New build for WoW $700ish

M

ms9500

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Apr 15, 2014
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13
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
WoW - this is the only game I play and the reason for this build. Will lightly use it for @ home work use (mainly MS office, RDP, web browsing)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$700ish, little flexible not to exceed $900
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
USA, Asheville, North Carolina
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, case, power supply, ram (8GB minimum), storage: SSD (256 is fine) for OS and apps, hdd for storage, video card, optical drive, gigabit ethernet card, wireless network adapter
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None, building from ground up
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Two Dell 24" 1920x1200
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Prefer USB 3
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes Win7x64


THANKS!!!
 
I need to update my PCPartpicker builds, so right now I'm just going to do it the old fashioned way:
i3 4130-$125
Cheapest 750Ti-$150
GIGABYTE GA-Z87N-WIFI-$125
Cooler Master Elite 130-$50
Corsair CX500M-$50
Cheapest 2 x 4 GB 1600MHz kit by Corsair, G.Skill, or Kingston at the time you buy-about $70
SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW 2.5" 250GB-$155
LG, Samsung, or ASUS DVD ROM (any)-$20
Board has ethernet and WiFi-$0

I think you are overkilling with 8GB RAM. 4GB would do just fine. I have a rig that's 3 times as powerful as this with 4GB, and it does everything maxed except Planetside 2, which a 750Ti can't do anyways.

BTW, the GPU is probably overkill. You could probably max WoW with a R7 260 or 750, but a 750 Ti is only $30 more, and if you ever want to play other more intensive games, the 750 Ti will handle them much better.
 
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I think 8GB of RAM is justified because it can be easy to hit 5 GB usage just by opening browser tabs. That build looks good though.
 
I recommend this build instead:
$120 - Intel Core i3-4130 CPU
$80 - MSI B85-G41 PC MATE Intel B85 ATX Motherboard
$65 - Kingston HyperX Blu B0057Q4ADU 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$185 - XFX R9270ACNFC R9 270 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$154 - Samsung 840 Evo Series 250GB SSD
$21 - Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$60 - Seasonic G Series SSR-360GP 360W PSU
$60 - Corsair Carbide Series 200R ATX Case
$30 - Asus PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter
---
Total: $775 plus tax and shipping.

Yes my setup does cost $30 more but it's justified IMO:
- I personally don't trust any Corsair PSU models with the -M modifier in the name. Adding modular cables to a PSU will always increase the price of the PSU. So the fact that the CX500M costs the same as the non-modular CX500 means that the CX500M has to be made of lower quality materials and therefore has lower performance. That's how Corsair is able to make the CX500M match the CX500 in pricing. In addition, the recents reviews of Corsair's latest PSU lineups have started to make make me less inclined to recommend a lot of Corsair PSUs. Hence the Seasonic: It's a major step-up in quality over the CX500M and is still more than enough power for the planned setup.

For the curious, the only Corsair PSUs I would keep on recommending these days would be the CX 430 V2 (or the CX500 if it costs the same as the CX430 V2) or any of Corsair's AX PSUs. The HX line is a maybe from me mainly due to their pricing: Often times you can find a better PSU in the price range of the HX lines, like Corsair's own AX lines for example :)

- The biggest change though is the GPU: From what I can tell, it looks like the next WoW expansion pack, Warloards of Draenor, is going to have to better quality/higher resolution models. So I don't think the 750 Ti is going to cut it. Hence the increase to the faster R9 270.

- I generally don't like onboard wifi solutions since if they fail, you'd have to send in the whole mobo for repair. I mean, if one part on the mobo is going bad, there's an even greater chance that something else will fail on the motherboard. At least with a dedicated wifi adapter, you can just send it in as is.

- That case has mounts for SSDs and will provide better cooling IMO for that R9 270 card.

I too would also recommend keeping 8GB of RAM. The pricing on 4GB of RAM just isn't good.
 
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What hdd do you recommend? I am definitely going with Samsung EVO for my boot and program files but still need something for other data. Thanks
 
M does on crease price, but the obvious advantage is modular. Spend $15 more, get better airflow and looks.

Also you chose a bigger case for pretty much no reason whatsoever. If all OPs doing is WoW then no extra expansion is necessary. A Mini ITX system will just be easier to move around and put in a small spot.

I like the idea of a 270, if OP can afford I highly recommend it. But, I can almost guarantee you will be able to max out even the new expansion with a 750 Ti, unless it will be more intensive then BF4 on high with no AA (which is what a 750 Ti can do).

If the board's wifi goes out, just get a USB WiFi card. Pointless to get another board just because there is a highly unlikely chance of the WiFi dying.

BTW, I would also recommend getting a Pentium G3220 over an i3 for WoW (in the build I listed, or Dangman's). The only thing a i3 adds is a better clock and Hyper-Threading, neither of which WoW will really benefit from. You can save $50 by doing this. Remember, this isn't the crappy Pentium of old. It has amazing performance for the price. It's almost what I would call a hidden gem.


For HDD, I am very happy with WD10EZEX (1 TB, 7200 RPM). Or for the same price, you could get a Caviar Green (5400 RPM) 2 TB.
 
I would recommend Dangman's setup pretty much to a tee. However, I am interested in the reviews on which made him change his mind on the Corsair PSU CX line-up.
 
ms9500 said:
What hdd do you recommend? I am definitely going with Samsung EVO for my boot and program files but still need something for other data. Thanks
Click to expand...
My personal cheap storage drives choices would be these:
$55 - Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$85 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive


PCunicorn said:
M does on crease price, but the obvious advantage is modular. Spend $15 more, get better airflow and looks.
Click to expand...
I have been a supporter of modular cables for quite some time. So the advantage is not lost on me. However, that advantage is completely overshadowed by the significantly lower quality. As such, I cannot recommend a lower quality modular PSU over a higher quality non-modular PSU.

PCunicorn said:
Also you chose a bigger case for pretty much no reason whatsoever. If all OPs doing is WoW then no extra expansion is necessary. A Mini ITX system will just be easier to move around and put in a small spot.
Click to expand...
I went with a bigger case since it could fit my choice of motherboard. It also allowed me to save $11 over your planned seutp which I then used towards the higher-end video card. With that said, your case and mobo choices are mostly fine if the OP wants something smaller and doesn't plan on doing any sort of expansion.

PCunicorn said:
I like the idea of a 270, if OP can afford I highly recommend it. But, I can almost guarantee you will be able to max out even the new expansion with a 750 Ti, unless it will be more intensive then BF4 on high with no AA (which is what a 750 Ti can do).
Click to expand...
Considering how long WoW has been running, it wouldn't really surprise me if Blizzard decides to do another graphical update for it in the future. WoW has gotten multiple graphic updates since it was first launched all those years ago.
PCunicorn said:
If the board's wifi goes out, just get a USB WiFi card. Pointless to get another board just because there is a highly unlikely chance of the WiFi dying.
Click to expand...
Nonetheless, if the onboard wifi dies, there's a good chance that something else will die. Plus a USB wifi is nowhere near as good as a PCI-E or even onboard wifi setups since the vast majority of them don't have long antennas.

PCunicorn said:
BTW, I would also recommend getting a Pentium G3220 over an i3 for WoW (in the build I listed, or Dangman's). The only thing a i3 adds is a better clock and Hyper-Threading, neither of which WoW will really benefit from. You can save $50 by doing this. Remember, this isn't the crappy Pentium of old. It has amazing performance for the price. It's almost what I would call a hidden gem.
Click to expand...
The reason why I would recommend The Core i3 4130 is because the HT will help alleviate multi-tasking situations that many people these days do a lot more of with their PCs. Not to mention that it's generally harder and more expensive these days to upgrade your CPU. As such, I'd rather recommend the fastest bang for the buck CPU possible. In this case, it's the Core i3 4130 IMO. If one can't afford anything better, yes the Pentium G3220 is an excellent choice.

chibe said:
I would recommend Dangman's setup pretty much to a tee. However, I am interested in the reviews on which made him change his mind on the Corsair PSU CX line-up.
Click to expand...
Well, most of the CX PSUs above the $55 to $60 mark are just overpriced for the quality you're getting. There are often far far better quality PSUs in the price range of those higher wattage CX PSUs. Not to mention if you need the large wattage provided by some of the larger wattage CX PSUs, that would mean that you're powering something rather power hungry and more than likely expensive. So why risk that on a lower quality PSU?

As for my dislike of the -M series of Corsair PSUs, this HardOCP review is the main reason:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012...ies_modular_power_supply_review/#.U08w3vldVWx

This recent HardOCP review of the latest -M series PSUs further reinforces my dislike of the -M series:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/01/15/corsair_cs550m_550w_power_supply_review/#.U08wxPldVWw
 
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In addition, the recents reviews of Corsair's latest PSU lineups have started to make make me less inclined to recommend a lot of Corsair PSUs.
Click to expand...

This is the part I was talking about. I am interested in seeing those reviews, mostly the lower end. Since I have always seen you recommend the CX-430. I also agree that the -M series are a pile of crap.
 
Thanks everyone for your suggestions, greatly appreciated. Now I am going to go spend some money!
 
ms9500 said:
Thanks everyone for your suggestions, greatly appreciated. Now I am going to go spend some money!
Click to expand...

Please post a parts list before you buy so that we can double check if there are any potential problems in the build.
 
OK so I have found a way to increase my budget and have determined I am better off designing this machine for work and play. I need to set myself up for more work at home which means a fewVM's for labs and testing and normal work (I am in the IT industry - administering servers, switches, AD, etc). I don't want to overdo it (which I have a habit of doing, being in this industry) which is why I am asking for advice here. However with that said, I would like the option of expansion and having the avail. resources when I need them.

I would like to get the Intel Core i7-4770K, could probably get away with an i5, really comes down to how much I allow myself to spend (I mean, I would like hyper-threading but can get way w/out it). For $1300, what do you all recommend? I prefer a fairly quiet case.

thanks!!!
 
How soon can you buy the parts? I ask because there's a few Easter Sunday only sales that looks mighty tempting.

EDIT: What edition of Windows 7 do you have? Pro? Home Premium? Ult? etc.
 
Do you know how CPU intensive your VM's are? If they are not very intensive, you are better off going with an i5 and upgrading to a high endurance SSD with better IO consistency like the Sandisk Extreme II or Intel S3500 (or 730 if no encryption).

edit: I think your new budget should allow the i7 with an SSD upgrade
 
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@Dangman - I can buy the parts today! Win7 Pro.

@rastaban - VM's are going to be like a few Windows Server 08/12 builds and Win7 Pro. I can see running 2-3 at once when I am doing work stuff. When I am gaming, all that will be running is native Win7 Pro and WoW.
 
$310 - Intel Core i7-4770K CPU
$126 - AsRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer Intel Z87 Motherboard
$130 - 2 x Kingston HyperX Blu KHX1600C10D3B1/8G 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$200 - MSI R9 270X GAMING 2G Radeon R9 270X 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$154 - Samsung 840 Evo Series 250GB SSD
$85 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$21 - Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU
$30 - Asus PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter
$32 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo HSF
---
Total: $1168 shipped.

As for the case, I recommend these low noise cases:
$112 - Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White ATX Case
$112 - Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl ATX Case
$114 - Fractal Design Define R4 Titanium Grey ATX Case
$110 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
 
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If you're running VMs then the -K CPUs may not be for you as they lack VT-d.
 
Dangman said:
$310 - Intel Core i7-4770K CPU
$126 - AsRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer Intel Z87 Motherboard
$130 - 2 x Kingston HyperX Blu KHX1600C10D3B1/8G 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$200 - MSI R9 270X GAMING 2G Radeon R9 270X 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$154 - Samsung 840 Evo Series 250GB SSD
$85 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$21 - Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU
$30 - Asus PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter
$32 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo HSF
---
Total: $1168 shipped.

As for the case, I recommend these low noise cases:
$112 - Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White ATX Case
$112 - Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl ATX Case
$114 - Fractal Design Define R4 Titanium Grey ATX Case
$110 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
Click to expand...
Are any of these parts only on sale today? Thanks!!
 
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ms9500 said:
@rastaban - VM's are going to be like a few Windows Server 08/12 builds and Win7 Pro. I can see running 2-3 at once when I am doing work stuff. When I am gaming, all that will be running is native Win7 Pro and WoW.
Click to expand...

You should check your current CPU load when running 3 VMs and playing WoW. If you're consistently operating under 30% load, I'd just get an i5. You will see bigger returns on a higher quality SSD. VM's tend to be IO intensive so it would be a bad idea to use a low endurance drive like the 840 Evo. In addition, when under heavy sustained IO, the 840 Pro, Sandisk Extreme II, and Intel S3500 will maintain more consistent performance with minimal intermittent drops in speed.
 
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@ Rastaban - yes I plan on storing all the VMs except one on the hdd. Thanks for the input!
 
Dangman said:
He could always just keep some of the VMs on the regular hard drive. Not all VMs needs to be stored on a SSD.
Click to expand...

That's true, but I have a feeling 3 simultaneous VM's will still run faster on a good SSD than a single VM on a spinner.
 
Dangman said:
$310 - Intel Core i7-4770K CPU
$126 - AsRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer Intel Z87 Motherboard
$130 - 2 x Kingston HyperX Blu KHX1600C10D3B1/8G 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$200 - MSI R9 270X GAMING 2G Radeon R9 270X 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$154 - Samsung 840 Evo Series 250GB SSD
$85 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$21 - Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU
$30 - Asus PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter
$32 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo HSF
---
Total: $1168 shipped.

As for the case, I recommend these low noise cases:
$112 - Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White ATX Case
$112 - Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl ATX Case
$114 - Fractal Design Define R4 Titanium Grey ATX Case
$110 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
Click to expand...
@Dangman - ordered your recommended build, only exception is on video card I got VGA EVGA|02G-P4-2765-KR GTX 760 2G. For the case I got the Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl ATX Case. Also, I added a Bluetooth card. I appreciate everyone's advice, very much anticipating the arrival, last bit of it should be here Thursday.
 
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