Need advice for MMO Gaming rig

[akashic]

I've just purchesed a new gaming rig, now my cousing decided he wanted a new rig aswell he have been asking me for advice but i haven't really got any idea what MMO Games need to be running smoothly anyway made a few suggestions to him (which i've posted links for at the bottom of the post right after the form) but i was hoping for some input from you guys.

Approximate Purchase Date: asap

Budget Range: 6000 DKK (apx. 800-825$ its not calculated by using currency exchange rate but taking into consideration the price difference)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: DC Univers online, City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, Diablo 2 expansion, he would like to get something that can run Diablo 3, i did tell him that it isn't really posible to buy a rig for future games, though it isn't that unlikely that anything that will run DC Universe will be able to run Diablo 3

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers and OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: http://www.newegg.com/ is fine for a reference if the budget is kept to apx 800-825$ NOT including any combo deals, any kind of discount or shipping, if you are up for trying making a build with danish currency use either of the following http://www.proshop.dk/ - http://www.komplett.dk/k/k.aspx - http://www.shg.dk/

Country of Origin: Denmark

Parts Preferences: beside it beeing a minitor that runs in 1920x1080 (my suggestion) there aren't any preferences

Overclocking: maybe, haven't queit convinced him of doing it for the preformance, but i'm working on it

SLI or Crossfire: maybe, i doubt it is worth getting SLI/Crossfire in the budget range we are working with here

Monitor Resolution: as said in the prefered parts the prefered resolution would be 1920x1080

Additional Comments: below is links for my suggestions (linked to newegg) should i tell him of the posibility of unlocking the 4th core or is the success rate just too low in other words if i tell him is the chance of disapointing him is high?

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134810
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872
CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130228
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129074
ODD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001390

 

[eloric]

Are you building the machine for him, then, and he will not even try to unlock the 4th core himself? Have to admit, the motherboard was the first thing I checked when I saw the triple core chip. It seems only rarely that chips do not unlock these days.

Everything looks fine here from what I can tell, but I am not at all familiar with the Danish market. Tried to search a couple of the sites you provided, and found it pretty challenging (ok, laugh at the American!)

Here are my observations, if this helps: Memory is a bit slow, already mentioned the cpu, cooler is very good, motherboard looks inexpensive but has unlocked a core before, GPU could be upgraded to 1GB if you can afford it, PSU is adequate (and would be sufficient for a 1 GB GPU , too), case looks very inexpensive, but has good reviews. ODD is fine, and HDD is perfect. See nothing wrong with the monitor.

I think your cousin will enjoy this machine, and almost certainly he will be able to play Diablo3 when it comes out.

 

[akashic]

His got basicly know knowledge about computers he was planing on buying a computer from a supermarket so i'll be helping him putting the parts together, He won't be overclocking or trying to unlock the 4th core himself/manualy, I would have to atempt to unlock the 4th core for him, but i was just thinking of showing him where the OC genie is located on the motherboard, posible trying to introduce him to AMD OverDrive and let him play with that.(and obviously teaching him to stress test after his done any overclocking to make sure it is running stable )

The memory was basicly just the cheapest 4gb kit that was running 1333MHz i didn't think it would be where the extra cash should be put into.
I did just find the cheapest AM3 motherboard with a chipset that was supported by AMDOverDrive (in case i could teach him how to use that for overclocking) The difference between the 768mb and 1gb model is roughly 400DKK (with the currencly exchange rate apx. 75$) personally i'd rather throw some extra cash at the CPU or motherboard (if the budget allowed for it). I didn't think much of a case, i figured that any case would do just fine, and if the air-flow was too bad, he could just remove one of the sides on the case.

Regarding you not beeing able to navigate the danish sites, i am having an time trying to locate a specific item on any danish sites aswell, they do kind of suck, especially proshop, no search function and no options of limitations. Komplett is the easiest site to navigate its got both a search function and the ability of using limitations within your search. Perhaps i should have provided a danish to english dictionary for navigatig the sites oh well

I am not sure i understand what you mean about the CPU, is it good, bad, fine, or ?


Basic dictionary
There are a few things that might not make sense usin google translate, but the rest seems fine

* The danish word for search is "søg"
* Demovarer = items that have been returned to the store
* PC Gaming = Gaming specefic items
* Saml Selv & Pakkeløsninger = what you on newegg refere to as combo deals only really a money saver on the "high end stuff"
* Webkameraer = Webcams(google doesn't translate this one correctly)

direct link to komplett hardware section: http://www.komplett.dk/k/kd.aspx?bn=10000
google translate: http://translate.google.com/#da|en|%20%20%20%20*%20%20Backup%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Bl%C3%A6sere%2Fk%C3%B8lere%2Fvandk%C3%B8ling%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Bundkort%0A%20%20%20%20*%20CD%2FDVD%20Media%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Controllere%0A%20%20%20%20*%20DVD%2FBlu-Ray%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Grafikkort%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Harddisk%0A%20%20%20%20*%20H%C3%B8jtalere%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Hukommelse%20%28RAM%29%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Kabinet%20Tilbeh%C3%B8r%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Kabinetter%2FBarebone%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Kabler%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Lydkort%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Mus%20%26%20Keyboards%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Netv%C3%A6rk%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Netv%C3%A6rkslagring%20%28NAS%29%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Printere%20%26%20Scannere%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Processorer%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Sk%C3%A6rme%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Software%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Software%20-%20License%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Str%C3%B8mforsyninger%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Switches%2FKVM%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Tegnebr%C3%A6t%0A%20%20%20%20*%20Tilbeh%C3%B8r%0A%20%20%20%20*%20TV-kort%0A%20%20%20%20*%20UPS%20%26%20Str%C3%B8mbeskyttelse%0A%20%20%20%20*%20USB-Hukommelse

 

[eloric]

I would do the same for my cousin if he were attempting to buy a computer from a supermarket. The memory and the mobo, since they are quite inexpensive, will probalby limit the ability to overclock. That does not mean you shouldn't try!

Sorry that I was not clear on the CPU. I think it is one of the best deals on the market, and AMD has a great offer for budget concious builders. This was a very good choice, and you should stick with it.

Wow, that is a huge difference between 750 MB and 1 GB videl cards. 400DKK is twice as much more than in the US. I'll never understand the price differences between countries. Maybe an upgrade to the mobo would be appropriate.

Thank you so very much for the Danish tutorial. I will make an attempt to look at the Komplett - I was looking at the other two before.

 

[akashic]

Well supermarket is perhaps an exaduration, it was more like an electronic store that does NOT specialice in any thing in particulare they sell everything from vacuum cleaners to refrigiators.
(just in case anyone where woundering about the specs it was Intel i3-530, 4gb Ram@1333MHz, ATI Radeon HD5450, 640gb HDD, no minitor included price 5000DKK/915$, exchange rate price)


I've been looking into motherboards(for my own computer) as you said in your first reply it isn't the best, the one i'm using is the following: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131651 its got USB3 and "auto core unlocker ability" that would propbly not be the worse idea if he(well propbly me) is going to try and unlock the 4th core, i've seen a few videos about how excatly it works and it seems very easy, not that unlocking it "manually" seemed that difficult.


When you say memory is going to limit the overclocking, what excatly is it there is going to limit it, is it the MHz they are running or just the ram in genneral that is kind of sucky? I am assuming that if the memory is better for overclocking they gotta be better when not overclocked aswell, so if the it is just the MHz that is the major change here it could be an option to upgrade them. Though optimizing overclocking is not important

as for memory, would these work better for overclocking? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145278 or is that basicly the same and should it be these to improve overclocking results http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260


Considering the motherboard changes we might need to scrap the CM hyper 212+, i assume that would also limit the overclocking, anyway if we decide to go with the stock cooling will he need to buy thermal compound or is that including and if we stick with the CM hyper 212+ would he need to buy thermal compound for that any idea ?

 

[eloric]

The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus has thermal paste included. If you don't have a heat sink, then you are very limited in what yu can do to tweak it.

Factors influencing memory overclocking include speed (1600 is better than 1333), latency (7 is better than 9) and voltage (1.35 v is better than 1.65). Here is what I recommend to those with appropriate budget: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226122&cm_re=mushkin_enhanced-_-20-226-122-_-Product

I have not been able to find them on the Dannish sites, so far.

 

[akashic]

I haven't found any danish shops that seem to be selling the populare memory types here on tomshardware the best options we have is basicly either some running 1.65v @ 1600MHZ or some running 1333MHz @ 1.5V

Updated list to what i believe is the better solution then the first one (also within the budget)

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145278 < lower volt then the others but also 1333MHz
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103872
CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103064 < This one was part of the latests 400$ System build Marathon on toms hardware so i'm guessing it is just fine, and it will allow for some of the other upgrades
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131651
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129074
ODD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395 < replaced the Spinpoint F3 with Baracuda 12, preformance seem to be about the same but there is a difference allowing for an upgrade to the motherboard and the memory
Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

 

[Onus]

Just to stick my oar in without niggling, I think your choices are basically pretty good. If the budget is tight, MMOs are not as graphically demanding as shooters, so you could get a HD5770 and expect good performance.
Also, you might check out ASRock mobos. They seem to specialize in high bang/buck models. They may not be great overclockers, but that does not appear to be your focus here. Current models (even the $60 ones) use solid capacitors.