WoW machine

[delluser1]

Been asked to put together a low to mid range machine for a young WoW gamer.
I don't play it, not sure about what would be needed to provide a good experience.
Would an E7400 and 9800GT be enough to run it well at 16*10 ? ( No, they don't want to spend the money for core I5/I7 and I'm not opposed to ATI if it'll work )

 

[p55ibexpeak]

For a good experience, you want a pc with specs better than the minimum:

Recommended: Dual-core processor, such as the Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2
Recommended: 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista users)
Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/faq/technology.html

So yeah, 9800GT is better than 7600GT at that resolution. It's basically 8800GT. Oh and ATI will work as well.

Have you considered an AM3 build? It's cheap. Plus, the AM3 mobo & DDR3 ram can be reused in a future upgrade. LGA 775 is considered a dead platform.

 

[ares1214]

that might be sufficient, but this is way more bang for buck, and future proof:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146062

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231318

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.308242

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.295032

that is ample performance for an amazing price

 

[delluser1]

Thanx for the link.
I would consider an AMD build, but trying to keep cost as low as possible for a friend of my son.
Should have mentioned that I have the E7400 sitting in a drawer from an upgrade I did for someone else, as well as a 2x2 kit of PC2 6400 from back when it was going for $42.
Asus P5Q Pro Turbo---- need to buy ( $115 after Newegg taxes me and I get the $20 rebate back )
E7400---- have it ( didn't pay for it, got paid to upgrade a clients machine to Q9550 and took it, I'll be giving it to him as an Xmas gift )
2x2 G.Skill---- have it ( paid $45 w tax )
9800 GT---- need to buy ( $107 w tax)
WD 640 Black---- have it ( $54 from Newegg Shell Shocker a few weeks back )
Case and psu---- Got a CM Elite 335 and an EA 500 sitting around, that together cost me $76
OS---- $107 Win7 Premium oem
= $504

Still upgradeable, yes LGA775 is dying, but it isn't going to go away too soon.

My biggest concern was wether the 9800GT would be enough for the game @ 1680 x 1050, as I said I don't play it.

 

[ares1214]

the 9800 is ok, but look at this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130514

considerably better for just a bit more money. that amd system though would be way better. am3 is new, so he can have a wonderful machine now, and upgrade it in 3 years, rather then get a computer that will work for 2, and be so obselete. just my opinion, and i love amd

 

[MothMusic]

Thanx for the link.
I would consider an AMD build, but trying to keep cost as low as possible for a friend of my son.
Should have mentioned that I have the E7400 sitting in a drawer from an upgrade I did for someone else, as well as a 2x2 kit of PC2 6400 from back when it was going for $42.
Asus P5Q Pro Turbo---- need to buy ( $115 after Newegg taxes me and I get the $20 rebate back )
E7400---- have it ( didn't pay for it, got paid to upgrade a clients machine to Q9550 and took it, I'll be giving it to him as an Xmas gift )
2x2 G.Skill---- have it ( paid $45 w tax )
9800 GT---- need to buy ( $107 w tax)
WD 640 Black---- have it ( $54 from Newegg Shell Shocker a few weeks back )
Case and psu---- Got a CM Elite 335 and an EA 500 sitting around, that together cost me $76
OS---- $107 Win7 Premium oem
= $504

Still upgradeable, yes LGA775 is dying, but it isn't going to go away too soon.

My biggest concern was wether the 9800GT would be enough for the game @ 1680 x 1050, as I said I don't play it.

I don't understand why you would want such an expensive mobo for a WoW system. LGA 775 mobos go as low as $40 with Free Shipping on Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000280&Description=lga%20775&name=Intel%20Motherboards&ActiveSearchResult=True

Don't go with the 9800GT. A GTS 250 is nearly the same price and is stronger. Obviously, this graph doesn't show 1600 res, but it does show that the 250 is the stronger gpu when compared to 9800 GT. The GTS 250 can play modern games at high settings at a 1600 res.

Palit NE3TS25NFHD52 GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261051
$113

 

[delluser1]

Only paid $130 for the 192 core EVGA GTX 260 on my backup machine, couldn't justify paying more for a GTS 250, and I'm really not thrilled with over $100 for the 9800GT.
If I were buying from scratch I would consider it, but since I already have the Intel cpu and DDR2 ram, going with the AM3 platform just isn't an option.

 

[MothMusic]

Why would you spend $95 on a mobo for a budget build? Like I said before, LGA 775 mobos, go as low as $40 with Free Shipping on the Egg. But the Palit GTS 250 is only $6 more than the 9800 GT that you linked to, with the savings you could make on the mobo, couldn't you pickup the 250 that I linked to earlier?

 

[MothMusic]

Palit NE3TS25NFHD52 GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261051
$113

GIGABYTE GA-G41M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128388&cm_re=lga_775-_-13-128-388-_-Product
$60 -Free Shipping

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
$105 -Free Shipping

E7400---- have it ( didn't pay for it, got paid to upgrade a clients machine to Q9550 and took it, I'll be giving it to him as an Xmas gift )
2x2 G.Skill---- have it ( paid $45 w tax )
WD 640 Black---- have it ( $54 from Newegg Shell Shocker a few weeks back )
Case and psu---- Got a CM Elite 335 and an EA 500 sitting around, that together cost me $76

Total =$453

 

[delluser1]

Why would you spend $95 on a mobo for a budget build? Like I said before, LGA 775 mobos, go as low as $40 with Free Shipping on the Egg. But the Palit GTS 250 is only $6 more than the 9800 GT that you linked to, with the savings you could make on the mobo, couldn't you pickup the 250 that I linked to earlier?

My first suggestion was a $60 P5QPL-AM and a HIS 5770 ( $223 total, using a couple of promo codes, compared to the $222 of thier combo )
He want's, and I quote " a better, gaming type board like the P5Q Turbo now because it will be easier for me to upgrade the video card on my own than the motherboard " , so I give him what he want's.

 

[MothMusic]

My first suggestion was a $60 P5QPL-AM and a HIS 5770 ( $223 total, using a couple of promo codes, compared to the $222 of thier combo )
He want's, and I quote " a better, gaming type board like the P5Q Turbo now because it will be easier for me to upgrade the video card on my own than the motherboard " , so I give him what he want's.

Oh well. If thats what he really wants, then get it. But you may want to try explaining to him that there is no difference in the mobos except the price, and that the 5770 is way stronger than a 9800 GT. But if the kid is really stubborn than oh well...

 

[delluser1]

But you may want to try explaining to him that there is no difference in the mobos except the price, and that the 5770 is way stronger than a 9800 GT.

It's not the kid , it's his father. The P5Q Turbo will give him more ways to screw things up than the lower end boards, and I did let him in on the difference in the video.

 

[MothMusic]

It's not the kid , it's his father. The P5Q Turbo will give him more ways to screw things up than the lower end boards, and I did let him in on the difference in the video.

Sorry, I thought it was the kid. Thats really surprising that the father would say that though. Surely, he can see the advantage of a cheap solid mobo from a good brand, and a very strong gpu. But I guess not...

 

[p55ibexpeak]

^ That's the exact mentality of the average pc user. They don't know the tiny difference between 2 parts.

 

[dirtmountain]

Depending on latency and server density the E7400 and 9800GT will give fair to good performance at 1680x1050. About high 30s fps in Dalaran and 60 fps everywhere else, even in most 25 man raids, when settings are at middle--->high. Here's some benchmarks that may help.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,693737/WoW-Wrath-of-the-Lich-King-CPU-benchmarks-with-Phenom-II-and-Core-i5/Practice/

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3650&p=7
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,689378/WoW-Wrath-of-the-Lich-King-Benchmarks-with-Ati-and-Nvidia-graphics-cards/Practice/

 

[delluser1]

That helps, thanx dm.