Recommend: Budget PC for Warcraft 3

M

Morazl

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 13, 2003
Messages
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Looking to spend as little as possible, no real budget but I would like to build this PC for a friend who plays Warcraft 3 and is used to a crappy graphics card/cpu (I think he's on a 1.7tbird with an old 32-64mb video card... (System is like 6-7 years old and finally bit the dust)

Anyway SFF is an option, is the integrated graphics on the SFF (Shuttle) up to date enough to run Warcraft 3 at 1024x768 with medium/low settings? If so, that should suffice.

Don't need a monitor, looking to go with a low end core-2 with at least 1GB of RAM (2GB shouldn't cost that much more and may be worth getting).

Did I miss anything?
 
Is he planning on doing any other gaming? If so, a build can be made pretty cheaply that would accomodate more than just War3. If not, I'm not positive integrated graphics would be enough.
 
Nope, he only plays War3.

He said he'd go up to 500$ so that's a really nice War3 budget i'll say.
 
I'll link you the build I was fooling around with for a friend looking for something cheap:

Mobo - Foxconn - $66
CPU - AMD X2 5000 - $59
PSU - Antec - $50 (On sale, get it while it lasts)
RAM - 2GB G. Skill - $35
Vid Card - Sapphire HD 3870 - $105
HD - WD 640gb - $70

Total - $385

I went AMD because they can be had for cheaper, and he doesn't REALLY need a Core 2 for Warcraft 3. This leaves about $100 to play with, depending on what he still may need (Case?). You could always bump up to this Sapphire 4850 for $155 ($50 more).
 
He could also get some nice used parts from the FS/FT forum. ;)
 
Danny Bui said:
Yes. That Sticky in General Hardware marked "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST".

Please answer those questions or we cannot help you better
Click to expand...

I see most of those in his OP. The only thing that's not there is location, but unless he's out of the U.S., it doesn't matter.
 
joeshmo1985 said:
I see most of those in his OP. The only thing that's not there is location, but unless he's out of the U.S., it doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

I don't see:
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Click to expand...
 
Resolution is listed, so the size of the monitor does not matter.

He said the budget was $500. Tax and shipping are, for the most part, negligible, and won't affect the total price of the build in a meaningful way. Generally, when people list a budget, it's all-inclusive.

Using the build exclusively for warcraft 3, it's safe to assume his friend does not need SLI or crossfire support.

Given the lower budget, overclocking has little bearing on the choices, as the "monster overclockers" are generally out of this price range.
 
Assume... ass u me... assume...

Tax and shipping for a $500 build can be up to $72+, which could make or break the build.

... no sli/cf support, but what other mobo options does he need?

An E5200 can reach 3.6Ghz... thats a monster OC compared to what an X2 5000+ can do, IMO.
 
There's a difference between a vague assumption and an almost certainty. With a $500 budget and ONLY playing warcraft 3, can you honestly tell me there's even a possibility anyone would say they need SLI support? I thought not.

It'd be great if we could keep on topic and help the OP instead of being insulting and yelling at people for not posting a detailed list to answer the sticky "20 questions" game.
 
joeshmo1985 said:
Resolution is listed, so the size of the monitor does not matter.

He said the budget was $500. Tax and shipping are, for the most part, negligible, and won't affect the total price of the build in a meaningful way. Generally, when people list a budget, it's all-inclusive.

Using the build exclusively for warcraft 3, it's safe to assume his friend does not need SLI or crossfire support.

Given the lower budget, overclocking has little bearing on the choices, as the "monster overclockers" are generally out of this price range.
Click to expand...

Size of monitor does matter since for all we know, his max resolution is 1280x1024 or higher. Still good info to know nonetheless

Actually tax, if he lives in CA, TN, or NJ does play affect the total price of the build in a meaningful way. ~$40 in tax on a $500 PC in CA is quite a bit of money for many people.

True, more than likely he won't need SLI or CF support. But he might need legacy ports, IDE, firewire, etc.

Overclocking does have a bearing since it tells us whether or not a HSF should be added to the build. And there are budget overclockers out there.

I was not insulting or yelling at the OP for not answering the questions. The title of that sticky is in caps so had to make sure he figured out which thread I was talking about. Did not mean to sound like I was insulting or yelling at the OP.
 
joeshmo1985 said:
... It'd be great if we could keep on topic and help the OP instead of being insulting and yelling at people for not posting a detailed list to answer the sticky "20 questions" game.
Click to expand...

We're on topic, its all about the OP's build. Nobody's yelling. We're asking questions to help him better.

Stop assuming and let us ask and let him answer if he hasn't already. What is so hard about this?

There aren't 20 questions in that sticky, there are 9 basic questions.
 
enginurd said:
We're on topic, its all about the OP's build. Nobody's yelling. We're asking questions to help him better.

Stop assuming and let us ask and let him answer if he hasn't already. What is so hard about this?

There aren't 20 questions in that sticky, there are 9 basic questions.
Click to expand...


Your assume post was on topic before you edited the crap out of it?:rolleyes: I know there aren't 20 questions, hence the quotes and sarcasm. 20 questions was a game. I'm surprised nobody has heard of it.

And OP is from Illinois, according to his profile, so no tax.
 
Anyway OP, assuming that those are all the parts you need, joeshmo1985's AMD build is a good start. Though for just $10 more, you can get 4GB of RAM. Yes it is overkill for WC3 but never know when that extra RAM will come in handy:
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $45

Even if you're unsure about the rest of those parts, get the PSU at least. For $50 that is a steal and the deal won't last long. So feel free to go ahead and buy the PSU first ASAP.
 
Danny Bui said:
Even if you're unsure about the rest of those parts, get the PSU at least. For $50 that is a steal and the deal won't last long. So feel free to go ahead and buy the PSU first ASAP.
Click to expand...

QFT, deal is over after tomorrow I believe.

An intel build could be had as well, but it would probably cost $40+ more. For a build almost exclusively for warcraft 3, I figured your friend would want to keep the budget as low as possible.
 
Sorry for any confusion I may have caused, to answer the above questions:

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? 500$ tax is NA in IL. Price includes shipping.
6) Will you be overclocking? No
7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have? Something under 20inches. Resolution won't exceed 1280x1024 as far as I know .
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? I would like to have this built sometime this december.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
 
What about O/S?, Case, HDD, Optical Drive? I'm assuming he needs everything on the PC?
 
Does he need an OS?
If so, is he a college student?
Does he need any legacy ports or firewire for any (old) peripherals?
Are you near the Fry's Electronics in IL?
 
Hmm.. no O/S included and I hope he has a copy. I would go with this:

Case - Antec Sonata case with Antec Earthwatts 500 PS for $75 w/free shipping
CPU - Intel Core 2 E5200 for $75 w/free shipping
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-EP43 DS3L for $80 w/free shipping
RAM - OCZ Fatal1ty 4gig DDR2 800 for $43 w/free shipping
Video - EVGA Geforce 9600GT 512Mb for $90($20 MIR) w/free shipping
HDD - WD 6400AAKS 640gig for $70 w/free shipping
Optical Drive - Samsung 22X SATA DVD burner for $25 w/free shipping

Boom --> $458 kick ass under $500 build! LoL
 
X2 4850e
GA-MA78GM-S2H
No discrete video card
Antec Earthwatts EA430
2x1GB Corsair ValueSelect
WD640AAKS

WC3 does not tax your system enough to require dedicated graphics. I was able to run it on all-max, Windowed Mode with Vista Aero on, 1280x1024 resolution on an Intel G35 board - and we all know how bad Intel integrated graphics are. Even 780g should be overkill. He DEFINITELY does not need a HD3870.
 
AVT, you're correct in saying that the OP doesn't need an HD3870 (or a 9600GT). But, it's generally not a good idea to build a computer that's designed around one particular game. HardwareGuru's build is a good rig that's capable of not only playing WC3 but also some of today's games as well. This rig can also be easily overclocked, which can "extend" its lifespan (should the OP decide to keep this build for more than a year).
 
Warcraft 3 a 780G with integrated video is more than enough. Gigabyte MA78GM-S2h can be overclocked to 900MHz core from 500MHz. Happy friend of mine says I am right.
 
tiraides said:
AVT, you're correct in saying that the OP doesn't need an HD3870 (or a 9600GT). But, it's generally not a good idea to build a computer that's designed around one particular game. HardwareGuru's build is a good rig that's capable of not only playing WC3 but also some of today's games as well. This rig can also be easily overclocked, which can "extend" its lifespan (should the OP decide to keep this build for more than a year).
Click to expand...

If the guy's only doing web browsing and WC3 (presumably DotA), I'd say it'd be safe to assume that since he's not playing any of today's games today, he won't be playing any anytime soon.

If he decides to, he'll need an entire new PC regardless of what he gets - at least at the current budget.
 
And if WC3 is the only game played, anything else would just be a waste of money. This sounds like exactly what I did earlier this year where I built a computer that can just WC3 it up, MSN, Office and not go to hell when switching windows.Ifs and buts should be killed from the equation; just deal with the situation at hand. You guys suggest too much for some people's needs.
 
Hell, my $350 Acer Aspire One netbook plays War3 @1280x1024 connected to an external monitor with most of the settings maxed. Get one of those, he can take it with him, lol.
 
Funny, I thought getting a decent computer built for around $450 was a steal... :rolleyes:

Why not spend the extra $50+ if it adds another year of usability from it? And why limit yourself to playing just one game?
 
Yup. Justification for the build I posted earlier

1. Can run WOW max settings at 1280 x 1024. Check!

2. Meets the budget of under $500. It does, all items include free shipping. Check!

3. Offer bang for the buck performance, yup! Good prices on all the items listed. Check!

4. Able to play current/future games and accommodate Windows Vista 64bit O/S. Yup, 4gigs RAM for Vista 64 plus, a 9600GT is still decent for a 1280 x 1024 resolution. I have an 8800GT which is a little faster than a 9600GT and I don't play any games lower than 1440 x 900. This includes: Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Stalker, GOW, UT3, Rainbow 6 Vegas, Turok, COD4. Paired with 2gig DDR2 667 ram and a Q6600 stock. Check!

5. Ability to upgrade? Still can pop in a Quad cpu when more applications utilize and take advantage of multicore cpu, still can O/C the E5200 cpu as well. Check!

6. Will your friend be satisfied with his $500 budget. Yup! I think so, the fact that it is actually more than enough for WOW and the fact it can play other games right now, your friend won't feel bummed if he decides to want to play another game other than WOW. If you get a system that's only good for WOW and he wants to try another game that's more GPU intensive, he will ask you: "Hey, can this computer play Fallout 3?" If you got him a lower end build, you can only tell him: "Sorry, this build I configured is only good for WOW because I thought that's all you wanted to play. Your friend will say: "What? Awww...junk! You're saying I have to upgrade again just to play this other game?"
 
Well, at a current budget of $500, he gets a very capable system. If he strictly wants WC3 only, get used and save a TON of money, or get a netbook, as mentioned earlier.
 
enginurd said:
Does he need an OS?
If so, is he a college student?
Does he need any legacy ports or firewire for any (old) peripherals?
Are you near the Fry's Electronics in IL?
Click to expand...

No need for OS.
No need for legacy.
Don't want to buy in-store, 10.25% sales tax in Chicago.
 
That is like overkill for WC3, hardwareguru, ha. Its a great game but he really needs to find some other new games lol.
 
$350 Acer Netbook. Hmm.. let me beat that price. Hehe

Cpu - Intel Celeron 430 Conroe-L 1.8ghz $40 w/free shipping
Mobo - MSI G31M3-L G31chipset mobo for $47
Ram - G. Skill 2GB DDR2 667mhz (2x1gig) for $25
Video - BFG Geforce 7300GT 512MB for $45 w/free shipping
Hdd - Hitachi 320gig Sata for $50 w/free shipping
Optical - Lite On 20X Sata DVD burner for $22 w/free shipping
Cas/psu - $70 Antec NSK4480B with Antec Earthwatts 380W for $70 w/free shipping

Total: $299 before shipping
 
Why not just fix the T-Bird system? If it was enough for him, then it should do fine.
 
gamerx11 said:
That is like overkill for WC3, hardwareguru, ha. Its a great game but he really needs to find some other new games lol.
Click to expand...

What's wrong with WC3? That shit has massive replay value, only game that beats it in high school trash talk is WHOA.
 
Not to be disrespectful, but am I the only one who finds it hilarious that someone is building a computer simply for warcraft 3? A game from like 8 years ago?
 
tiraides said:
Funny, I thought getting a decent computer built for around $450 was a steal... :rolleyes:

Why not spend the extra $50+ if it adds another year of usability from it? And why limit yourself to playing just one game?
Click to expand...

QFT. The savings of getting integrated graphics are $100 at best. Definitely worth it for that massive of an upgrade.
 
I have to agree with HardwareGuru on this one because:

1) Playing anything on a notebook sucks

2) For $150 more you get an awesome system instead of a very basic system
 
Thanks for you input, all.

Now everything has changed. I need to build the BEST computer I can (Starcraft 2 playable) for 500$, budget includes shipping.

Please recommend.
 
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