Upgrading from Laptop to Desktop

[Haloious]

Hey guys! I just started playing, from like a 3/4year break since WotLK. I currently have an Asus G60JX notebook and I'm having issues. The latop was awesome back in Wrath, I could run 25 man ICC on either high (maybe it was ultra, can't remember) with a steady, decent, playable framerate.

Now, not so much. I don't know if Blizz updated the engine, or min. specs, or what. But even in 5 man dungeons, I'm getting like 15 FPS and it is killing me to play like that. Here's my current specs so you can see my current rig, and a benchmark on what I'm trying to improve from:

Current Rig: Asus G60JX Notebook

CPU:
Intel Core i5 430M / 2.26 GHz
Dual-Core
L2 - 3 MB Cache
1066 MHz Bus Speed

RAM:
4GB DDR3 SDRAM

GPU:
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M - 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM

If anyone is familiar with these laptops, they have terrible heat management, I've drilled holes allll through the bottom case, it literally looks like a honeycomb, and run a cooler 24/7 and still see 70-95C while playing. Things may literally be starting to burn out, I'm not sure.

However, I'm really behind the times in the computer realm, I know so much has changed in just a couple years. Is this good enough to play just WoW, like is there something I should investigate? Or is there an upgraded rig I can get that will improve on this without breaking the bank? For example, whats the cheapest rig I can buy/build that will show improvement over this? I don't care if i'm running ultra, I just would like to run High and be able to get over 15FPS in a raid. I assume going desktop will be cheaper than another laptop, but in reality I'm okay with either.

Thank you guys so much, I've been reading all night and have seen some really awesome and interesting things!

[Vash The Stampede]

By any chance have you taken apart the laptop and cleaned the heatsink?

Anyway, this is reasonably cheap but a bit much for playing WoW.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($175.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3-A (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.05 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 2GB Dual-X Video Card ($198.98 @ Newegg)
Case: DIYPC FM08-Blue ATX Mid Tower Case ($30.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($58.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($93.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $722.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-03 01:18 EDT-0400

[Haloious]

Yeah, I just did that a couple days ago. It helped tremendously, becuase before it my whole laptop was crashing becaus they'd hit critical temps. Also, my current 10-15 FPS is on a "good" setting, not high, so it sucks haha.

I like that build! I'm very interested. I've always been an Intel guy, but tell me, does AMD compete with Intel? Like are their same-price options peform as good? I'd like to stay Intel, but I was just curious.

Thanks for the reply

[Deleted]

Depends if you play casually or raid competitively. If the later that i5 4460 won't cut it, you are better off with an i3 4170. The r9 380 also won't help you much in wow, if you are not going top dog gpu then you need an nvidia one, aka gtx960. Also no amd does not compete with intel, at all in gaming, an i3 4170 is better than the best amd...

What i could say is a cheap build that will raid okish, but will lack in multitasking:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($111.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($51.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($41.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card ($149.80 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Silencio 352 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $494.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-03 06:24 EDT-0400

If you wanna go towards the best experience without extremes:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($228.00 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($41.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($88.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($175.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Core 2300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $725.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-03 06:36 EDT-0400

[Vash The Stampede]

Yeah, I just did that a couple days ago. It helped tremendously, becuase before it my whole laptop was crashing becaus they'd hit critical temps. Also, my current 10-15 FPS is on a "good" setting, not high, so it sucks haha.

As long as the system isn't thermal throttling then 10-15 FPS is as good as that system gets. I have a fairly old laptop that I log in sometimes when I'm away from home just to do garrison missions and run around the world. My laptop doesn't compare to yours and I run WoW through Wine on Linux, but at low graphic settings it runs 30 FPS.

I like that build! I'm very interested. I've always been an Intel guy, but tell me, does AMD compete with Intel? Like are their same-price options peform as good? I'd like to stay Intel, but I was just curious.

Thanks for the reply

AMD right now doesn't compare when it comes to WoW. In pretty much in all respects it doesn't compare unless you're looking to build a cheap general gaming machine. If WoW wasn't the only game you'd play then I'd say a FX-8320 or FX-8320E would be pretty decent. Most games don't care too much about the CPU, except for WoW. On the other hand the graphics cards do matter in most games, but not so much in WoW.

Kostattoo did a pretty good job with his builds for WoW gaming. Remove the CPU for a G3258 and put a cheap case with Windows 10 and this is the bare minimum you need to run WoW with high settings even during raids. Though if you plan to play Crysis 3, Fallout 4, or whatever than this machine will suck for that.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($61.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($41.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card ($159.80 @ Newegg)
Case: DIYPC FM08-Blue ATX Mid Tower Case ($30.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($93.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $541.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-03 11:12 EDT-0400

[Haloious]

Again, thanks so much for the reply!! In all honesty if I redid the thermal pasting and worked more on cooling, I would probably see better performance, and I'd do it in a heartbeat, but this laptop lacks completely in RAM, I'm quite often running 96% memory capacity... And I can't upgrade it on this machine, I figure going desktop this time I can always build and improve.

Say I have $700 to shoot for not counting a monitor, should I go with Kostattto's build for $720? Will that give me good to high performance in WoW without problems, and at least give me the opportunity to play other games decently? If so, I think you guys may have found me my new pc!!

And 1 more stupid question, I know there's probably a million variables here... But would an HDTV serve me better than a monitor in that builds situation?

Thanks guys!!

[BicycleMafioso]

The r9 380 also won't help you much in wow, if you are not going top dog gpu then you need an nvidia one, aka gtx960.

What is this bullshit? The R9 380 is more powerful than a GTX 960 in all games that are not wow, and in wow, he wants to raid so it doesn't matter.



And the G-3258 is a bad recommendation for all gaming not named Wow when the AMD Athlon II x4 860K gives you a cheap and very workable decent quad-core CPU. Since this is WoW, I wouldn't want to recommend it anyway, but it's probably a worst-case recommendation if Wow is the only game one plays.
Intel is without a doubt better in gaming, but outside Wow, the differences are very highly exaggerated.

- - - Updated - - -

Say I have $700 to shoot for not counting a monitor, should I go with Kostattto's build for $720? Will that give me good to high performance in WoW without problems, and at least give me the opportunity to play other games decently? If so, I think you guys may have found me my new pc!!

And 1 more stupid question, I know there's probably a million variables here... But would an HDTV serve me better than a monitor in that builds situation?

Thanks guys!!

With the notion that I'd rather Dukenukemx's CPU and GPU choices, but otherwise yes.
EDIT: Missed the HDTV question (which isn't stupid). No. A monitor is better in 98%+ of cases.

[Deleted]

What is this bullshit? The R9 380 is more powerful than a GTX 960 in all games that are not wow, and in wow, he wants to raid so it doesn't matter.

In wow, and thats what op asked, a gtx960 runs as good as a R9 290, so the R9 380 will be alot worse. I am sure you can go look benchmarks yourself without me linking.

[BicycleMafioso]

In wow, and thats what op asked, a gtx960 runs as good as a R9 290, so the R9 380 will be alot worse. I am sure you can go look benchmarks yourself without me linking.

I haven't found any benchmarks dealing with raids, only FPS-average roofs, so please link these.
In raids, neither GPU will matter. Having the stronger GPU in other games matter more.

[Vash The Stampede]

Say I have $700 to shoot for not counting a monitor, should I go with Kostattto's build for $720? Will that give me good to high performance in WoW without problems, and at least give me the opportunity to play other games decently? If so, I think you guys may have found me my new pc!!

His build is great but this build bellow is going to do all that with some disclaimers.

1. It's not a Intel K which means don't even try overclocking. If you weren't then that's fine.
2. The GPU makes 0 difference in WoW compared to the 950 or 960 at 1080P. The 290 I have in this build is purely for other games.
3. I replaced the SSD for a 2TB mechanical drive which is fine but if you don't need Terabytes worth of storage then go with a SSD.
4. We are guiding you so if you don't like something change it. If you don't like the case, change it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($175.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($41.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.90 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Diamond Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $685.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-04 23:26 EDT-0400

And 1 more stupid question, I know there's probably a million variables here... But would an HDTV serve me better than a monitor in that builds situation?

Thanks guys!!

A monitor is better cause TVs weren't built with gaming in mind. They usually have higher latency compared to a monitor. But if you like your HDTV and want to skip the cost on buying a monitor it'll work fine. Xbox and PS4 owners don't seem to mind gaming on a TV.

[Artorius]

Decent tvs have only 20~25ms of input lag with the post processing stuff turned off. Completely fine.

Telling me which TV you have helps though.