Reccomended CUP/mobo combo for World of Warcraft

I am looking to build a new gaming system for myself for gaming, and while I mainly only play world of Warcraft, I would like to build it out to be able to handle some of the higher end games coming out lately as well if I get around to them.

I am looking to run dual video cards as SLI, but am not sure what the best CPU/Mobo combo would be for a system like that.

Really depends on your budget and how much you're willing to spend. A good CPU/mobo combo to run Crossfire is going to run you at least $310 and that's not counting the 2 graphic cards. SLI is cheaper, but some people are still having problems with the Nvidia chipsets. You may want to go with a single card solution using a high end graphics card. Give us an idea of your budget, what resolution you're gaming at and folks can give more information.

In fact you can do the above with a 8800gt now and still come under $500

You should select the size of your CUP based on how much caffeine is in your beverage of choice, and how late you think your gaming sessions will run.
Unless you're wanting to spend money for the sake of spending money, get just one HD4850 or HD4870.

+2

Oh beverage cup....I was thinking...man WoW has gotten pretty violent if you have to wear a CUP to play it!

Go big. Go bold. Go 4970x2 when it comes out. Big winner. Huge fps plus more.. I want it so badly. It has a bag of lucky charms in it but we don't know what flavor it is or shape.

Personal experience has told me that an nvidia 8600 GTS can't run WoW at full settings in 1920x1200 (even without AA and AF). Not sure why all the crossfire recommendations are popping up, I'd personally say just pick up an 8800 GT 512mb, it'll make WoW happy and stands up pretty nicely for current games too, just don't expect to max out settings in newer or more graphically intensive games.

As for CPU, a Core 2 Duo of at least 2.4 GHz will be more than enough (I personally don't recommend any c2d below 2.4, because it's not worth it), throw in 2-4gb RAM depending on what OS you're running, get a motherboard that holds everything you've gotten, and enjoy!

Oh, and if, like me, you're an addon-aholic, think about a RAID setup just to bring down those load times a fair bit. If you're talking budget though, no need for it.

wow.....lots of replies in such a short time. Thank you all.

And I saw some people asking what res I run at and the like, so here is a little more infor that may help with things.


Right now I have a LG 22" widescreen that I love ( I know there are bigger now, but I was one of the first people to get one when they came out)....and I try to run my current Radeon X1300 at max res which is like 1600xwhatever.....I really dont want to lower res just to get higher fps though.

I honestly dont know what crossfire is that I have seen mentioned. I do know that I really don't like ATI cards all that much and have preferred nVidia cards in the past, which is why I was looking into SLI setups and mobo's that can handle it.

I saw someone mention on another forum a mobo by DPI or something like that......and while I may primarily play Warcraft, I don't want to limit myself to just that. I do occassionally play other games as they come out, and want to build something that won't be obsolete in like 3 days. So any advice on mobo/cpu combo's are greatly appreciated.

First!

My current config handles Age of Conan quite nicely at 1680 x 1050 resolution... WoW will run great. Even Oblivion runs rather well... though I haven't had a real opportunity to tax it very hard in that game yet.

to thg this is not an ad! this was a video a customer made of his pc that was build for wow!

i am posting this since he is play wow at 1900x1200 and another game at the same time - watch it!

what do our customers say? http://youtube.com/watch?v=MV8-2wJYSQ0 this was made by an ebay customer who loved their system so much they made a video about it!

The Q6600 is 2.4GHz, and your other figures are all off by a GHz too (overclocking aside).

OP: CrossFire is basically the ATI version of SLI. Don't hate ATI, they have some great cards right now for a great price. If you're mainly looking for WoW performance in 1680x1050, you don't need much. You especially don't need 4GB of RAM unless you're looking to spend extra money--money that you could put toward a better video card instead. The main consideration is that ~1GB of your RAM won't be used at all in 32-bit XP/Vista, and WoW runs fine on 2GB anyway.

I used to play WoW on my laptop which has a GeForce 8400M GS in 1680x1050 and it ran reasonably well, which to me is proof enough that WoW doesn't need the highest end stuff to perform. Prior to that I was using an AGP 7800 GS running at 1280x1024 in a desktop with cranked settings and the game ran very, very well (considerably better than on the laptop).

Realistically, you should consider whether you'll be playing many of the latest games that would require a high-end video card. If so, prepare to spend $300 on an ATI 4870 or even more on a high-end GeForce card. If not, you'd more than likely be fine with a 4850 for $200 or a GeForce 8600/8800. I'm not even going to talk about SLI/CrossFire without having an idea of your budget.

As for motherboard and processor, again, budget is a big consideration, but I'm sure you'd be happy with a Core 2 Duo E8400 (3GHz). There are tons of motherboard choices depending on what you decide to do regarding SLI/CrossFire.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz 65W: $87
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103235

MSI K9A2 CF-F V2 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX: $104
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130172

MSI R4850-T2D512 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3: $198 ($168 AR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127359

Antec earthwatts EA430 430W Power Supply: $60 ($30 AR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371006

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800: $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098


Total w/shipping: $494 ($434 after rebates)


If you think Crossfire is in your future and you can float the cash before the rebates come in I would suggest purchasing a 650w PSU - >80% efficiency