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Advice on which PC would be best for WoW.
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Post by
fearbefore
Hello, everyone.
I have been recently thinking of purchasing a new tower for my computer (my monitor is fine, my tower just sucks) but am having a hard time deciding which brand would be the best choice.
I am currently running on a Cyberpower PC (which is supposed to be the 'ultimate gaming computer' but it's actually really poorly put together) and I hate it.
It's got a lot of RAM and Hard-Drive space, but whoever/whatever put it together, sucks at their job. It's literally filled with faulty hardware and devices. It's constantly blue-screening, and I had to replace the Power-Supply only a month or two into having it.
I am just looking to buy a good PC that will allow me to run WoW at it's highest setting, without having to worry about Blue-Screening in the middle of a boss or during the looting process. (That actually happened; right in the middle of Anub-25M. Thankfully, the group was kind enough to wait for me to restart my computer and log back in before distributing loot.)
I have heard that HP is a good PC brand, but really, that's about the only brand I have heard good things about. I am a Mac guy through-and-through, simply because I am a full-time college student, and I also use my Mac at/for work. Macs have never been great gaming computers, which is why I purchased the Cyberpower PC, which was the biggest waste of money imaginable.
So, to all of you fellow gamers out there, which PC has brought you the best/most rewarding results? It sucks trying to play WoW with all of the video settings on low. I used to play on a Toshiba laptop and had to have every visual setting on low or else I felt like I was watching a powerpoint-slideshow. I couldn't even see Dalaran when flying in until I was in the Horde INN for crying out loud.
And let me know your computer's, "stats" so to speak. If I decide to get one custom built, it'd be nice to have a good idea of which things to add, (mainly just a graphics card, because everyone knows the more RAM, HD space, processor, etc. the better.)
Thanks in advance.
Post by
124027
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Post by
fearbefore
If you have the money to spend on a "gaming pc" then completely ignore them and spend it building your own custom rig. It works out far better in cost, capability and customisation ability.
Any suggestions?
Post by
124027
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Post by
Sheridan
What's your budget?
Take a look at this guide at techreport that was done in December of 2009. Might give you some ideas of the parts and costs.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18042/1
also:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/pc-buyers-guide-winter-2009/
http://www.techspot.com/guides/buying/
Post by
431144
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530859
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Post by
5200
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Post by
437541
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Post by
fearbefore
Most brand-name PCs use cheap, slow and often outdated video hardware, not seldom this means Intel on-board graphics, which is TERRIBLE. Some of these PCs don't even offer a slot for an add-in board. I'd suggest you either look really carefully at what exactly it is you're buying, or pick components yourself.
If you go the do-it-yourself route, you have more options, it also requires more of you. There most likely won't be any support hotline for you to call if anything goes t*ts-up with your new PC, and you'll likely have to put it together yourself also, if you don't want to pay a store to do it for you or have handy friends. Badly put-together self-built PCs often develop problems, so if you've never done this you should get some help.
Today, the CPUs you should choose from are various AMD Athlon 64 and Intel Core2 Duo varieties (older, cheaper), or AMD Phenom 2 or Intel Core2 Quad, Core i3/i5/i7 for the newer, fancier stuff.
The Core i-series comes in 2 socket varieties, 1100-ish and 1300-ish pins. The 1100-socket is aimed at budget and regular home users, 1300 socket at PC enthusiasts and enterprise. 1100 has a number of caveats attached to it, pertaining to the size and number of RAM DIMMs it handles, the number and speed of PCI lanes it supports and so on. If you just want one video board and don't care about AMD Crossfire or Nvidia SLI, USB 3 or SATA 3, and you don't want more than 8GB RAM, a socket 1100 Core i-series is quite sufficient. More than sufficient really for WoW, and as long as you don't overclock it you can sometimes get better performance at lower power draw than with the socket 1300 CPUs that are available now.
If you're a bit more demanding, or if you simply don't want too many compromises in your PC, the socket 1300 is the way to go if you choose Intel. The 1300 series CPU is also more generally more robust, particulary when overclocking, due to higher number of power and ground pins in the socket and larger contact surfaces between pins and CPU. If you're into overclocking, the 1300 series typically allow a larger clock speed increase without having to bump up processor voltage (which helps keep down power draw), and since the PCI express bus is decoupled from the CPU itself in the 1300 system you can overclock the CPU more easily without driving your PCIe connection out of spec.
AMD stuff I'm not all that read up on. Their CPUs are typically slower than Intel's and typically cheaper as well (has not always been true historically, so check to make sure). "Slower" is a relative term though; today CPUs are so bloody fast that you're unlikely to notice any difference unless you're doing a lot of really demanding computational work such as video encoding, 3D raytracing and so on. If an AMD CPU offers better value for money, go for it. I've had Intel-based PCs myself for almost 10 years now, but AMD is great. No question about it. Particulary their video cards have been excellent value for money for a long time now. The Radeon 4890 series offers competitive performance to Nvidia's fastest single-GPU cards, at a much MUCH lower price, and the Radeon 5870 is way faster again, and supports the most recent DirectX 11 standard.
You should also take care when selecting a casing for your PC, if you build yourself. Myself, I'd recommend something from either Antec or Lian-Li. There's many other casings from other manufacturers that are great as well, but it can often be hit-and-miss. Many manufacturers offer products ranging across anything from "great" to "cheapest crap you've ever seen"; these two are consistently good, or very good. Antecs Performance One series in particular is really really great. The P-series has excellent acoustics features with laminated side panels and dual-hinged front door, designed airflow paths inside the chassis, dust filters, a space underneath the mobo plate for clean and efficient cable routing, front connectors for audio, USB etc and many other neat little details.
I have a P180 Mini chassis myself, with an ASUS Rampage 2 Gene motherboard, Core i7 920 CPU (running at 3.5GHz at stock voltage), 12GB 1600MHz DDR3, Noctua CPU cooler and case fans and dual ATI 4890 graphics boards, all run by a Enermax Revolution 85+ high-efficiency power supply. Enermax power supplies tend to be more expensive, but few manufacuters can compete with their efficiency and overall level of quality. I really like mine, even at max system load there's only the slightest of breezes coming out from the back of the PSU, and the air is not even warm.
Wow, thank you so much for the thought-out response.
How much did your PC cost?
I am assuming it was extremely expensive.
12GB and over 3.0GHZ is unheard of.
Not that they don't exist, but I have just never had the pleasure of using something that awesome.
Post by
5200
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Post by
437541
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Post by
Federalagent
I can tell you
, Dont get an ATI Radion HD 4750 PCIe x16.... While it is a great card, and works at almost ultra settings, My FPS are all over the place, bounces around a lot. It never seems to go under 60fps, and if it does it only lasts for a few seconds and doesn't go below 40.
I know its not overheating, all drivers are updated. I have a high end motherboard, 6gb memory and an i7 processor. Brand new $2000 computer, not even a month old custom built.
As for the SSD
, Raid. That's complete BS. Its extremely expensive, can be complicated, and you likely will not be seeing much of a speed difference if any. Heck, my windows performance rating is at 7.1 on everything, and it only goes up to 7.5 max.. SSD for home use is a fairly new market, and can run $100-150 for a sATA 32gb Piece of junk... SSD was and still is currently used mainly on Server system as data storage. Yes, if you can afford it, get it... but don't get the cheapest and only use it for the operating system and virtual memory. SSDs are decent for burst data, such as loading, but suck with continuous reading and writing because of its mechanics. If you decide to get an SSD, wait about a year or so so prices can go down. You may find out that you dont need it. Dont go by what people state here on SSDs, do the research yourself on that subject. Look up reviews, and pay no attention to any generic forums.
If you plan on using more than 4gb of memory, be sure to get a 64bit compatible Motherboard, Processor and Operating system. a 32 bit system can only support 4gb max.
Another note, WoW is just a game. Think of everything else you will do on the system. Most people have no need for a "
Fast top of the line best there is
" system... I know i have a 750gb drive that i have no idea what to do with. I barely filled up an 80gb drive on my old computer. Maybe that is because i have no need for MP3s and i don't illegally download movies, i also don't keep really old games that i never will play again. I have 6gb of memory, and i only use 1/2 of it even with WoW and every program i have open. Heck, i have an 850watt Power-supply and i only use 150-170watts max, according to a power meter i have attached to the power strip.
My point is, use this information wisely, information in this post. Make your own decision, and research it. Dont just go out and buy items that someone on a forum that you have never meet told you to. The fact is, anything you buy or build will be alot better than what you currently have. Heck you can buy a $400 system from WalMart that works on WoW at ultra settings.
If your interested,
look at my profile
. It has my computer specs, if you want to know about a specific item, just ask. There are pictures of the computer also.
.
Post by
5200
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Post by
Erethzium
I bought a Gateway LX6810-01 off Amazon, and it can play just fine at Ultra settings. Just slide the bar to Ultra, then turn Shadow Quality down to minimum, and it gets 60+ FPS in the middle of Stormwind City.
Comes with a 2.33GHz Intel quad-core, 8GB of RAM and an nVidia GT120 w/ 1GB RAM.
According to all the comments, it's the highest "bang-to-buck" ratio on the market, right now. (Or, at least, one of the highest.)
Post by
Federalagent
'm sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about.
Well i'm sorry, i guess my 23 years of Computer Networking, Security, and Systems Analysis doesn't hold merit to a noob like you.
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