WoW is actually pretty intensive when you get into big raids, especially since the engine isn't optimized for shit. If by "NO lag," he means high framerates absolutely all the time, then you need a pretty stacked rig, like $800-$1k.
Aside: WoW players don't know WTF lag is BTW. They think it is framerate instead of network latency. Anywho...
However, if by "NO lag," he really means, "a lot less lag than my POS Dell Inspiron with an Intel GMA", then what Axon suggested would be good.
My current comp is 5 years old, i played WoW at 1920x1080 everything max with shadows, decent frame rates during raids/arena, only dalaran took me down to like 10-15, otherwise 30-40.
I really doubt you need $800-1k to play WoW on max with shadows, $400-500
LOL. Reading comprehension fail. Please read my post again.
My i7 860 w/ GTX 260, 8GB of DDR3 1600, and an OCZ Agility 120GB gets nowhere near what I would call "NO lag" (i.e. >60 fps at all times). I have no doubt that a $500 machine will give you the performance you describe, but that's hardly what I would call "NO lag". I in fact suggested that the $425 machine Axon described would probably do fine for what the OP's friend probably meant instead of what the friend actually said.
I have a silly definition of "play WOW beautifully with NO lag"? Where have you been? The standard for perfect FPS has been 60 minimum ever since 3D games started appearing.:/
You have a silly definition of no lag, but okay. >60 fps with a $500 machine will be achievable, you'll drop to 30-40 in dalaran. Otherwise ya, no lag. I actually have no idea where you drop below 60 fps other than dalaran, my garbage 5 year old comp was 30-40 everywhere, but dalaran and that includes all the raids.
Anyways no point talking about it when OP didn't post resolution.
"LOL. Reading comprehension fail."
Manners please.
I have a silly definition of "play WOW beautifully with NO lag"? Where have you been? The standard for perfect FPS has been 60 minimum ever since 3D games started appearing.
Sorry, your statement about FPS is just plain wrong. I posted the exact specs of a machine that cannot get >60FPS at all time. Such a machine would probably cost >$1k if you bought today, but I was being conservative.
Sorry, I don't appreciate people posting comments that clearly reflect that they haven't read the OP or put the slightest bit of thought into the thread. Frankly, it's not helpful in the slightest, and quite rude to the OP. I however, gave a well reasoned response that even took into account the typical mentality of WoW players. (See, two can play at the snark game.)
WHERE are you dropping below 60 fps exactly (dalaran doesn't count) and what res do you play at :/
I play at 1920x1200 w/ all Ultra (incl. shadows) and 4x AA. I see drops in 25-man Uld vs. most bosses (esp. FL). Basically anywhere where you've got 25 players worth of spell effects going.
WoW is an especially annoying game to optimize for since it is GPU-bound at some times and CPU-bound at others. Raids are generally more GPU-bound whereas big cities (Dal) are more CPU bound. Thus, to fulfill the OP's requirement of high FPS at all times ("NO lag"), you need a pretty decent CPU and GPU.
Something sounds wrong here, what did you drop to exactly? :/
If you went below 60 fps with your rig that is really shocking, I ran at same settings with a 5 year old pc and in all raids 30-40.
Wouldn't an i3 or i5 dual core be preferable to the athlon x3? I don't think wow scales beyond two cores.