How does the Setup of the Month ranking system work?

[inritus1618]

My question is basically the title: how does Chaud's ranking system (Puppy, Dolphin, Narwhal, Unicorn) translate to actual performance? More specifically, since I only play WoW and Diablo, what sort of settings could I expect to run with each of those builds? I'd like to play on semi-decent settings smoothly, which is something that my current computer (a Gateway MD2419u laptop) simply can't do. My computer is so bad, in fact, that I have to run at much lower resolutions to achieve 15 fps in dungeons and about 3-7 fps in raids (10-25, both). I intend to build a computer in the coming few months and only wish to spend around 800 dollars (I already have a good mouse and headset, and only want a very basic keyboard as I do not like gaming keyboards very much; I also don't really care for a large monitor, either). Thank you for any insight into these build classifications!

Cheers!

[Angella]

My question is basically the title: how does Chaud's ranking system (Puppy, Dolphin, Narwhal, Unicorn) translate to actual performance? More specifically, since I only play WoW and Diablo, what sort of settings could I expect to run with each of those builds? I'd like to play on semi-decent settings smoothly, which is something that my current computer (a Gateway MD2419u laptop) simply can't do. My computer is so bad, in fact, that I have to run at much lower resolutions to achieve 15 fps in dungeons and about 3-7 fps in raids (10-25, both). I intend to build a computer in the coming few months and only wish to spend around 800 dollars (I already have a good mouse and headset, and only want a very basic keyboard as I do not like gaming keyboards very much; I also don't really care for a large monitor, either). Thank you for any insight into these build classifications!

Cheers!

Think of it like a diminishing returns curve. So the higher up the performance curve you go, the less additional performance in games you will see.

At $800 I'd shoot for a Dolphin. Especially if you've got some peripherals in hand.

[vesseblah]

For WoW specifically and if you aren't overclocking the difference between Puppy and Dolphin is really small and the jump to Narwhal is really big. For the 50% more money spent on Dolphin you get around 10% more speed for WoW and other MMORPGs (GW2, Rift, SWToR etc) which is pretty damn awful value for money. What the Dolphin does better than Puppy is first person shooters and even for that use you should rather get the Puppy with graphics card from Narwhal for much higher gain.

If you want lower cost computer for WoW and D3 specifically what you should do is slim down from Narwhal and forget both Puppy and Dolphin.