Build For WoW

train · Feb 9, 2014

i've done so much reading my head hurts. i'm 31 starting a new career, and wow is the last game i am playing. my current cpu is a amd phenom ii x6 1055t with a gtx 460. (i just updating the graphics card an option here and calling it a day?)

WoW is having a graphics update for the new expansion, and i want to have a computer that will own it in 25man raids...for the least amount of money. I've read my current cpu is terrible for it because the six cores are worthless for wow because it is single core based.

Would buying the i3 4130 and a quality motherboard and gpu be the way to go or is it an i5 or bust at this point? I play no other games so would wow really benefit from the quad core? i know the new amd fx six core is a great deal, but again wow doesn't benefit a lot from multicores.

Money isn't a problem, but i am not going to buy a i7 just to play wow that's a poor investment imo.

Novuake · Feb 9, 2014

If you are upgrading then going to an I3 will be a side grade, which is kinda pointless.
I would suggest you go for an I5 setup that is capable of overclocking, since CPU clock speed tend to be very helpful in any MMO.

So assuming you have a some of the core components like RAM and HDD etc, the easiest way for us to help you is by filling the below out :

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

NorthernIrish · Feb 9, 2014

to answer your question its really intel i5 or bust right now yes intel is better for single threaded applications such as gaming.
now an intel i5 4670k would be amazing for playing wow http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899
and a motherboard to go with it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128618
gpu wise AMD ati r9 280x is really good http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127759
Nvidia might be a better option though as ati drivers are crap atm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125462
if your from the UK or EU amazon has all these items.

train · Feb 9, 2014

Novuake :

My computer parts are old...

I would need to upgrade mb, cpu, cpu, ram, etc... I have a 650watt corsair tx and a alienware case that i like. I would need to buy os. I don't have a budget, but don't want to spend like 1k to play wow.

willing to overclock

I live in california, and i'm in no hurry to buy.

corssfire not needed (read it does poorly on wow)

I don't need a monitor, just using a 27 inch tv right now.

no preferred website. quieter the better, don't care about bling.

train · Feb 9, 2014

NorthernIrish :

this where i was originally looking but as the price started climbing i started to worry if i was making the right decision just to play an older game....so i began reading. I'm no intel fan boy, but everything i read said for wow it's the best bet.

Novuake · Feb 9, 2014

This would be a solid upgrade.

Now if you want to spend less, then drop to a cheaper I5 and a B85 or H87 chipset board. Since overclocking truly is not a must.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2PWHe
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2PWHe/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2PWHe/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.29 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $699.26
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-09 01:45 EST-0500)

ingtar33 · Feb 9, 2014

WOW is pretty famously a single threaded game. later expansions have increased the threading a bit... but it's still pretty reliant on a fast single core. That PhII x6 is a pretty badass cpu... overclocking the cpu a bit (the sweet point for Thuban was around 4.0ghz) might be all you need to do. if you want to update the video card... I don't know how much you want to spend but a 760 or 660ti would probably be all the gpu you'll need at 1080p.

the pony who posted above me is right too. If you want an upgrade on the cpu as well, going to an overclockable haswell i5 would be a nice step forward. I just am not sure how necessary it is... I hesitate to tell you to go from a fast 6 core to a faster 4 core... just because that 6 core is still pretty badass in the grand scheme of things.

train · Feb 9, 2014

Novuake :

that's actually not bad, i assume my current power supply should be ok with that? i also have a massive after market heat sink...will i be able to xfer that over? I can't remember the harddrive i have, but space isn't an issue for me and i can always upgrade that later if need be and that won't effect wow performance.

when i was looking at parts i think i was looking at the asus hero or something, that mb is perfectly fine?

train · Feb 9, 2014

ingtar33 :

I agree here too, because i currently don't have any issues but i also don't play on max settings. another issue is i am getting random blue screen (like when surfing the web) my friend is saying it's my ram (1333mhz). you think pushing the oc on the 2.8 is a valid solution? i bought it used and the guy has a massive after market heat sink on it aswell as extra fans. it is currently not oc'd. If i got new ram, and upgraded the gpu...would something like a 650 ti boost be ok or would the new 760 etc just be a fat bottle neck on the 2.8 1055t?

I also looked at just straight upgrading to a 1100t cpu, but damn they are still really expensive for an old processor. (my mb can only run the am3 socket or else i would probably just settle for a new fx)

gameboy1998 · Feb 9, 2014

Yes you power supply will be more than enough for this build. Also, this motherboard is perfect its a perfect match with the i5-4670K

Novuake · Feb 9, 2014

train :

I find the Hero very much overpriced. YOu can achieve similar overclocks on the one i linked.

Your current TX650 is more than good enough.

Without knowing the exact Aftermarket cooler you have, I can not confirm if it will work.

train · Feb 9, 2014

Novuake :

train :

I find the Hero very much overpriced. YOu can achieve similar overclocks on the one i linked.

Your current TX650 is more than good enough.

Without knowing the exact Aftermarket cooler you have, I can not confirm if it will work.

good to know.

I forgot which one it is tbh.....will it even be needed? damn computer currently weighs a ton.

Novuake · Feb 9, 2014

For overclocking an aftermarket cooler is a must. But I would suggest you run it on the stock cooler at stock speeds, if you lack performance(which you won't), then add it to the build.

train · Feb 9, 2014

Novuake :

Thanks, if I get new parts it will be those you picked out...a lot cheaper than i thought. I think i was looking at the 2k+ ram kits and why i had the price so much higher...that and the motherboard.

Novuake · Feb 9, 2014

No problem.

Spending more just yields diminishing returns.

Maxor1 · Feb 9, 2014

Personal feeling is you don't really need a new cpu, you should be fine as long as you have at leat 4 gigs of ram, (I would buy new ram if you are pretty sure yours is failing and a 7770 for right around $100 will max out WoW on a single monitor. WoW is only lightly threaded, (it does use some resources from a second and third core for various things but about 85% of the game is on one core) That said your teamspeak or raidcall and all other things can use other cores, so you aren't hurting yourself by having more (save for a slightly higher power bill) so $150 and you should be able to own it with your current monitor set-up and even minor monitor upgrades.

ingtar33 · Feb 9, 2014

train :

well, thuban can overclock. I'm pretty sure if you got it up to 3.8-4.0ghz you'll be able to play your raids on high settings. Trick is PhIIs are crafty beasts to overclock, and rely greatly on your ram and good cooling to do it. (personally i found phIIs to be a lot of fun to overclock because they were so fickle it always felt like you accomplished something great when you reached a new high clock)

Blue screens of death are typically driver issues... though ram can cause it too. Have you run your ram through memtest86 yet?

As for overclocking the PhII know that you'll want your NB to be about x3 the base speed of your ram (if you have ddr3 1333 ram, your rams actual clock speed is 667, so 2000 on the northbridge. turn off Q&C, the HT should never be faster then the nb. so keep it at 2000... since you have to overclock that Thuban with the FSB/CPU Frequency you'll want to turn your ram speed, nb and ht down as slow as they'll go. Then bump the fsb by 10, save, restart, load into windows, if it's alright, restart and add 5 more to the fsb, rince repeat. When it fails to post or load into windows, go into the bios, and up the vcore by .0125V. save and restart. if you have to keep bumping the vcore in those small steps until you get into windows. download hwmonitor and prime95. stress the cpu wiht prime95... if prime95 fails, a core fails, it crashes to the desktop, or the system black screen restarts, add more vcore. keep adding vcore till it can run prime95 and not overheat (60C is about the max the cpu will handle). if you aren't to your desired speed, go back into the bios and bump the FSB another 5, and continue until you reach the clock speed you desire or temps and voltages stop your overclocking (don't put more then 1.55V into the vcore).

now you'll want to bring the ram speed back up to as close to 1333 as you can get it, and the nb/ht back up to as close to 2000 as you can get it. run prime95 one last time. you should be good to go if it will go for 8-12 hours.

WhiteSnake91 · Feb 9, 2014

honestly for wow you really don't need a new cpu and to spend all the money, try overclocking your cpu to about 3.8ghz, lookup some guides on it, your gpu is still probably good enough. You could upgrade to gtx 660ti/ gtx 760 but I'm not even sure that's needed. Wow really isn't that demanding. A gtx 460 is roughly the same as a 7770 too so I wouldn't waste money on that.

is your motherboard a good quality overclockable one though is the question.

Maxor1 · Feb 9, 2014

He honestly shouldn't need a major over clock on the pheonom. Wow just doesn't use that heavy of a computers resources and its all graphics rendering on the newer stuff the engine is tweaked not rewritten. I had a
955 Deneb that was maxing out WoW through lich king in raids. I gave the computer to a friend who is still using it to play on ultra. I don't know what sort of frames he's getting in pandaran areas, but I doubt its that bad. I had it set a 3.8 on a small cheap zelman hitsink that was barely better than stock. Fixing his ram (most ram has a lifetime warrenty) and a video upgrade should be all he needs to be more than playable.

Maxor1 · Feb 9, 2014

You're right on the gtx 460 being comparable, wasn't one of the nvidea cards I recognized right away and I'm more of an ati/amd guy (I'm cheap and play in headphones) looking at the rest of the system it seemed about 4 to 5 years old and middle of the road cost wise so kinda figured he'd see a moderate upgrade on the graphics without research. I'd just check on fixing the ram and maybe a slight overclock. I'd also wonder what he was getting for framerates during the old 50 man raids and see if what he is currently getting on 25 is comparable. if it is then he's not really running into issues with his hardware.

Maxor1 · Feb 9, 2014

I'm also wondering if he isn't having issues with some weird software making his computer unstable/eating resources if its bluescreening during regular browsing. Might be bad drivers might be some sort of malware/datagatherer/what ever. The more I look at his system and what I know about wow, (admittedly a bit out dated) With good clean OS, drivers and his hardware wow should be a dream.

train · Feb 9, 2014

Maxor1 :

i'm using windows 7 64 bit, and since i've had it i haven't gone to any problems sites.....the drivers could be an issue. i have a realtek one that is out of date and i've tried to update but for some reason it's being weird. I have gotten a weird message that says my color scheme is making my computer perform poorly, yet i haven't touched the color scheme.

train · Feb 9, 2014

WhiteSnake91 :

yes, it is. i forgot the model i'll post it later but it the only bad thing is it's old....am3 socket only and 1333mhz ram only.

train · Feb 9, 2014

my motherboard is the m4A88TD-V EVO/USB3

Maxor1 · Feb 9, 2014

That is a decent enough board for overclocking and if I remember right has a really in-depth customization bios. Sounds like you've already got a moderately decent cooler on it. Get the ram replaced, (the board supports overclocking 1333 up to 2000) clean out the dust, and see what a moderate overclock does.

So first step, clean the dust out of the system, then clean the OS (or wipe) fix drivers. TEST the ram. Play your game if that alone gives you the performance you want cool. If not I'd honestly just try what the built in overclock on the motherboard gives you. Play game. If that's good enough don't fiddle. If not manually tweak. If you aren't happy after the manual tweak then look to upgrading, just remember that current top of the line systems will get you only moderately better performance and some of the issues with wow are just inherant to the game engine and internet connections.

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