Starting from Scratch for WoW Legion

[Calebrono]

Hello all,

Well, my 2009 iMac is no longer sufficient for any recent games, and I would like my next gaming computer to be a PC, so I am essentially starting from scratch. Thanks in advance!

Budget: $800
Resolution: 1080 (I guess?)
Games / Settings Desired: WoW Legion, Fallout 4, Civilization 6 (when it launches). Running these on "moderate" settings is fine for me.
Any other intensive software or special things you do: None
Country: USA
Parts that can be reused: Starting from Scratch!
Do you need an OS? Yes
Do you need peripherals?: Monitor and Speakers

[Kooja]

A great place to start is www.logicalincrements.com

They list many tiers of builds, based on price ranges, and keep all the components balanced so you don't spend too much on a GPU just to be bottlenecked somewhere else.

That said, I don't have a specific recommendation for you, but I'm sure someone else will!

[Mythbredor]

Right so I threw this together it has some flaws being the tight budget you're on. It will go over probably to about 1000$. I put in the 1060 instead of the RX 480 mainly personal preference but the 1060 will perform better in WoW specifically. If you want to save that extra bit of money you can buy the RX 480 instead (once they release aftermarket cooler designs). I would also recommend getting your windows key from Kinguin to save about 50$. (Disclaimer Kinguin does some "Grey Area" buisness practices that is frowned upon by most people, the keys are fine no issues there just wanted to let you know). The speakers aren't amazing by any means your budget really doesn't fit a fancy speaker system. The monitor is also not all that fancy does it's job good enough tho.

You could cut more corners but you'd be losing some performance at that point but it's up to you. (GPUs cost is not included in the list)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GAMING Video Card
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($77.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($129.88 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS228H-P 21.5" Monitor ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Speakers: Logitech Z200 0W 2ch Speakers ($23.43 @ Amazon)
Total: $779.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-20 11:35 EDT-0400

[Calebrono]

Thanks all for your helpful replies and numerous options! I really liked the logicalincrements.com site for the detailed breakdowns, by the way.

[Deleted]

In exchange for dropping the i5 you can get a hard drive and a Z170 motherboard. This lets you use faster RAM, which is about a 6-8 fps gain in some games.

Where did you see 8 fps gains, i want to see that too. I 2-3fps i alright, but 8?
@Calebrono i would recommend saving a little more to get something decent cause 800$ is not much to include a monitor and o/s. You definately need to go with i3 with that budget, you can't go with an i5 or an ssd unless you save even more.

This is what i'd aim at with an i3.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($35.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($83.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 23.0" 60Hz Monitor ($171.88 @ OutletPC)
Speakers: Logitech Z200 0W 2ch Speakers ($24.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Other: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GT ($250.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $936.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-21 05:57 EDT-0400

[Deleted]

Depends on the game. I'd ignore the Ryse results though.

Yeah i've seen that before, but you do realise this is not applicable here right? Ram can play that much role when the cpu is the bottleneck. Ie you got a TitanX paired with an i3. Obviously anything more you throw at i3 to help it its going to give more. Give that you will never see that, even with a Z board i would say don't count much on it. Like i said a few fps gain can be seen on reasonable setups, the setups on the video is highly unlikely (i3+Zmobo+Titan).

[Deleted]

Yeah i've seen that before, but you do realise this is not applicable here right? Ram can play that much role when the cpu is the bottleneck. Ie you got a TitanX paired with an i3. Obviously anything more you throw at i3 to help it its going to give more. Give that you will never see that, even with a Z board i would say don't count much on it. Like i said a few fps gain can be seen on reasonable setups, the setups on the video is highly unlikely (i3+Zmobo+Titan).

Skylake benefits more from higher RAM. Found this review here comparing ram speeds with a 6700k. Differences can be quite big, but it also depends on the game used. I also saw some other reviews showing no real performance increase going with higher speed ram.

I also do not know if the effects are the same for an i3.

[Calebrono]

After your suggestions and a few other guides, here is what I ended up doing, at least for the computer itself:
PC Part Picker: /list/KgHdXH

CPU — Intel Core i5-6400 2.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor — $180
Cooler — Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler — $25
Motherboard — AS Rock H170 Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard — $92
Memory — G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory — $31
Storage — PNY CS1111 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive— $60
Video Card — MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card— $80
Case — Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case — $45
Power Supply — EVGA SuperNova GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply — $73

Monitor — HP Pavilion 21.5 Inch IPS LED — $100
Speakers — Logitech Z200— $25
Windows 10 USB -- $120 (more expensive, I know, but I used Amazon)

Total: $830

[Mythbredor]

Skylake benefits more from higher RAM. Found this review here comparing ram speeds with a 6700k. Differences can be quite big, but it also depends on the game used. I also saw some other reviews showing no real performance increase going with higher speed ram.

I also do not know if the effects are the same for an i3.

Sadly the difference in perfromance from faster Ram doesn't really matter if the OP can't afford it. 800$ is tight with a monitor and windows 10.

[Deleted]

After your suggestions and a few other guides, here is what I ended up doing, at least for the computer itself:
PC Part Picker: /list/KgHdXH

CPU — Intel Core i5-6400 2.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor — $180
Cooler — Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler — $25
Motherboard — AS Rock H170 Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard — $92
Memory — G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory — $31
Storage — PNY CS1111 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive— $60
Video Card — MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card— $80
Case — Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case — $45
Power Supply — EVGA SuperNova GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply — $73

Monitor — HP Pavilion 21.5 Inch IPS LED — $100
Speakers — Logitech Z200— $25
Windows 10 USB -- $120 (more expensive, I know, but I used Amazon)

Total: $830

the i5 6400 is going to be worse in gaming than i3 6100. also the money saved from that can easily go to a gtx950 which is far better.

[Calebrono]

Unfortunately, I already ordered the parts. How is the i3 better than the i5? The deal on the graphics card was a bit too good to pass up, and I figured I could replace it in a couple years if need be.

[Deleted]

Cause the i3 is higher clocked simple as that and that specific i5 is not good for gaming cause of low clock. The gtx750ti used to be good but as with all older parts it isn't worth it at some point. The lowest performance gpu for gaming i would pick atm is gtx950.

I don't mean it in a harsh way, but you asked for advice and still went with whatever you thought was good enough, even for your budget. Its your money ofc, you can do w/e you like but you didn't help yourself much.