Gaming Computer Help

[jcook423]

Hello all, I'm new to the forums and looking for advice on computer hardware. I play WoW (World Of Warcraft) which is very intensive on systems so I've decided to build a new gaming computer that can keep up.

What I'm looking for is:

Mother board: Has at least 2 pci-e slots, few pci slots, Ethernet port, 4-6 RAM slots, USB 3.0 would be nice, and compatible with SSD.

Side note: I was looking at the Intel i7-960 CPU but from what i was reading your better off buying a 930 or 920 and overclocking, is this accurate?

Cooling System: Water cooling preferably, I'm aware that some go to only CPU and others go to CPU and GPU; I would like it to go to both if possible.

GPU: Would like to link 2 of them in the 2 pci-e's

Harddrive: Solid State Drive 120GB

Case: planning on water cooling, so something that is compatible. Transparency is a plus.

Power Supply: Was thinking 1,000.

RAM: I can figure out once i have the board figured out.

CD/DVD drives: don't really care will probably buy cheapo's

OS: Windows 7

Any recommendations on brands or specific hardware/items would be great, please and thank you
P.S. Budget ISN'T an issue.

 

[Lmeow]

WoW's intensive? I always thought that it was kind of a mid-level game in terms of the types of resources you need to play it. But, I've never played it so you're probably right.

The i7 930 overclocked to 960 speeds will save you around $280 or so. There's virtually no difference between an i7 960 and i7 930 @ 3.2 GHz.

I am really not sure how to answer this post any more really, is this just for WoW? I would think that GTX 480s in SLI would be good but probably overkill.

Motherboard... P6X58D-E is a good choice.

 

[jcook423]

WoW's intensive? I always thought that it was kind of a mid-level game in terms of the types of resources you need to play it. But, I've never played it so you're probably right.

The i7 930 overclocked to 960 speeds will save you around $280 or so. There's virtually no difference between an i7 960 and i7 930 @ 3.2 GHz.

I am really not sure how to answer this post any more really, is this just for WoW? I would think that GTX 480s in SLI would be good but probably overkill.

Motherboard... P6X58D-E is a good choice.

Its mainly for wow; it only gets bad in 25 man heroics where there is a bunch of crap going on, typically it will drop me down to 3-5 fps. I was mainly looking for recommendations for motherboards for me to build the rest of the system around, thank you

 

[Somebody_007]

What's your budget?

 

[jcook423]

What's your budget?

"P.S. Budget ISN'T an issue. " ^_^

 

[Somebody_007]

Ok good then let's get to work

cpu: 930(980 is bassically twice as good maybe you want one, I don't think it's worth it)

GPU: mars II if it's ever released otherwise the plain old 480sli

psu: Are you planning on adding more 480s? if so I'd get the silverstone strider 1250-1500w

SSD: c300 fastest on the market exept maybe the intel extreme but that is way to expensive(size depends on your needs)

Case: can't really help here this is personal. If you want built-in water cooling corsair 800d and silverstone tj07 are good options both with windows as you requested .

Ram: 6gb mushkin 998805. The fastest affordanle sticks on the market. I own them and they work great. If however budget is really no issue I'd get corsair dominators with a waterblock and throw it in the WCS. Waterblock costs 60dollars btw.

mobo: depending on whether you'll ever go 4-way I'd either get the ga-x58a-ud7 (built in waterblock is very handy) or the Rampage III extreme.

I would buy 3 monitors before spending money on water cooling on an ssd. I'm buying my 3 screen now and don't have water cooling, SSDs or 480sli(I have 470 sli). You could also buy 4 lol. A good gaming kb/mouse, joystick, speakers/headset and maybe even wheel if you like racing is also something to spend on.

 

[buzznut]

You could play WOW easily on a single HD4850 or 8800GT. SLI is way more graphics horsepower than you need, but as you say budget isn't an issue.

Watercooling is expensive and often does not exceed the performance of a high end air cooler. I found it to be a PITA, so I went back to my TRU and got the best temps I've ever had. This would likely be up to user preference.

You could crossfire two HD 5770 for~300 that would perform awesome. Also you could SLI two GTX470 for a little more and have a very fast system.

I like the C300 as well, I recommend also looking at the Intel 160GB drive and models from OCZ like the vertex 2 in that lower price range. I highly recommend you get an SSD.

WOW has very modest system requirements:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/faq/technology.html

How is your connection speed? Online games like WOW are very much bandwidth dependent. You could spend 1000's on a new system (which is great, we all love a new system!) but it may not help your maps or graphics load faster.
I would check your internet speed to see where you stand. Consider moving to a higher speed from you ISP. If you are on a wireless network, consider a hard wire for your gaming rig or upgrade to draft n.

Also, remember when playing with others online especially with a bunch of other players-their bandwidth will affect game performance too. Back when I was on DSL, people used to kick me out all the time or just leave the room I was in because my (low) high speed internet. I was introducing lag which was pissing people off and affecting their gameplay.

 

[tony singh]

overclocked i7 930 & gtx 460 1gb sli will serve u really well, Even if u have money, it'll be foolish to spend on higher end products thar offer very poor value for money.

 

[CtrlAltDefeat]

overclocked i7 930 & gtx 460 1gb sli will serve u really well, Even if u have money, it'll be foolish to spend on higher end products thar offer very poor value for money.

^+1

 

[jcook423]

You could play WOW easily on a single HD4850 or 8800GT. SLI is way more graphics horsepower than you need, but as you say budget isn't an issue.

Watercooling is expensive and often does not exceed the performance of a high end air cooler. I found it to be a PITA, so I went back to my TRU and got the best temps I've ever had. This would likely be up to user preference.

You could crossfire two HD 5770 for~300 that would perform awesome. Also you could SLI two GTX470 for a little more and have a very fast system.

I like the C300 as well, I recommend also looking at the Intel 160GB drive and models from OCZ like the vertex 2 in that lower price range. I highly recommend you get an SSD.

WOW has very modest system requirements:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/faq/technology.html

How is your connection speed? Online games like WOW are very much bandwidth dependent. You could spend 1000's on a new system (which is great, we all love a new system!) but it may not help your maps or graphics load faster.
I would check your internet speed to see where you stand. Consider moving to a higher speed from you ISP. If you are on a wireless network, consider a hard wire for your gaming rig or upgrade to draft n.

Also, remember when playing with others online especially with a bunch of other players-their bandwidth will affect game performance too. Back when I was on DSL, people used to kick me out all the time or just leave the room I was in because my (low) high speed internet. I was introducing lag which was pissing people off and affecting their gameplay.

Air cooling > water? this intrigues me as many forums say quite the opposite. If i sli or crossfire graphics cards how will the second card stay cool enough since it will be blocked from the fans.

My intention was to get a SSD, as noted , but since the product is someone new to the public market (even though SSD has been around for a bit like in military applications) i was unclear on which brand to trust.

Currently i am hardwired on Verizon FIOS with 25mb/s up and 23bm/s down

If i were to sli 2 nvidia's what would you recommended for a psu? 1200w?

As for mobo i have heard Asus P6X58D Premium (Intel X58 ATX) DDR3 or the P6X58D-E version also EVGA X58 LE Edition SLI allot. any thoughts?

 

[Somebody_007]

Low end watercooling systems like the h50 and some built in coolit systems are beaten by high end air coolers but considering they cost the same or less as high end air coolers I don#t see the problem really. Other systems like the thermaltake kits have trouble beating the stock intel cooler. But the second you start get a dual rad or better water blows air out of the water(well that sounds weird lol).

OCZ, intel and corsair are some of the best brands for SSDs.

Depending on the nvidia cards you would be SLIing. 480 sli will need an 850w-1000w. But considering you might upgrade maybe a 1200w or even a 1500w silverstone stider if you ever consider -way sli.

as for the mobo: I don't like any of the suggested lol. The asus boards are good but I find the cheaper ud3r and ud5 similarly good if not better. And the evga x58 sli is a very bad board performance wise and cooling wise. It's feature rich but that's where it ends.

 

[vsdagama]

If you're going to go -way sli
Why not x-way crossfire 5870's?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9508jcoxFQI&videos=Fa4ADVryfhg

Much cooler, much quiter, much less power hungry (you won't need a huge power supply)

 

[jcook423]

trying to decide between

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130551&cm_re=gtx_480-_-14-130-551-_-Product

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121382

The Radeon has a faster core clock, more memory, and more processor units but less effective memory clock....in addition it doesn't have any speed listed for the shader clock, does this mean it doesn't have 1? also it has a 2.1 pci-e and I'm not sure if my board supports it.

The Geforce supposedly overheats really easy on air cooling

my board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614

trying to figure out which of these 2 I should duel, any suggestions?

 

[asteldian]

Honestly, for WoW this build is a lot of money to give you little. I know budget is not an issue, but lets just go with something that will rock all games out there, WoW would simply be one of them being as it is a low end game.

i5 750 or i5 760 (really, for any gaming, even CPU intensive ones like WoW/EQ2, an i7 offers very very little)

Asus P7P55D E Pro - this has SATA/USB 3 and Crossfire/SLI capability

Samsung Spinpoint F3 500gb HDD.

GPU is up to you, WoW is not going to do much challenging to it. So, anything from a 5770 to GTX480 will be plenty. Having said that, if playign at 1920 x 1080 I would go with a card that can perform games at that level, and as you have the money I would go with a 5870 or a GTX 470 or GTX 480 (Personally if I was going with Nvidia I would wait to see what the revised versions of these cards are, if anything like the 460 they will be fantastic). A single of any of these cards will be highly excessive to WoWs requirements, but if you want 2 for the pleasure of having 2 then go for it. If I was using two cards I would prefer 5870s as the GTXs are just badly designed until the remodels are released.

G Skill 4gb ECO 1600mhz CL7 RAM.

PSU: Corsair probably a best choice. What power you get depends on the cards. If 5870 then you want about 750W, if going with 480 you want 1000W (as you will be SLIing it seems)

For case you want something like the HAF 922 for good airflow, especially if you are going with GTX 480s.

Personally I would go air cooling with the Sythe cooler. But if you really want watercooling go for it.

I am not familiar with SSDs but I am sure someone can help

The above parts will max out any games, you can also overclock the i5 750 like crazy. WoW is so low on the food chain for computer requirements that the above system is in excess of what you need. I know you have no budget, but I thought I would throw you an option for a cheaper build which is awesome and would more than achieve what you want

 

[vsdagama]

SLI 480's + spend money on a good watercooling for your system.

Or for the same price: triple HD 5870's (1 GB versions)