Building a machine for World of Warcraft

[AMDPwred]

It's been a very long time since I've looked at building a computer. I'm a Mac person and have enjoyed those for the last few years. I'm a big WoW player and have been playing on my work laptop, a MacBook Pro for the last 7+ months. It's not an ideal experience as I essentially must keep every setting at the minimum just to play the game. Seeing as I'm not able to spend $2,000+ on an iMac, and that its video options aren't ideal either, I'm looking at building a gaming machine. I don't have a specific budget but keeping it to $1,000 would be nice. The only item I already own is a cinema display. I'll need to purchase everything else. The goal is to be able to run WoW at maximum settings and maximum resolution without a low frame rate.

I searched around a bit for this very topic and couldn't find anything specific to WoW. It has been around for 4+ years but has gotten slightly more intensive with the addition of Wrath. I figure one of the mid-range gaming builds would be sufficient but I'd appreciate some thoughts from those who know better than I do.

 

[Axon]

Hey man,

A lot of FPS issues from WoW are server side, and in general, the game can be run quite well with even a last-gen machine.

For example, I built a comp from some old parts for my girl to have in her apartment, as follows:

MOBO: ASUS P5B-E Deluxe
CPU: Intel E6600 @ 2.7 ghz
RAM: 2 gigs RAM
GPU: Sapphire Radeon 4670 512 MB
WD HDD 7200 RPM

This rig produces 60 FPS in older, less populated cities and in the world. In crowded Dalaran, it generally gets 28-40 FPS. 45 FPS in raids. 1680 x 1200 resolution (wide).

Otherwise, it runs WoW perfectly.

Now, my machine is a little bit more high-end, but the performance on WoW is virtually identical!

Mobo: ASUS Rampage Formula
CPU: E8500 @ 3.6GHZ
4 gigs RAM
XFX Radeon 4890 (I <3 this card)

Basically, other than a bit higher FPS in dalaran, my performance for WoW is the same as my Girl' rig. Now, when I play something like TF2 or COD5, the difference is visible.

Anyway, if you list your budget I'm sure people can give you a few ideas. Newegg has the 4850 on sale for like $86 bucks, which is a real nice deal.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102824

 

[AMDPwred]

If I can keep it below $1,000, I'm happy. The key for me is completely maxed settings. I want to see as far as I can, with every spell detail. I've never been able to see that with my current setup.

 

[Axon]

Roger. Are you an AMD or Intel guy? Nvidia or ATI?

For Intel, I'd go with a Core i7. Socket 775 is dead now...well, not dead, but dying. However, if WoW is all you're worried about, anything E7000 or better will more than do the job.

AMD I'd go with the Phenom II. X4 955 or 945.

For GPU, I'd say ATI 4870 or Nvidia GTX 260 Core 16, depending on price. You don't necessarily need that much power for WoW, but it will keep you at the high end longer. A 4850 will likely do the same as a 4870.

MOBO is a personal choice and they're all generally similar. Look for ASUS or Gigabyte generally, and read a review on the board you're targeting.

PSU I always splurge on. Never cheap out on the PSU. Silverstone or Corsair imo. Just an opinion, of course.

RAM...Not much knowledge in this area, I have DDR2, it runs well.

 

[AMDPwred]

I used to be stuck on AMD (see the name) and Nvidia. These days, Intel and I have no preference on the video.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

I would suggest going with a socket 775 (C2D) system rather than getting a Core i7. That will save you a big chunk right there.

This is an excellent post on the current state of hardware:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2283948&enterthread=y

Go with 4GB of fast ram, a 3.0Ghz or higher dual/quad core and something like a GTX260 and you should be set.

 

[AMDPwred]

How does this look:

Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16811129042)

Power Supply - PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS750QBL 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS
Certified Active PFC (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16817703019)

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

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813128358)

Memory - CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16820145215)

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000333AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16822148373)

Video - XFX GX260NADBF GeForce GTX 260 Black Edition Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814150330)

Drive - LG Black 6X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Combo LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16827136154)

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

$988.80/shipped

Thoughts? Feedback? Enough of a power supply to power this thing? I paid close attention to the requirements from the video card.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

Looks very nice. Should be a great gaming machine.

 

[California Roll]

WoW is a cpu intensive game as opposed to vidcard. With a 3.0 quad and Radeon 4850 I can turn all the video settings on and get max fps at 1920x1080. Your new system will be more than enough to handle the task. You could probably spend $500 on a new system and do the same, but what you picked out should last you quite awhile in terms of future performance.

 

[AMDPwred]

I ended up going with a slightly nicer video card, power supply, and case. Very happy with the purchase. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Axon]

Looks awesome. That thing is gonna be a beast vs. WoW. Enjoy!