics, although I couldn't really get into the game after 11 years of Runescape.

I generally stick with Nvidia for no other reason that familiarity.

HugoStiglitz · Mar 30, 2012

looks like u picked a good Z68

there is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157279 for $105

but does not have twin PCI-X 16, so no SLI / CFX Support.

At the end of the day its what

I'd really reccomend the one u picked, as it adds SLI/CFX support, Ivy Bridge Compatible as well as being alot better for SSD's

just adds alot of good features $50

At the end of the day its all about tjosborne's budget,
We can spend your money all day long.

Only YOU know if YOUR $50 is worth it.

regardless id pick the Intel setup over the AMD

nekulturny · Mar 30, 2012

Yea, I have my reasons for sticking it out with AMD. Some are logical, some aren't.
The main ones are
I like AMD's track record for backwards compatibility, and I have fine motor skill issues, (shaky hands), I really don't like how fragile LGA sockets are.

HugoStiglitz · Mar 30, 2012

6950's are quite hard to pick up atm,

although it is quite a bit faster than the 550ti

HugoStiglitz · Mar 30, 2012

I still dont see why so many people bend LGA socket pins.

carefull.....nearly down....almost there.....oh F*#K i dropped a hammer on it.
WTF????Seriously?

This is my first intel build since my 566mhz Celeron. Have been an AMD man for many years. but with bulldozer's "less than stellar" performance I thought id give intel a go again, so far I'm quite happy.

I agree AMD has been better for upgrade paths than intel but with IVY bridge being able to drop into Z68 sandy bridge systems, things are looking up for them in that regard.

I am not a fan of either. just a fan of performance. AMD seems to do better in Low to Mid range (where price vs performance matters) but you have to admit intel has the dominance in the High to extreme (where its all performance and to hell with the price)

nekulturny · Mar 30, 2012

LOL! You know you're a geek when you actually "lol" at something like that. I dunno how people bend them either, I never have, but then again, I've only had to work with a couple of em. I just didn't want to take the chance.

This computer was my first build, it replaced my aging Dell XPS Laptop. And prior to that I had a Dell 8200 desktop, Pentium 4 with the good ol rambus crap.

I'm in school now for IT, I've known enough to get myself in trouble for years. When I was picking my parts for this build, it came down to 2 choices, I knew I wanted a quad core, and I wanted one that was unlocked so I could play around with the clock speeds so it was between 2500k, FX-4100.

Phenom II was practically a last minute decision for me after doing some further research into it. I personally am not a very heavy gamer, as I mentioned Runescape is the main game I play, and its a 1 core java game, so 160 dollar Phenom II vs 220 dollar 2500k.

No doubt the Z68 being able to handle Ivy Bridge is a good step, and yea, at present time on the high-end Intel kills AMD.

From what I understand, the only thing wrong with the Bulldozers design is that Windows can't use it very effectively. AMD tried something new, and it didn't work like they had hoped. (Intel has done that before too with their first Core2Duos and Pentium IIIs were far better than the early P4s)

I think AMD erred by trying to have the cart pull the horse. Windows is the de facto operating system standard, their processors need to accommodate Windows, not the other way around.

HugoStiglitz · Apr 2, 2012

Interesting topic just popped up

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

Shows i3 2120 in 2nd Tier & FX-4100 in 5th Tier

Gives the FX-4100 an honorable mention for its overclocking ability.

Quote
"At its stock clock rate, AMD's FX-4100 isn't a particularly compelling gaming product compared to lower-priced options from Intel. However, enthusiasts are sure to appreciate its unlocked ratio multiplier and plenty of headroom to overclock. When it's pushed, this processor helps enable similar frame rates as some of our favorite Core i3 CPUs, though it uses significantly more power in the process."

HugoStiglitz · Apr 2, 2012

All the same, it has taken the industry a long time to embrace 64bit tech (even now applications are almost all 32bit only)

it will be just as long time to adopt multi-thread support where you will see the multi-core / multi-thread CPU's start to make their mark.

tjosborne · Apr 2, 2012

thanks for all your answers and comments. it will take a month or so to save but any updates let me know. for now im baseing build off nekulturny's.

nekulturny · Apr 2, 2012

HugoStiglitz :

True. Heck, even the vaunted Firefox browser is 32 bit. I use their Nightly (64 bit developer's build), I don't have any problems with it at all, but who knows when it will be a stable release. I kinda bounce back and forth on the Bulldozer subject, I'm sure some of my posts taken in their entirety may contradict one another. I admit it. Although, it would seem from the AMD side of things, Intel outsells them 5 to 1. Of course Intel was involved in some shady business practice in order to gain that status (hence the 1. something billion dollar lawsuit settlement a couple years back) but AMD really ought to work in the box they're in. They need to be competitive, and I don't understand enough about the technical behind it, but they really need to make sure that their CPUs can run effectively on already existing operating systems and not expect Microsoft to pound out some "hotfixes" for them.

I get tired of hearing about how much more power Bulldozers use, than similarly spec'd Intel CPUs though. Yes, yes, they should use less power to do the same work, save the planet and all that treehugger stuff... But, In terms of your electric bill, its the equivalent of a single light bulb at best... To read some of the threads on here, you'd think it was costing you hundreds of dollars a year!

They have something with their llano CPUs We'll see what the future brings. Thats the problem with only 2 major companies making CPUs, if one has better products, the other by default is absolutely horrible. The old good vs evil, theres only 2 sides to choose!

BTW, just for fun I did a comparison of my significant other's computer to mine. Now, I posted this in another thread, so forgive me if you see it twice (I'm sure I might bring it up again because it is in fact quite compelling)

Phenom IIs are several years old technology, and here it is right on par with a more expensive and newer Sandy Bridge.
Cinebench Results

My computer Phenom II 975 @4.0 w/ 550 TI factory oc'd
CPU score- 4.59
Open GL- 45.36FPS

Significant other-
i5-2300 @ 2.8GHZ w/ GTX 460
CPU4.56
Open GL- 42.81FPS

i5-2300 costs $180 Phenom II 975 currently $140

HugoStiglitz · Apr 2, 2012

In many bencHmarks the phenom II outperforms the bulldozer chips. Specially like the phenom II 955 to 975 black Ed cpu. Stacks quite well against similar priced intel sandy bridge cpu's as well. Their overclocking attributes are quite good also. Other gaming pc in my house is a Phenom II 965 with CFX 5830's and it loads games just as quick and gets almost the same fps as my rig.

HugoStiglitz · Apr 2, 2012

Mind u it's almost 1/2 the 3d mark 11 score as mine

Pc for wow

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