New Build

[Dreamer303]

Hello Friends, I'm looking at doing a new build. I don't need top of the line but something sufficient enough to run WoW at Ultra settings. I'm also using a dual monitor set up so I can play on one monitor and browse the web on another. I believe the monitors are 21" Samsung SyncMaster SA300.

I've been doing a little research and trying to piece together the necessary parts for a fairly decent build. I'm not too familiar with Overclocking as well. So far this is what I have.

Intel 330 2.5" 120 GB SATA 6.0Gb/S Internal SSD

Caviar Blue 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal HDD

Gigabyte GA-Z77x-D3H or the UD3H LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel motherboard. I can't really tell the difference between the D3H or UD3H model

Intel Core i5 3570k 3.4GHz LGA 1155 Processor

Diablotek UL Series 675 Watt ATX Power Supply

Cooler Master CM Storm Enforcer Mid Tower ATX Gaming Case

Cooler Master X6 Elite Universal CPU Cooler
or
Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Water Cooling System


That's what I have researched so far. I still need memory and a video card (preferably Nvidia). Suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated. By the way I'm purchasing all of these from Microcenter in Denver CO. All are In stock from what I saw.

Thank you Again!

[inux94]

Change the SSD to Crucial M4, Samsung 830 series or Kingston 3K.

Get a more well-known PSU like Corsair, PC Power & Cooling etc., your build is going to use around 350-400w with a GTX 660.

Change the CPU cooler to Xigmatek Gaia or Hyper212

[Terridon]

Overall i agree with inux, but..

The SSD is the same i have. I took it because, while it's not the fasterst, it's extremly reliable, and have an extra battery in case power is shut of, so you don't lose data.
The speed-diffrence that people are so happy about on some of the others isn't really noticable. It's numbers you can throw at people, but you won't notice it.

I'dd say you just stick to the SSD, unless the inux an come up with a very good reason to take one of the others.

Overall it does look like a nice computer you're going for.
I don't know the PSU though. Might be a brand i don't know, but considered you buy good parts for the rest of it, you should do so with that one.
A bad PSU can toast your entire computer. I've lost several harddrives, motherboards, a GFX and ram to bad PSUs, so it's not a good place to try to save money.
675 watt is somewhat overkill.


I have no really good bets for your GFX, since i don't know what you want to use it for. Me liking nvidia i'dd say Gforce 660TI is rather nice, and can run most in a satisfying way, but radeon is better price/perfomancewise.
Ram. Clueless about that since i havn't looked at that for a couple of years

[Dreamer303]

I appreciate the helpful input. I will be using this build to play WoW and random school work.

Would a power supply like this suffice? microcenter.com/product/399981/Builder_Series_CX500_500_Watt_ATX_12V_Power_Supply

How would the 660 compare to the 650? I know there is a difference of about $100. Any opinions on that?

[Sarevoc]

Get a more well-known PSU like Corsair, PC Power & Cooling etc., your build is going to use around 350-400w with a GTX 660.

http://www.overclock.net/t/944707/wh...han-multi-rail

;-)

I stick to Enermax or Seasonic when it comes to PSUs. I heard that Corsairs are also good, but I just don't like PSU companies who do not develop AND manufacture their own PSUs, but just rebrand products of other companies... The majority of the PSU "manufacturers" are just rebranders.

Corsiar PSUs are in fact Seasonics, Flextronics but mostly CWTs. A corsair is never 100% corsair.
I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, it's just a thing that I personally don't like.

675W is a bit of an overkill, but it doesn't matter that much, unless you need to save every penny and efficiency shouldn't be much worse than with a lower wattage PSU. But don't take my advice here, as I always tend to get top of the line PSUs, whether they make sense or not... lol ;-)

The Samsung SSD 830 is probably one of the best SSDs out there, even from a price / performance point of view.

[Milkshake86]

Nvidia cards this generation are overly expensive when compared to ATI/AMD counterpart or rival. 7870 vs 660 Ti very even match up 660 is a bit faster in 1920x1080 games etc, it however is $70~ more on the light side and not really worth the extra w/ a gimped memory bandwidth.

[Deleted]

660Ti is an excellent gpu to match your build (if main game is wow nvidia is a no brainer)
also fun that ati mentions low mem band because it isn't even a limiting factor of the chip.......(atleast not on standard resolutions )
don't underestimate the power you need from a gpu to run wow at ultra.
it be a shame to make that strong build be limited by cheaping out on the gpu.

[Milkshake86]

660Ti is an excellent gpu to match your build (if main game is wow nvidia is a no brainer)
also fun that ati mentions low mem band because it isn't even a limiting factor of the chip.......(atleast not on standard resolutions )
don't underestimate the power you need from a gpu to run wow at ultra.
it be a shame to make that strong build be limited by cheaping out on the gpu.

Except a 6770 will near max WoW on ultra w/ a good cpu. So actually blowing $300~ on a gpu that is not that great when $300 could get a very strong 7950 or something better in a WoW build. This isnt BF3 @ 1920x1080 only so sub $200 gpu should be more than sufficient, hell @ only 1920x1080 a 6850 is enough for bf3 to run on high reasonably well, you might see some lag in a 64 player Nade metro.

Basically it would be better to dump money into a better cooler for your CPU and overclock it as high as you can safely and stably, if WoW @ max is your concern. Saying Nvidia is a no brainer is silly because nvidia only shows to be ahead in worthless frames, anything above 60 is trash unless you have a monitor capable of 120Hz, not to mention even in a 10m raid your not likely to see these performance gains against a rival ATI card, people who arent full of crap have been reporting similar frames in combat from both sides w/ equal builds. Facts are facts Nvidias 6xx line is too expensive to be chosen unless your directly a fanboy, again I'll say if GK110 comes out as powerful as rumor has it then Ill buy 1 no matter the price, rumor has it the 685 or possible 770 is near 70% increase over the 680. If its even 50% faster then yes money would not even be a remote concern when talking about a single GPU being fractionally slower than a dual gpu, of the same architecture.

[Deleted]

by ultra i mean full ultra ( op asked for ultra so that's what he's getting recommended then)
also for the new zones ,any half decent card can max out old zones, MOP zones are the ones that matter.
Last time we checked a 7950 got beaten in wow by a 660Ti (or forgot about those benchmarks from yesterday, 5fps is still 5 fps)

[Lathais]

Except a 6770 will near max WoW on ultra w/ a good cpu. So actually blowing $300~ on a gpu that is not that great when $300 could get a very strong 7950 or something better in a WoW build. This isnt BF3 @ 1920x1080 only so sub $200 gpu should be more than sufficient, hell @ only 1920x1080 a 6850 is enough for bf3 to run on high reasonably well, you might see some lag in a 64 player Nade metro.

Basically it would be better to dump money into a better cooler for your CPU and overclock it as high as you can safely and stably, if WoW @ max is your concern. Saying Nvidia is a no brainer is silly because nvidia only shows to be ahead in worthless frames, anything above 60 is trash unless you have a monitor capable of 120Hz, not to mention even in a 10m raid your not likely to see these performance gains against a rival ATI card, people who arent full of crap have been reporting similar frames in combat from both sides w/ equal builds. Facts are facts Nvidias 6xx line is too expensive to be chosen unless your directly a fanboy, again I'll say if GK110 comes out as powerful as rumor has it then Ill buy 1 no matter the price, rumor has it the 685 or possible 770 is near 70% increase over the 680. If its even 50% faster then yes money would not even be a remote concern when talking about a single GPU being fractionally slower than a dual gpu, of the same architecture.

With the new drivers:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...rmance/20.html
in all cases the 670 beats the 7970. The 7970 GHz Edition pulls ahead in some resolutions, but not all. The 670 handily beats out the 7950, by ~20 FPS. Yes, these are taken during taxi points, so you will see a reduction in this when you enter a 25m raid or a crowded area probably 1/2 to 1/3. Therefore, you want the one that give the highest here, so when you get into that situation, you are staying at 60FPS.

Price wise?

7950 $280-380
670 $350-465
7970 $352-600
7970 GHz $410-618

So while the 7950 is cheaper, it's not by much and the 670 is cheaper and performs better(in WoW) that the 7970. The 7970 GHz performs better in some, but not all resolutions.

I think I'd go with the 670.

[Deleted]

With the new drivers:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...rmance/20.html
in all cases the 670 beats the 7970. The 7970 GHz Edition pulls ahead in some resolutions, but not all. The 670 handily beats out the 7950, by ~20 FPS. Yes, these are taken during taxi points, so you will see a reduction in this when you enter a 25m raid or a crowded area probably 1/2 to 1/3. Therefore, you want the one that give the highest here, so when you get into that situation, you are staying at 60FPS.

Price wise?

7950 $280-380
670 $350-465
7970 $352-600
7970 GHz $410-618

So while the 7950 is cheaper, it's not by much and the 670 is cheaper and performs better(in WoW) that the 7970. The 7970 GHz performs better in some, but not all resolutions. Mostly Higher resolutions and multi-monitor resolutions.

I think I'd go with the 670.

Beating by what, 5-8 fps. Thats nothing much. Also, i took a look at prices on newegg and cards with decent coolers.
the 670 is priced the same as a 7970. And the price difference between a 670 and a 7950 is still 80-100 dollar. If 5 fps more is worth 100 dollars for you......

As for the OP, a 7870 is enough to play wow. It comes withing range of 660ti performance while costing about 50 dollars less. But if you are deadset on Nvidia, you should get the 660ti.
As for memory, you can get a 8gb corsair vengeance 1600 set, be sure its low profile.

[yurano]

Beating by what, 5-8 fps. Thats nothing much. Also, i took a look at prices on newegg and cards with decent coolers.
the 670 is priced the same as a 7970. And the price difference between a 670 and a 7950 is still 80-100 dollar. If 5 fps more is worth 100 dollars for you......

As for the OP, a 7870 is enough to play wow. It comes withing range of 660ti performance while costing about 50 dollars less. But if you are deadset on Nvidia, you should get the 660ti.
As for memory, you can get a 8gb corsair vengeance 1600 set, be sure its low profile.

You're talking like 5-8 fps is nothing. Thats in fact a 5-10% performance.

No, the 670 is not the same price as the 7970.

Take a look at PCPartPicker: MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS.

We can conclude that the 7950 is at $315, the 670 is at $370, the 7970 is at $405 and the 7970 GE is at $450.

According to Tech Power UP: http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/Cataly..._1920_1200.gif , the only card that is able to beat the $670 is the 7970 GE at a $80 price premium (+22%).

You're paying an additional $45 (+12%) for the 7970, yet it doesn't have superior WoW performance, even with Catalyst 12.11.

Everyone needs to stop blindly recommending AMD based off of the over-hyped Catalyst 12.11 drivers.

[Deleted]

You're talking like 5-8 fps is nothing. Thats in fact a 5-10% performance.

No, the 670 is not the same price as the 7970.

Take a look at PCPartPicker: MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS.

We can conclude that the 7950 is at $315, the 670 is at $370, the 7970 is at $405 and the 7970 GE is at $450.

According to Tech Power UP: http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/Cataly..._1920_1200.gif , the only card that is able to beat the $670 is the 7970 GE at a $80 price premium (+22%).

You're paying an additional $45 (+12%) for the 7970, yet it doesn't have superior WoW performance, even with Catalyst 12.11.

Everyone needs to stop blindly recommending AMD based off of the over-hyped Catalyst 12.11 drivers.

Ah come on, 5 fps on 75+ fps in general. You wont see the difference. If its 28 fps vs 33 fps, than it starts to matter. That is the difference between playable or not (still subjective i would say). We all know any mid range GPU can play WoW just fine.

And seeing as the OP doesnt want top of the line stuff, the 7870 will be plenty (im not recommending the 7970). But i also stated, if hes dead set on Nvidia he should take the 660ti. (Altho a budget for his gpu would be handy)

Anyway, the reason we are all "blindly" recommending AMD, is because in the price/performance category they are beating Nvidia. And seeing quite some ppl are also playing BF3 and other games. AMD comes out on top or stays within that range of the cards (that 5 fps).

It also seems that in the US the 670 is slightly cheaper, in EU (or atleast NL) the 670 and 7970 cost pretty much the same.

[Lathais]

Ah come on, 5 fps on 75+ fps in general. You wont see the difference. If its 28 fps vs 33 fps, than it starts to matter. That is the difference between playable or not (still subjective i would say). We all know any mid range GPU can play WoW just fine.

And seeing as the OP doesnt want top of the line stuff, the 7870 will be plenty. But i also stated, if hes dead set on Nvidia he should take the 660ti. (Altho a budget for his gpu would be handy)

Anyway, the reason we are all "blindly" recommending AMD, is because in the price/performance category they are beating Nvidia. And seeing quite some ppl are also playing BF3 and other games. AMD comes out on top or stays within that range of the cards (that 5 fps).

The FPS in the chart I posted was during a flight path in old world. In a crowded MoP area or a 25m raid, we are talking closer to 28 v 32 FPS. 5 FPS is HUGE at those levels. Also, in this particular post, "BF3 and other games" we're not mentioned. What was mentioned? WoW @ Ultra. The 670 wins that race, not to mention, the OP said he prefers nVidia.

Just want to add in, I am not partial one way or the other. I myself run a 6850. I quit WoW late Cata, but I played WoW on Ultra with it. Not sure how well it would hold up in new zones, or 25m raids, as I really only did 10s, though I did run LFR once or twice after it came out and didn't notice any problems.

[Deleted]

The FPS in the chart I posted was during a flight path in old world. In a crowded MoP area or a 25m raid, we are talking closer to 28 v 32 FPS. 5 FPS is HUGE at those levels. Also, in this particular post, "BF3 and other games" we're not mentioned. What was mentioned? WoW @ Ultra. The 670 wins that race, not to mention, the OP said he prefers nVidia.
.

I think during raids, its the CPU that mostly controls the FPS. Could be wrong there, not sure. But thats what im assuming.

As for the BF3 and other games. That was aimed at the general remark, that ppl are recommending AMD over Nvidia in these forums (or a group of people). That had nothing to do with this post in particular. Believe me if i wanted to, i did that in my original post.

And yes the 670 beats the 7970 in wow. Im not telling you it isnt, im just saying the difference are so small. That it might even be smaller at 30 fps. (the difference prob wont be 5 fps, but more likely 1-2). The OP wanted something that isnt top of the line, and is nvidia oriented, thats ok. Hes asking for advice, and im saying the 7870 will do the trick. But if he really wants to stick with nvidia he can get a 660ti.

So in short, im advicing a 7870. But if the OP is stuck on nvidia get a 660ti or even a 670.

[Deleted]

Hello Friends, I'm looking at doing a new build. I don't need top of the line but something sufficient enough to run WoW at Ultra settings

the very second sentence of the OP clearly states his intention, from that point onwards going for ATI is either not sure of the required power or blind (take a pick ^^ )
yes 5-10 FPS matters in new zones with full ultra.

[Terridon]

I appreciate the helpful input. I will be using this build to play WoW and random school work.

Would a power supply like this suffice? microcenter.com/product/399981/Builder_Series_CX500_500_Watt_ATX_12V_Power_Supply

How would the 660 compare to the 650? I know there is a difference of about $100. Any opinions on that?

The power supply looks fine. I have the same kind of wires. They take up a lot of space, but you're sure to have enough of cables for everything ;D
There's a lot of other that inputted about the gfx, so i guess you can decide from that.
Good luck with your computer ^^

[Lathais]

I think during raids, its the CPU that mostly controls the FPS. Could be wrong there, not sure. But thats what im assuming.

You are wrong. CPU determines the minimum FPS, GPU determines Max. Yeah, if your CPU can't handle what's going on, your FPS will suffer, however, OP noted an i5-3570k. His CPU will not be holding his FPS back at all, while his GPU will.

You are really starting to grasp for straws here and continue to blindly recommend an AMD when for the proposed usage of the card and own admitted preference of the OP is against an AMD. Continuing to support it and recommend it in this particular build is bad advice, wrong, and blindly advocating your personal favorite.

[Deleted]

You are really starting to grasp for straws here and continue to blindly recommend an AMD when for the proposed usage of the card and own admitted preference of the OP is against an AMD. Continuing to support it and recommend it in this particular build is bad advice, wrong, and blindly advocating your personal favorite.

Have you seen my very last sentence

So in short, im advicing a 7870. But if the OP is stuck on nvidia get a 660ti or even a 670.