~$650 gaming build

[masachen]

Approximate purchase date: Within two weeks

Budget range: About 650usd without rebates

System usage: Gaming (WoW in particular)

Parts not required: mouse, keyboard, speakers, monitor

Preferred website for parts: newegg.com

Parts preferences: AMD cpu, Radeon 5xxx gpu

Overclocking/Crossfire: No / No

Monitor resolution: 1920x1080 or 1920x1200. Most likely the latter.


As stated above, the only game I really play is WoW. I know that game doesnt require a beast of a pc to play but I'd like to build a pc to run it on ultra settings at the listed resolution, and maintain enough fps to play it of course I will not be overclocking or crossfiring this time around.

I've got several parts in mind but these can be changed based on your recommendation;

-Phenom II x4 965 BE
-Radeon 5770/5850
-Samsung Spinpoint F3
-CM HAF 922

I havent bought any of these parts yet so I'm open to suggestions on the entire pc. Also I wont be overclocking so would an aftermarket HSF be necessary or should I get one just to be safe? (summers in Taiwan is like being in a furnace, and I wont always have the AC on) As for the mobo, would it affect gaming performance at all if I were to get a cheap one since I'm only running single gpu/no OC? Would a usb 3.0 mobo be absolutely necessary later on btw ><

Oh, I'll be buying locally here in Taiwan so dont worry about prices being slightly off, I just listed newegg as a reference for you and I to use. My budget isnt limited to ~$650 but I just wanted to keep it as low as possible because this is only for WoW and I can almost be sure I wont be playing crysis or the likes. Also, would AMD really have much more upgradeability than intel? If not thats fine I'm still set on a PII i think ^_^

I know thats a lot of questions in there x.x but thanks in advance!

-Masa

 

[gkay09]

^ Well you wont need even P II for a budget gaming PC...
The best value for money is the Athlon II X3 435/ 440...It offers very good gaming performance and that too you will be going with just a single graphics card, so the X3 would compliment it well...Only for multiple card configs, the X3 would have issues keeping up...
Config:
X3 435 - preferably 440
AMD 785G/ 770 chipset mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022%201070946178%20107191003%201071948911&bop=And&CompareItemList=22%7C13%2D128%2D432%5E13%2D128%2D432%2DTS%2C13%2D131%2D398%5E13%2D131%2D398%2DTS%2C13%2D128%2D397%5E13%2D128%2D397%2DTS%2C13%2D131%2D406%5E13%2D131%2D406%2DTS%2C13%2D130%2D233%5E13%2D130%2D233%2DS01
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022%201070946178%20107191003%201071933947&bop=And&CompareItemList=22%7C13%2D131%2D603%5E13%2D131%2D603%2DTS%2C13%2D128%2D431%5E13%2D128%2D431%2DTS%2C13%2D128%2D419%5E13%2D128%2D419%2DTS%2C13%2D130%2D250%5E13%2D130%2D250%2DTS
And going with SATA 6GB/s or USB 3.0 is not extremely important as you can always use an add-on card if you need those...

RAM - 4GB DDR3 - Preferably 1333MHz and above and lower the CAS(timings) the better...

HDD - Samsung F3 500GB/ Seagate 7200.12

CASE - Antec 200/ 300/ CM 590/ CM 690...

PSU - A 500-550W PSU from Corsair/ Seasonic/ Silverstone/ PCP&S/ Antec EA or TP series/ CM Real Power or Silent PRO series

Graphics card - HD 5830/ HD 5850...Though the HD 5770 would suffice to run WoW @ that resolutions, but having some more graphics headroom is good...

And an aftermarket CPU cooler is not necessary if you will be running the CPU at stock settings...

And AMD too had good upgrade options later on...

 

[batuchka]

 

[masachen]

Now I just have another question, with the release of Cataclysm due for late 2010/early 2011 and system requirements have been confirmed to increase slightly, would you still recommend the Rana x3? Also, I cant remember how long ago this changed but WoW is able to utilize more than two cores so is a quad core cpu going to give me more headroom once the xpac is released?

As for the 5830, I have doubts about that card. I just cant seem to find a reason to justify the cost of it, mabey if they dropped it by $20 or so (wishful thinking on my part? XD ) but I think I'd rather spend the extra bit for a 5850. Can someone elaborate on this please ^_^

Great recommendations though XD much appreciated ^-^

 

[gkay09]

^ The Tri-Cores are as good as Quads in games...
System requirements for WoW wont change significantly as it has a very large user-base and they wont suddently make it a very graphic intensive game that would demand a lot of graphics power...
But if you want a Quad, then get the Atlon II X4, for the price it performs very well and you will have some money left that could get you a more powerful card...

And as for the graphics card, Yes frankly the HD 5830 is not a good value...but for your resolution and the games that you play, it is a proper match...But you can expect a price drop if Nvidia launces the GF104 soon...
http://www.devicemag.com/2010/03/26/nvidias-new-gf-104-based-series-details-revealed/

 

[dirtmountain]

This is the Blizzard forum post about how to configure WoW for multi core CPUs. By default WoW is optimized for dual cores, but you can affinity mask it to perform better with tri / quad and hyperthreading. It's a long thread, pay attention to the blue posts.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1778017311&ST=US-2827325-LXWTbKxu4bk0WfXlatDdUhFvjhwnNYFhfHk&rhtml=true

These benchmarks are dated, but may help you in choosing components.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/mainstream-cards-mmorpg_14.html#sect0

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,689378/WoW-Wrath-of-the-Lich-King-Benchmarks-with-Ati-and-Nvidia-graphics-cards/Practice/

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2848/7

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

 

[masachen]

Alright I guess that does it, my new build it underway I hope everything turns out great!

Thanks for the help

 

[masachen]

Best answer selected by masachen.

 

[gkay09]

Good Luck with your build...