Building a PC just for World of Warcraft

[Sorrows End]

Hello there everyone!

I'll give you all a quick summary of what im attempting to do before going into the full backstory.

I am looking to make a pc that will be used almost exclusively to play World of Warcraft.


Now I'll explain the why, when, and where. A while back my car was stolen and I decided to get a new ride. My credit sucks so my brother helped me out and gave me 2 grand for my down payment. This was quite awesome. Since then I've filed my taxes and got back much more than I expected. When I attempted to pay back my brother he said it was a gift and refused. So this leads me to my idea. He uses computers until they die of old age. He's running an old amd 3800 with a shoddy 6600 nvidia card and 1 gig of ram. It makes me cry.

I want to build him a pc that is configured for the best possible world of warcraft experience. It needs to be able to be displayed at 1900x1080 will all settings maxxed. It also needs to handle 25 man raids without slow down or choppiness. He loses his mind when hes trying to fly around and everything stutters as it tries to load the models.

In addition to running WoW he usually has Ventrilo, itunes, and usually 3-4 web pages up. He likes to alt+tab out of WoW like a twitchy meth addled rodent while raiding. And he refuses to run the game in windowed mode...

Budget:1500 to 2000.

Parts already owned: 24" widescreen monitor for 1900x1080

If anyone is familiar with what hardware can really tear this game up well it would be most appreciated. I have no problems with overclocking to achieve better performance.

I'm trying to decide if I want to build a i7 920 cpu with an Asus P6T x58 board, 6g ram kit, vista home premium, 640g wd caviar black hd

OR go with something like a 9550 cpu, gigabyte UD3P board, 8g ram

The video card also has me concerned. I figured I would just get him a GTX 295 and call it a day but im hearing rumors that WoW doesn't like the dual core cards.

I'd prefer to stick with an nvidia card due to my familiarity with them and since I'll be his primary tech support if anything goes wrong. =)

So my basic questions come down to these:

1. Which nvidia card can tear WoW up the best at 1900x1080

2. Which cpu chip can handle running the applications he has up and can handle the constant tabbing between them.

3. would a SSD drive be better for his system or will the caviar black have better performance.

4. Will we need to upgrade his network card to handle the amount of information he is going to force it to choke down in 25 man raiding while streaming music and web pages etc.

Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this. Again thank you to anyone who has any advice or criticism they wish to express. =)

 

[AstroManLuca]

I don't think he'd benefit from such a powerful card if he's just playing an older game like WoW. Even with WotLK, it's not that demanding.

http://www.extremetech.com/art...=ETRSS03039TX1K0000564

As you can see, FPS are the same whether it's on a midrange card (4850/9800GTX) or a high-end one (4870/GTX260). Even at 1920x1200 it doesn't help to have a more powerful graphics card. Clearly, the game is CPU-bound, even on a Core i7.

I did see another benchmark that tested new graphics features in WotLK, but it was in beta at the time and you had to enable those features through the console. And according to the test, even a GTX 280 at a low resolution couldn't play the game well with the most demanding new features enabled. Problem is, it's an old review and I don't play WoW so I don't know if they've polished and optimized their new graphics technology yet or if they're still working on it for a later patch/release. Once they come out, though, he'll still probably be fine with a 4850 or 9800GTX.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com...ve-screenshots/?page=2

Seems to me that he will need the best possible CPU to handle all the stuff on the screen, but actually rendering all that stuff won't cause problems for any modern video card, even a midrange one. So anything higher is kind of overkill, unless he's planning on also running much more demanding games in the future.

I also thought that, with such a large budget, he might actually benefit from the often-ridiculed Killer K1 gaming NIC. However, one benchmark showed that it doesn't help much in WoW (or anything else, really). However, other anecdotal reports seem to indicate that it can actually improve performance. Not sure it's worth the nearly-$300 price tag.

http://www.extremetech.com/art.../0,1697,2105491,00.asp

EDIT: Changed slightly to reflect OP's reality. I hadn't really read his post and gotten the backstory. Very kind of you!

 

[ViRaLRuSh]

Very nice of you to pay him back like this instead.

I'd recommend still picking up an i7. You have the money now - WoW will have it's graphics updated with each expansion like it has been - no harm in going with an i7 in this case. He'll appreciate the speed difference even if it isn't a huge jump over a C2Q.

 

[yh125d]

Something like...

Q9550 - WoW will only use two cores, but all the background stuff can be offloaded to the other two freeing up the WoW cores. Since WoW is very CPU intensive, this is a good thing.
UD3R - Since you're going nVidia, you don't need the crossfire board
Ram - 4gb here, I like G.Skill. Speed/timings don't matter very much at all, as long as its faster than ddr2-667. 8gb is probably unnecessary, I can't get WoW to use over 2.75gb abouts
GPU - I have a 9800GT that runs WoW at 1920x1080 great. Maxed settings and 100ish FPS out in the world, ~50 in Dalaran, ~60 in 25 mans depending on the situation. It wouldn't hurt to have a little more grunt here, but anything over a GTX260 is very overkill. WoW is not that GPU intensive
HD - A SSD wouldn't be a bad idea here, it will speed up his loading times noticably. That said, the black drive is also very fast, with a lot more room for less $$. I think he'd be very happy with the faster black over the HD he currently has, which I'd guess is something IDE
NIC - Onboard is fine. Some claim less lag/better latency with an add-in card, but I think a lot of it is hype

Be sure to get 64 bit Vista

 

[Sorrows End]

Thank you for all the replies and the links to show the different benchmarks.

Sorry for the general vaugeness of my build ideas but im not really used to having a budget of 2000 to play with. I'd like to make sure I make some well informed decisions. Hopefully the pc I build will last my brother a few years. He doesn't upgrade...ever.

 

[AstroManLuca]

In that case it might just be worth it to get a better video card, assuming it's within the budget. A 4870 1 GB or GTX 260 would only add about $75 to the cost and would definitely be better for longer.

It's all contingent on whether he'll actually play any other games though. I mean, if you know for a fact that he'll never play anything other than WoW, he really won't need those cards, but if you think he might even try a more demanding game, it could be worth it.

If your budget allows, you may as well also get him a really nice case. Perhaps an all-aluminum one for light weight. Lian-Li makes nice cases (same with Cooler Master and Antec).

 

[Sorrows End]

As for other games he dabbled with Warhammer online for about 3 weeks. His ancient pc couldn't handle that game at all.

The only other games ive heard him mention is Dawn of War 2 and Dragon Age.

I got the idea of just biting the bullet and getting a gtx 295 because of DoW2

As for the case I was leaning towards an Antec 1200. It has way more room than he would ever need but it is very open and has plenty of fans. He will be using this machine in Phoenix, Arizona so heat and dust do become an issue around here.

 

[AstroManLuca]

How does this look?

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/lucarescigno/build.PNG

Core i7, GTX 280, 1 TB HDD, 6 GB RAM, Corsair 620W modular PSU, Cooler Master Cosmos, Logitech keyboard, mouse, and speakers (in case his existing ones are of poor quality).

Just realized I left out the optical drive. That's a $25 extra.

The whole thing is just over $1700, so it leaves room for, say, an even better video card (the GTX 280 is probably actually a bad choice, with performance only a little above the GTX 260 but at significant cost), a higher-end motherboard, an aftermarket CPU cooler (I left that out because I figured you wouldn't be overclocking), or maybe something like surround speakers or other accessories.

I wonder, though, if you couldn't apply that spare money in a better way. Maybe instead of overinflating the specs, you could get him other stuff like more time on his WoW subscription or even other non-computer-related stuff.

 

[aigomorla]

wait for i5 first.

then see what the IGP offers.

If Sony is considering for ps4, you know its gotta be good.

 

[jamesbond007]

Despite what benchmarks may say, I have a Q9450 (2.66Ghz, 12MB L2, 1333MHz FSB stock) that is overclocked to match the QX9770 processor. (3.2GHz, 12MB l2, 1600MHz FSB) I have 8GB of G.Skill DDR2 clocked at PC-1066 specs as well, 64bit Vista, X-Fi audio, WD Raptor 150GB, and a single 4870 512MB. I play 1920x1200 with everything maxed in WOW. 90% of the time, the system is plenty for a solid frame rate, but when I run through Dalaran or Shattrah (where you view probably 25-50 people at one time) my system stutters below 30fps, but not by much. Enabling shadows on my system is what made it this way because if you disable it, it runs everything like gravy and I can run through Shatt/Dal with nearly no drop in fps below the 60fps cap.

Now, it depends on how far you want to go when you say maxed-out settings and whether a dip in the 30fps range is tolerable. Essentially, if you want to play your said resolution with everything maxed, you now know what you at least need to get. If you really want to be 100% stutter-free, get a second graphics card or one that is plenty faster than a 4870.

 

[Sorrows End]

Thank you for the full breakdown of your specs and what kind of results you get.

I knew I would need to make something beefy to run WoW at a solid constant frame rate.

Do you think an nvidia 285 gtx would have enough power or should I go all out for the 295 dual chip card?

 

[yh125d]

GTX285 would be more than plenty


The FPS drop you experience in dalaran, is CPU based, not GPU. I went from a e7200 at stock/9800gt to e7200/GTX260 and gained about 1-2 FPS in dalaran. I went back to the 9800gt but overclocked the e7200 to 3.5gHz and saw about 10-12fps increase. I tried with the overclocked e7200 and GTX and only gained another 2 fps or so. The only way around this is going to be more CPU power. I'd definitely get a fast quad, but I don't think i7 would be needed. if my e7200 clocked to 3.5 can still manage ~35fps in dalaran, then something like a Q9650 even at stock should be above 40fps, which will be plenty smooth

 

[Zap]

1. Which nvidia card can tear WoW up the best at 1900x1080

Probably anything 9800 series and above. I'm using a GTX 260 and get anywhere from 100-260FPS in WoW. My wife's rig with the same card gets around 60-80FPS, even with a more powerful CPU. The reason is she runs a lot of add-ons. We both run windowed mode (I'm 1920x1200, she's 1680x1050). It makes alt-tabbing out a lot quicker, but lowers performance. Maybe your brother doesn't run windowed mode because it is too much a performance hit on his old rig?

Since you have such a huge budget, may as well go for the GTX 285, which is the fastest single GPU card.

2. Which cpu chip can handle running the applications he has up and can handle the constant tabbing between them.

A fast dual core can handle what he does just fine, since you didn't mention if he dual-boxes WoW. E8500 are under $200 and overclock easily. WoW can use two cores, but I don't think it uses more than that. I don't think a couple web pages plus streaming music takes up much CPU cycles.

3. would a SSD drive be better for his system or will the caviar black have better performance.

How about a VelociRaptor? If you really want an SSD, get the Intel branded drive.

4. Will we need to upgrade his network card to handle the amount of information he is going to force it to choke down in 25 man raiding while streaming music and web pages etc.

I haven't heard of any residential broadband that is capable of choking even 10/100 network cards, so unless you believe in the Killer NIC, then just use whatever comes with the motherboard.

Here's a couple potential builds for you, using random pricing. You may get better pricing, or may choose more expensive items.

Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU $190
random ginormous tower heatsink to keep it quiet $50
4GB DDR2-800 $40
decent P45 chipset board from Gigabyte/Asus/etc $120
GTX 285 video card, maybe factory overclocked model $380 (or stock for cheaper)
VelociRaptor 300GB $230
random SATA DVD burner $25
good quality 600W+ PSU $80+ (Corsair, BFG LS/LX, Antec TruePower Trio/Signature, Thermaltake Toughpower, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling)
random decent case $100+ (Antec 902/P180 series, Lian Li, etc)
Vista Home Premium 64-bit $100

Total $1315

For $100 more you can go with a quad core Q9550, or $150 more for Q9650.

Overclock the CPU to 400MHz FSB, leave memory at 800MHz, leave GPU at factory overclock. The CPU should be an "easy" overclock whether you go dual or quad. Don't try pushing for highest overclock if you have to be his tech support. For video may as well just get a factory overclocked model and be done with it.

 

[Krynj]

Your brother has 2 grand just to give out, and he's using that rig still?

 

[Sorrows End]

His pc speaker setup is some hideously ancient beast from tandy. Its that rocking beige color with some wonderfully little speakers on it. It's older than probably half the people that read these boards. =)

 

[TidusZ]

I think a 300gb velociraptor would be great for that system, WoW is big game with lots of swapping no matter how much ram you have.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: TidusZ
I think a 300gb velociraptor would be great for that system, WoW is big game with lots of swapping no matter how much ram you have.

Lots of swapping = bad for SSD

Go VelociRaptor.

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: yh125d
The FPS drop you experience in dalaran, is CPU based, not GPU.

After reading this, I did a little experimenting. I run WOW in full-screen mode (hate on-screen distractions) and so I alt-tabbed and started Task Manager. Core 0 peaked at around 50% CPU use and Core 1 was pretty much pegged at 100% the whole time I ran around in Dalaran. EDIT: Just FYI, core numbers start at 0 and work their way up. So, my quad-core has CPU 0, 1, 2, 3.

I read some other forums and apparently WOW can't really use more than two cores. WOW sees 4 cores (checked the /WTF/Config.wtf file) in my system, but it's not programmed to use them all. I hope they work on this in the future. In the mean time, I get 28-35FPS when I run around in Dalaran and check the rates.

Good information to know when building a custom-WOW computer. Haha! Now the conundrum: do you build a dual-core setup and assume that Blizzard will not accomodate 4-core systems anytime soon or do you go quad and keep high hopes? :Q

 

[Soccerman06]

I have a 920 @ 3.9ghz, 6g ram @ about 1600, dual evga 216 gtx260, and play at 2560x1600 675/1550/1150 with everything maxed (minus shadows) on a full server and during peak hours I sit at 40-45 fps (25-35 max shadow) running laps in daly. With 1 gpu I sit at about 25 fps and can see it drop to 10. WoW doesnt work with xfire as far as I know, but I would say a 285 would be more than enough for 1900x1200 with all the candies on.

 

[Sorrows End]

I see my gaggle of questions has brought all kinds of folks out of the woodwork.

Thank you for all the input so far everyone. =)

 

[kRocket]

I am a tech idiot, play WOW on an older machine than your brother, and am trying to upgrade on a much thinner budget than you. However, because of the turmoil in the tech marketplace right now and the games trying to catch up, I suggest: Put together the best system you can for $1000-$1250 and open a savings account with the other $750-$1000 for future upgrades. The one thing you can be sure of (been in the computer business 35 years and it is still true) is that whatever you buy for him now will be obsolete in a couple of months. As soon as Blizzard get hold of the latest hardware they will begin programming upgrades to WOW and their other games. They probably get hardware and software in alpha testing so you can't stay ahead of them. Keep in mind that Windows 7 comes out later this year and with it DX 11.0 so whatever GPU you buy will probably be obsolete soon. Just my $.02 !

 

[TidusZ]

Most of that's true except for the part about it being hard to keep up with blizzard's tech requirements. Typically blizzard is known for really low req's - I imagine my old pc will handle sc2 and d3 like a champ. It handles WoW like a champ too. You don't really need much.

 

[WildW]

If WoW is really CPU bound and limited to two cores. . . why not a monsterous dual-core CPU overclocked beyond sanity rather than a quad?

It's not like he's going to play anything else. . . . that said I did cure someone of playing WoW once. He such an Eve Online addict now

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: kRocket
I suggest: Put together the best system you can for $1000-$1250 and open a savings account with the other $750-$1000 for future upgrades.

That's actually a really good idea!

Originally posted by: WildW
If WoW is really CPU bound and limited to two cores. . . why not a monsterous dual-core CPU overclocked beyond sanity rather than a quad?

I already suggested that. Well, not the "overclocked beyond sanity" part. Just a nice, strong but stable overclock would do.

 

[Sorrows End]

Alrighty here is what I've put together so far. I'll be ordering this tommorow (2/19) unless there are any major changes needed.

Cpu: i7 920
MB: Asus P6T
Ram: OCZ XMP Ready Series 6g 1600
HD: WD Caviar Black 1TB
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-620HX modular psu
GPU: EVGA GTX 285
OS: Vista Home Premium 64 bit
Case: Antec 1200
Cooler: Xigmatek HDT-S2183 + retention bracket
DVD: Samsung 22x DVD SH-S223Q

If I order this all from Newegg with the combo prices and addons this will also include a copy of CoD:WaW, a usb cable for some odd reason, and a Warcraft novel (this made me laugh). Oh I also added a tube of arctic silver 5 into the mix since my old tube is a solid mass.

Final tally with shipping included: $1670.88

Yay? Nay?