Playing WoW (wotlk) 22'' 1680x1050, HD4850/512mb enough? (New build)

[Grynchmeister]

My old computer is on its deathbed, (7yo power mac G4 mdd), and i am about to put together a new system. The only game on it will be World of Warcraft, (wrath of the lich king). I have a system sketched out, except for the graphics card! I just want something that will give me 60fps on a 22" 1680x1050 lcd monitor. In case i missed a bottleneck somewhere, here are my proposed specs:

Antec three hundred case
yate loon 120mm fans/scythe fan controller
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Mobo
E8500 CPU (plan on OC at least 20%)
OCZ Vendetta 2 Cooler
MSI HD4850-512M OC edition
Western Digital Caviar Black 750gb HDD
OCZ Reaper DDR2 1066 4gb (2 x 2)
Corsair 650tx (650watt) PSU
Vista 64 w/SP1

Will the 4850 cut it? Or should i step up to the MSI 4870 1gb for an extra $60? (or Nvidia equivalent)

The reason for the MSI preference: On their recent revision of the hd4830, they made some nice adjustments to the card design. Looking at their most recent 4800 series offerings, they have given the cooling setup quite an update, and it appears they have applied the same power saving/thermal reducing ideas as the aforementioned hd4830.

Appreciate the feedback!

 

[magicbullet]

I just did a search on TH over "WOW" and found that there are 20k+ forum over this topic. I am sure there is an answer to ur question.

 

[johnyeah]

Frankly, to play WoW at that resolution with everything maxed out, any HD4850 will work (given your system specs). I used to play WoW at max settings on 1680*1050 (with my old monitor) with an 8800GT and it doesn't lag.

That said, I would rather just get a HD4850 at stock settings and OC it myself (factory OC and you doing it yourself makes no difference, and DIY is usually cheaper). If you're concerned about the cooling, other options are http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161259 .

In addition, there're other areas that you can cut some costs without sacrificing much performance (if any at all).

1. CPU: E8400 is $20 dollars cheaper, plus you can do the overclocking yourself.

2. RAM: I would prefer standard voltage DDR2-800 RAM at 1.8V over factory overclocked 2.1V DDR2-1066 RAM (you have more headroom to overclock the RAM yourself, plus it's also cheaper).

 

[Grynchmeister]

good points, thanks!!
I found another article on here about 1:1 memory to fsb ratios (400/400), swapped over to a 4-4-4-12 ddr2-800.
Still mulling the card over, dug around alot online all over, seems to be a crap shoot with WoW as to which card to get. Im hoping my local microcenter will have a sale next week on some of the cards, be alot easier to swap out in case the one i order doesnt do well.
Also considering the 9800gtx+, will probably go with whatever saves the most with combo purchase & free shipping.