Need advice for making a new build for WoD (first time building it myself)

[ShadowOfThePast]

Hey!

Just thought I'd ask the knowledgefull ppl here about which parts to go for to make sure I can get the most out of WoD..and beyond.

Money isn't really that big of a problem but I'm not looking for the top notch high end stuff. I'd say I'm looking for the best cost/performance ratio.

I live in Finland so that narrows options down for where to get the parts from. Heard some ppl order parts from Germany but I have no experience on that..

My current computer is working ok but I'm a bit "worried" it might just not cut it anymore in WoD.


"Old" PC's specs:

CPU: Amd phenom II X4 965 black edition
GPU: nvidia gtx460
MB: Asus M4A79XTD EVO AMD 790X

HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F1 320GB SATA 3.0
Kingston 120GB HyperX SSD
RAM: Kingston HyperX 1600mhz 2x4GB

Case is Antec Sonata III 500 ATX (500W PSU)


What I'm looking advice for is mostly on a new CPU and a MB to go with it. New case with specific fan/filter positioning (need to be accessed easily) and a GPU that keeps me going for few years without having much of a problem. Also sufficient PSU that handles all the new shiny things.

I mostly play WoW and D3 and I'd want the new build to be able to run WoW on ultra smoothly without the fps getting too low. Also one key factor about the build would be noise. My current one is quite "loud" when playing and at first it didn't bother that much but my gf got a custom pc which makes my compare almost as a vacuum cleaner compared to it.. So I want that too! And ofc better than hers!

Thanks for reading and thanks for your input in advance!


ps. If u want some more background info just ask I'll gladly answer!

[Deleted]

Dunno how much you payed for those parts (if it was now) but unless it was almost free i wouldnt spend more than say 100euro on that cpu/mobo/gpu used. Anyway you didn't say the most important thing. What is the budget you are willing to spend. Exact psu model would be nice to know.

[Arbiter]

What is your budget? A lot of people say money isn't an issue but it's a waste of time to pick parts without one.

Mode and age of PSU?

Do you want to reuse your storage drive(s) and RAM?

Do you want a new case? Assuming this is yes since you're complaining about noise.

Do you want to have one good enough for only WoW and D3 or do you want the option of any game you may choose to play? (highly dependent on budget as well)

Link to a shop/website that you are capable of using would be nice as well.

[ShadowOfThePast]

Dunno how much you payed for those parts (if it was now) but unless it was almost free i wouldnt spend more than say 100euro on that cpu/mobo/gpu used. Anyway you didn't say the most important thing. What is the budget you are willing to spend. Exact psu model would be nice to know.

Actually I meant my current pc with the "Current build" that's what I'm getting rid of. Maybe I should have chosen my words differently :P
Budget for the upgrade is max.1000€ I'd say. The PSU model is Antec's own I think because it came with the case.

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What is your budget? A lot of people say money isn't an issue but it's a waste of time to pick parts without one.

Mode and age of PSU?

Do you want to reuse your storage drive(s) and RAM?

Do you want a new case? Assuming this is yes since you're complaining about noise.

Do you want to have one good enough for only WoW and D3 or do you want the option of any game you may choose to play? (highly dependent on budget as well)

Link to a shop/website that you are capable of using would be nice as well.

Budget is max 1000€ and I was thinking of re-using the SSD and the memory since they are not that old (maybe HDD too for data storage)..
Age of all the OLD pc's parts are from november 2010. That's when I bought all of it pretty much. Definately want a new case because I have difficulties keeping the current one as clean I would like to because I have problems getting to the air intake filter in front etc. Also the noise thing kinda bothers me when playing. 1 option I thought about at some point was Define R4..

http://www.verkkokauppa.com/ is the place I bought stuff for my first self build pc (which my friend then put together..) but I think it's in Finnish only so not much help. http://www.jimms.fi/ Is also one I used for my new screen or panel or whatever. But that one is also in Finnish only

And yes pretty much only playing WoW/D3/or similar but I would like to be prepared for the expansion after WoD and maybe there will be something new in the future I might start playing. I don't play any FPS games or driving games on PC.

- - - Updated - - -

After getting rid of some sleep deprivation I decided to post again to simplify what I'm looking for. I'm mainly looking to build a new pc by using some of the existing stuff (SSD,HDD,RAM) and the rest I will be replacing with new stuff.

I am looking for suggestions for new:

Motherboard (I have pretty much no clue of which work with which CPU's and the qualities of each model etc)
CPU (+special cooling if needed)
GPU
PSU
a new case that fits all parts mentioned above and has good silent air cooling and fan filters placed so that they are easy to clean. (got 2 cats and dust etc so need to clean regularly)

[Ghâzh]

So I compiled a list based on www.jimms.fi prices which is, from personal experience, usually the cheapest and has the biggest selection. You'll probably wanna compare prices between www.verkkokauppa.com as well and see if anything's cheaper over there.

I'm assuming that you'll reuse your old HDD, SSD, RAM and PSU here. These are by far the best components you can have for WoW within your 1000€ budget. Your old antec 500W PSU will be enough to run these so don't worry about it. I also picked the fractal design r4 case for silence and dust filters (it also looks pretty sleek).

If you want to save 100€ you can drop down to i5-4690k CPU. There's not much difference compared to i7 apart from maybe slightly higher overclocking. I went with i7 however since you said money wasn't that big of a problem. I'd still consider saving the 100€ here though.

Haswell i7-4790K, LGA1150, 4.0GHz, 8MB, Boxed------------------------------------------- 339.00€
Define R4 Black Pearl ATX-kotelo, musta + Ulti-Mat Breathe F-X3 Gaming Mousepad (Bundle)--99.90€
MSI Z97 PC MATE, LGA1150, Intel Z97, DDR3, ATX -----------------------------------------104.00€
MSI GTX 970 Gaming, 4GB GDDR5, PCI-E 3.0 -----------------------------------------------389.00€
Prosessorijäähdytin NH-D14 SE2011, LGA2011----------------------------------------------76.90€
Total (www.jimms.fi)----------------------------------------------------------------------1008.80€

[ShadowOfThePast]

Thanks alot for the reply! :] I actually had thought about maybe getting a new PSU also since the one I have now is pretty old (though still working fine I quess..)
Any reliable PSU's with the same power, 500W? I guess they don't sell Green flower's PSU's in Finland? (or not anymore after Silent Rig quit business =/ )

About the GPU: Is that chosen also keeping in mind the noise factor? :P I think the GPU's tend to be one of the biggest contributers to the noise maybe along with PSU/case cooling fans(?)

I think I will not be overclocking much since I really have no experience on that and don't wanna mess up/break any parts :P

The i5-4690k is good enough for those games for the next 3 years or so? Just wanna make sure there is no need to be upgrading too soon :]

About the MB. Noticed it had crossifre support. Is there a version of a similar MB with SLI support? Just in case I would get a crazy idea to make SLI build sometime in the future? maybe with some 2 screen setup or something else

[Firkraag]

If you want a silent computer I would recommend dropping down to 4690k CPU and get a 80+ Gold rated PSU at around 600W or so. Older PSU's such as your Antec one gets quite loud as it reaches max load or near it. People really underestimate the importance of a good power supply.

[ShadowOfThePast]

If you want a silent computer I would recommend dropping down to 4690k CPU and get a 80+ Gold rated PSU at around 600W or so. Older PSU's such as your Antec one gets quite loud as it reaches max load or near it. People really underestimate the importance of a good power supply.

Is the i7-4790k CPU loud in some way? Or does it need so much more airflow or something that makes it not a good choice for a silent build? Just asking because I am all for saving money where it is better spend elsewhere but just wanna make sure the i5-4690k is good enough for what I want and lasts so long that I don't have to be upgrading again next year or so

I kinda thought it might be the PSU that makes the noise.. and probably also my 460gtx? Not that bad noise when idle but when gaming...damn!

Any suggestions for a good PSU?
I have heard nothing but good things on this brand and this is the closest to 500W I could find http://www.super-flower.com.tw/produ...s=2&sn=1&ID=73 Something like that maybe?

[Remilia]

CPU has nothing to do with noise, it's the fan used with the cooler / heatsink.

[ShadowOfThePast]

CPU has nothing to do with noise, it's the fan used with the cooler / heatsink.

Yea that's what I thought too. That's why I didn't understand how dropping to 4690k CPu would help in getting a silent computer..

[Firkraag]

A good PSU will be like around at or at least 100€, if budget had to be taken from somewhere that's where I'd take it from. If you can get both then by all means go ahead.

Also, the PSU you linked is very good. 80+ Platinum might even be a bit overkill, but it's a component that will last you for a long while. Superflower makes good stuff.

[ShadowOfThePast]

A good PSU will be like around at or at least 100€, if budget had to be taken from somewhere that's where I'd take it from. If you can get both then by all means go ahead.

Also, the PSU you linked is very good. 80+ Platinum might even be a bit overkill, but it's a component that will last you for a long while. Superflower makes good stuff.

Thanks for the clarifications :] I think I will really consider the Super flower I linked and save some money using the i5 instead of the i7.. I always thought the i5's are more for gaming anyway and the i7's a bit "overkill".. Depends probably on what ppl play but with the games I use it for might go to waste..

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Now if I only could come up with a proper MB that has SLI-support and features that are adequate for the CPU etc..
Totally confused with all the different boards and wouldn't wanna use 170€ on a board if it's overkill and could get all the needed stuff for less..

[Ghâzh]

That super flower PSU is really nice but unfortunately it's not on stock at www.jimms.fi at the moment. There's no estimate time either so you might have to wait for really long. Another excellent silent choice is Corsair 550 RM. It's only gold rated but I know for a fact that the fan and the fan profile are outstanding on that, in fact, it probably won't spin at all with i5 + gtx 970 only pulling like 300W max.

The cheapest motherboard supporting true SLI (+4x speeds on second PCIe) I can find is the "Gigabyte Z97X-SLI, LGA1150, Intel Z97, DDR3, ATX". It should suit the build pretty well and it's only 15€ more expensive then what I linked earlier so it might be a smart pick.

About choosing the i5 4690k over i7, I totally agree. I'm not even sure anymore why I suggested i7 before for a budget build, I mean, it has higher stock clock speed and it should be a bit higher binned for overclocking but that's about it. In gaming, taken that they are both clocked at the same speed, they should perform almost identically in most games (WoW, D3...). I wouldn't completely put off overclocking just yet though, there's a lot of extra performance to be had for WoW and it's pretty straight forward and easy to do if you follow a proper guide. You could, however, safely downgrade the cooler to Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO or Cooler Master Hyper 412S if you don't feel so enthusiastic about it.

And finally the MSI GTX 970 Gaming is one of the most quiet 970's I've seen reviewed. The cooler is so good relative to the power consumption that it should be virtually silent.

[ShadowOfThePast]

Thanks for all the info Ghâzh! :] Any tips on where to get some info "for dummies" on overclocking. I was also thinking that don't some motherboards have options in BIOS or somewhere to automatically overclock by specified % value? And they will then automatically adjust other values according to that..?

Keeping OC'ing in mind would you say for example http://www.verkkokauppa.com/fi/produ...GA1156-LGA1155 is good enough cooler for the i5..?

[Remilia]

Don't know much about coolers but for the PSU if you want to SLI, an alternative is the G-650 by Seasonic
http://www.jimms.fi/tuote/G-650
It's a bit more expensive.

[Ghâzh]

Well "good enough" is kind of relative to what you want to achieve. Basically anything past the stock cooler is going to be a big improvement already and enough for standard overclocking.The difference between something like the Hyper 212 Evo (25€) and Noctua NH-D14 (75€, the best air-cooler there is pretty much) isn't that big anymore though. Overclock wise, buying the top tier cooler could maybe help you getting the last 100MHz stable (say from 4.6GHz to 4.7GHz).

So really, I'd only recommend the pricier options if you're really enthusiastic about trying to squeeze that last bit of overclocking possible and generally just like to tinker with that kind of stuff (or have unlimited budged). Something like those Cooler Master coolers I mentioned earlier would be perfectly viable for your standard overclocking and probably wouldn't end up affecting the end results all that much. That Noctua NH-U9B SE2 you linked is already 62€ and, in my opinion, if you're going to be spending that much you might as well use 10€ more for NH-D14 which is the best of best. Or go with something cheaper altogether, like the Hyper 212 EVO / 412S.

And yes, the easiest way would be to use the motherboard "auto-tune" overclock which most of the time works okay. The problem with those, however, is that they usually overestimate the needed voltage for a set overclock, which in return makes your CPU run hotter then it needs to. You will most likely get higher and better results doing it by yourself. Check out http://www.pcworld.com/article/20447...ike-a-pro.html for starters. It doesn't go in too much of finer details on what settings exactly to touch in BIOS so you'll probably have to read something more detailed once you get your PC set up but that's a good starting point in my opinion.

Edit:

Don't know much about coolers but for the PSU if you want to SLI, an alternative is the G-650 by Seasonic
http://www.jimms.fi/tuote/G-650
It's a bit more expensive.

Yeah if you wanna be SLI ready on the PSU as well you're gonna need a bit more wattage for that. I'd recommend the Corsair 650 RM over that Seasonic though.

[ShadowOfThePast]

Thank you very much to everyone for their insights in the thread! I think I'm pretty much set with all the info so far. I'll get back on it once I get the parts etc and should I run to any problems (which I'm almost sure will happen..)

[Deleted]

By thew way, it';s unlikely that you'll need to be able to SLI the GTX970, as the card itself is asuch a beast at 1080p resolution. And it hangs around with the 290 and even the 290X (on the non-reference models) at 1440p resolution.