Budget WoW Rig

[Zallith]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Just WoW, web browsing.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

The lower the better but trying to aim around 600. Tax and shipping are not included.

3) Where do you live?
Ma. 01341

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Motherboard
CPU
GPU
Ram
HD
Case
CD Drive
PSU

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Will not be reusing any parts.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Will not be overclocking

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

22 Inch
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next 2 weeks.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI
support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
Sata 6Gs, maybe USB 3.0

10) Do you alredy have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No.


Currently I am looking at:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor 119.99

ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
104.99

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card 174.99

CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply 59.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL (Have not checked if it is compatible with MB yet) 36.99

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive 59.99

SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - OEM
16.99

COOLER MASTER Gladiator 600 RC-600-KKN1-GP Black SECC Body ; Mesh Front bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
69.99

Windows 7 64 Bit OEM
99.99

Total Cost: 733.91 With what looks like free shipping on newegg.

Looking for any comments about the build.

 

[munkle]

I would suggest a i3 2100 over the x4 955, the i3 is faster unless you are doing encoding and the x4 955 will win out.

Also I would recommend a nvidia card, maybe a gtx 460 or gtx 560 ti. Ati drivers are junk right now.

Also if you can afford it go with a ssd, it helps a ton with wow, your loads will be alot faster and when it actually loads you wont have any textures popping in like you get with a mechanical hdd.

 

[hossdaddy]

I would suggest a i3 2100 over the x4 955, the i3 is faster unless you are doing encoding and the x4 955 will win out.

Also I would recommend a nvidia card, maybe a gtx 460 or gtx 560 ti. Ati drivers are junk right now.

Also if you can afford it go with a ssd, it helps a ton with wow, your loads will be alot faster and when it actually loads you wont have any textures popping in like you get with a mechanical hdd.

really another ATI drivers suck comment?? Get over it, both gpu manufacturers have issues. More often than not its simple mistakes that cause the problem not the drivers. I have and had both kinds for the last 10 yrs and have never had a driver issue with either.

Now on to the build, is the monitor in that budget? You say you arent re-using anything but are going to be using a 22' monitor?

 

[munkle]

really another ATI drivers suck comment?? Get over it, both gpu manufacturers have issues. More often than not its simple mistakes that cause the problem not the drivers. I have and had both kinds for the last 10 yrs and have never had a driver issue with either.

So I should recommend something that bsods every hour and has had driver issues for 5 months of its 9 months being on the market? I own a 6850 and for 4 months they didn't fix driver issues in games (an example starcraft 2 pylons didn't show properly for 4 months), and now on the 11.6 is bsod every hour from the driver. There is nothing to get over, bad drivers make a bad product pretty simple to understand, and I'm not going to recommend a bad product.

 

[hossdaddy]

So I should recommend something that bsods every hour and has had driver issues for 5 months of its 9 months being on the market? I own a 6850 and for 4 months they didn't fix driver issues in games (an example starcraft 2 pylons didn't show properly for 4 months), and now on the 11.6 is bsod every hour from the driver. There is nothing to get over, bad drivers make a bad product pretty simple to understand, and I'm not going to recommend a bad product.

Well then be more specific about your experience, saying that all are bad when you are the exception rather than the rule isn't telling the whole story.

Anyway this can be discussed another thread since it wasn't what the op was looking for.

Give this a whirl Zallith;

Combo: Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz + ASUS P8H67-M LE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 $214.98

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB $174.99 - $20 mir

Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W $69.99 + $2 shipping

Crucial Ballistix sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $26.99 + fs

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower $49.99 + fs

Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner Black SATA $19.99 + fs

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s $39.99 + $2 shipping

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit $99.99 + fs

Total: $696.91 - $20 mir + $12 shipping

 

[munkle]

Well then be more specific about your experience, saying that all are bad when you are the exception rather than the rule isn't telling the whole story.

All what? Their cards aren't bad it's the drivers that are bad, I didn't have one set of drivers that didn't have problems. 11.5 was the best/most stable but there were still little bugs, like every now and then the display port would wig out and be garbley and I would have to unplug the cable and plug it back in this only happened on 11.5. 11.4 had wierd issues with my tv hooked up to my pc at the same time, and every driver all the way back to when the 6850 was released has annoying problems. Their drivers are junk why recommend a product that will have little problems here and there and big problems thrown in with it. Do I really need to explain every little problem I have had with them? I don't think so, maybe you should stop nitpicking.

 

[Markb]

My advice, for what its worth. WOW is really the only reason I have a desktop anymore, and hardware has been discussed amongst the guild regularly.

go for the i3 2100, for same reasons as above.

I run os and wow off an ssd drive, the difference is astounding.

As for the nvidia vs amd graphics, I run an ati 6950 2gb, overkill but it was of those too good to pass up deals, but I have not had a single issue with drivers or updates. That being said, most people stick with the nvidia cards due to the rumor of Blizz prefering nvidia.

 

[Zallith]

So it looks like I can remove an OS from the budget. I have the key from my last build, which was an nvidia gtx460 and I5 760 build. The gtx 460 gave me tons of issues, thus i prefer AMD. With the OS gone i can probably swing an I5. Any suggestions?

 

[Mr34727]

Ati drivers are junk right now.

Hmm...Of the 8 ATI cards I own and service, none are having issues with 11.6....

To the OP-
You have a 64 bit 7/vista lisence? No KB/Mouse/Speakers/LCD Needed?

What rez is your LCD?

Let's see what we can build you!

 

[Zallith]

I have an LED monitor i run everything at 1080p dont really want to go for better. I have KB mouse etc

 

[ThirdLeft152]

I'd go with the i3 2100 as well, and keep that gtx 460 if you still have it. No idea what kinds of issues you have been having with it, but i personally have three gtx 460s right now that are running flawlessly. I have never had a single problem with any of the tens to hundreds of nvidia cards i have purchased or have suggested for friends, family, and clients. Its all personal preference though, i prefer nvidia as i do a lot with CUDA and folding. Also i dont know if you care about power consumption or heat or anything like that but the i3 is going to be way more efficient, the air circulation in my house is very particular and there is a serious difference in the amount of heat that is produced in my office between my i3-550 and my II X4 640, or even my i7-920 (Under-volted) which is going to be roughly equivalent to the II x4 955.

 

[wwischerath]

So it looks like I can remove an OS from the budget. I have the key from my last build, which was an nvidia gtx460 and I5 760 build. The gtx 460 gave me tons of issues, thus i prefer AMD. With the OS gone i can probably swing an I5. Any suggestions?

You wont notice any difference in your gaming with the i5 over the i3. I wish I kept my excitement over my build a little more contained and gone with an i3. For 99% of what I use the PC for, an i3 would have been perfect.

 

[Zallith]

I was under the impression that WoW was designed now to run on a quad core and not a dual core? Thus I assumed an I3 would not work for that.

 

[ThirdLeft152]

I was under the impression that WoW was designed now to run on a quad core and not a dual core? Thus I assumed an I3 would not work for that.

They have probably added multi-threaded support to the game which will utilize as many cores or threads as you can give it. The i3 is hyper threaded dual-core which gives you 4 logical cores or has 4 threads. Believe me though you are not going to see a significant increase in performance by going with anything higher than an i3, unless you plan on playing WoW, listening to music, folding, and doing some other BS in the background. You'd do more good with putting that money towards a better gpu or even that SSD someone mentioned earlier.

 

[dhc014]

I was under the impression that WoW was designed now to run on a quad core and not a dual core? Thus I assumed an I3 would not work for that.

No, it's designed for dual-core.