Critique this WoW build

[wevie]

New build for WoW.

***Does not include a Video Card***

ASUS M4A785TD-V

Athlon II x2 240 ***Can be upgraded later

OCZ Gold 4GB

OCZ 700w PSU

500 GB WD Black

HAF 922

Win 7 Home Premium 64

19" Monitor just to get by for now


I feel this leaves room to upgrade the CPU and add crossfire GPU's if I want.

 

[tecmo34]

I would go with either the Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB or Seagate 7200.12 500GB. They are both faster and cheaper than the WD Black 500GB.

 

[mindless728]

don't think too much on crossfire with that mother board as the second slot runs at pcie 2.0 x4 and can slow down crossfire of high end cards

and there really isn't a point to crossfire low end cards (unless you already have one that is decent)

 

[cory1234]

That power supply is wayy excessive. Going crossfire with that cpu would be a huge bottleneck. I would try to squeeze extra dough for a quad core imo.

 

[welshmousepk]

pull back to a 500w PSU, get some cheaper RAM (seriously, in such a low end build there is no need for high end RAM)

a good case, but again seems a tad excessive given the low end system.

spring up for a athlon II 620 with money saved.

then whatever video you card you go for will be un-bottlenecked.

 

[wevie]

I would go with either the Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB or Seagate 7200.12 500GB. They are both faster and cheaper than the WD Black 500GB.

Thanks. Will look at those!

don't think too much on crossfire with that mother board as the second slot runs at pcie 2.0 x4 and can slow down crossfire of high end cards

and there really isn't a point to crossfire low end cards (unless you already have one that is decent)

Didn't see that on the crossfire at x4.

That power supply is wayy excessive. Going crossfire with that cpu would be a huge bottleneck. I would try to squeeze extra dough for a quad core imo.

Excessive power supply for upgrades later.

pull back to a 500w PSU, get some cheaper RAM (seriously, in such a low end build there is no need for high end RAM)

a good case, but again seems a tad excessive given the low end system.

spring up for a athlon II 620 with money saved.

then whatever video you card you go for will be un-bottlenecked.

PSU and case for upgrades later. Kind of set on those. Setting up to upgrade to a good quad later on.

Would dropping to a lower end RAM hold me up later on?

 

[welshmousepk]

Excessive power supply for upgrades later.

PSU and case for upgrades later. Kind of set on those. Setting up to upgrade to a good quad later on.

Would dropping to a lower end RAM hold me up later on?

ok, thats fair.

i dont think the ram will hold you back. expensive RAM can help with overclocking, but the actual performance gains of the RAM itself are negligible.

and if you get a processor with an unlocked multiplier, you dont even need to have good RAM to get a big overclock.

 

[wevie]

OK, after sleeping on this, I now think y'all are right.

1.) The case is overkill and the money saved can be used to increase performance

2.) The same with the PSU. 500w should be adequate.

So.... After scouring combos, etc. I have come up with the first revision (its a big one!)

M770t-UD3p
OCZ Gold 2x2 DDR3

The above is a combo for $145. I really couldn't see any savings dropping to 2gb or other brand RAM.

OCZ ModXStream 500w
Cooler Master Centurion

Seagate 7200.12 500GB

With the $$$ saved using the above changes, I can now afford:

Phenom II x2 550
and
Sapphire 100245HDMI

Again, remember, please, this if for WoW. Also still buying Win7 Home Premium 64 and a monitor. Please critique as I'm ready to order soon!

Thanks for all your assistance!

 

[tikrjee]

I'm going to help you out with that monitor, since everyone else seems to thing "getting by" means "buying crap is ok"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009158
It ends up being $5 more overall after shipping on that Hanns-G, but it's a hair bigger, offers true 16:9 Widescreen, sports a higher resolution, and has DVI

I'd say that's worth the extra $5, especially since the power supply was a bit on the excessive side.
I'd point out the case, but that'd be nitpicking. My recommendation on that would've been the CM690
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137
But the case is really the only part of the computer where aesthetics matter, and there's no denying the badass-itude of the HAF

 

[builderbobftw]

Why buy a moniter that doesn't run at 19x12? I have a 168x105 moniter, and I hate it. I'm saving up for a 30" 3007WFP. Also, get the 4850 1gb. It's 10$ more, and it's a huge gain.

 

[wevie]

I'm going to help you out with that monitor, since everyone else seems to thing "getting by" means "buying crap is ok"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009158
It ends up being $5 more overall after shipping on that Hanns-G, but it's a hair bigger, offers true 16:9 Widescreen, sports a higher resolution, and has DVI

I'd say that's worth the extra $5, especially since the power supply was a bit on the excessive side.
I'd point out the case, but that'd be nitpicking. My recommendation on that would've been the CM690
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137
But the case is really the only part of the computer where aesthetics matter, and there's no denying the badass-itude of the HAF

Thanks for the advice on the monitor.

Did you see my last post with my "after I slept on it" changes?

 

[tserich]

I think I read somewhere that WoW doesn't support Crossfire scaling so you may want to look into getting a good single-card GPU

 

[builderbobftw]

A 5850? Or a 4890/4850?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

PSU and case for upgrades later.

Overclocking ?

A Mid tower case is fine for a single GFX card and OC....or even dual GFX and moderate OC's.....dual GFX cards and hi OC's need space and cooling and that's full tower territory. You say 19" monitor "for now" ? How long till you get a HD resolution monitor ? With 1920 x 1080 monitors at $200, I can't see not getting one. Playing DX11 @ 1920 however means a 58xx from ATI or a 400 series from nVidia and ya gotta wait at least a month for the latter.

ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms $229
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

You had selected a very good case originally with the HAF but both OCZ PSU's are second rate. I can't say I have much to like about the 2nd case choice.

Antec 900 w/ EA 650 will get you a future Xfire Upgrade, @ $179

The 922 w/ Corsair TX650 @ $170 after twin MIR's also makes sense.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

The 7200.12 is the gamer's choice.

 

[wevie]

The only thing I'm up in the air on now is the video card:

Sapphire 100245HDMI

I ordered the MA-770T-UDP3, the OCZ Gold 2x2 DDR3, and the Phenom II X2 550.

I'm ordering today the HAF 922 and OCZ ModXStream 600w. Also the Seagate 7200.12, Acer X203H monitor, and Win7 64 bit Home Premium.

The Sapphire I'm concerned about. It's a 4850, so even though it isn't the newest, it should play WoW just fine. It only has 512mb GDDR3.

Will this work sufficiently or should I wait for a 4870 1gb GDDR5 card? This is pushing me over budget. I had decided to run the 4850 in order to afford the Phenom X2 550.

 

[Truhls]

Nah the 4850 is more then enough for wow. Still though, you really should of went with a different PSU.

 

[builderbobftw]

Nicer, cheapish PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018&cm_re=OCZ_700W-_-17-341-018-_-Product

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I'm ordering today the HAF 922 and OCZ ModXStream 600w. Also the Seagate 7200.12, Acer X203H monitor, and Win7 64 bit Home Premium.

The *Stream PSU's have not been well reviewed (7.5 performance rating on this one), if you must go OCZ, get the Z series.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story3&reid=24

 

[Unworldlyfriend]

2GB ram would be fine for a WoW pc as you can upgrade it in the future.

 

[Dunkel]

If you don't stick with 4GB of ram you will be pissed. Windows 7 uses alot of ram like vista did. Plus if you are really building a new system to play WoW you will probably have a browser open as well as iTunes or something since WoW is so freaking boring now. You'll need the 4GB, trust me.