Questions for a new computer

[Cakethebarbarian]

So im looking to get a new set up to play wow

id really like to get 60 fps most of the time and the whole shebang

what kind of stuff should i be looking for?

and asa side note what would i need to run wow with the HD graphics they have recently came out with? the what x64 multisample?

EDIT:

budget is around 2k

im in washington-seattle area

i know enough about computers to make one

yw :>

[Omican]

What's your budget? Location? Any knowledge about computers?

Etc. Need abit more info than this.

[Omican]

If you have a 2k budget, then www.alienware.com is the place to be.

[telemain]

If you have a 2k budget, then www.alienware.com is the place to be.

No it isn't. Alienware is not the right answer for pretty much ANY budget. For any desktop they have you could build the same system for less (or a better system for the same.)

For notebooks it's a bit more iffy, but I don't trust their notebooks. I had one which died a week out of warranty. It turned out the issue was that the graphics card had a KNOWN overheating issue, which they didn't bother to inform me about to fix. I couldn't even get a replacement card because they had stopped being made since they constantly burned out.

Moral of the story: If you want a desktop, build it yourself don't use alienware. If you want a laptop, look into other high end gaming laptops

[gherkin]

1) Intel Quad Core (speed doesn't matter) with the biggest L2 Cache you can afford.
2) Any Asus motherboard valued at 120$ or more. Strange thing with motherboards, cheaper than this gets you bad quality. Much more than this gets you features you'll never know you have. Works even during recessions!
3) 1066mhz DDR3, 4gb. You will need to use a 64bit OS for more than 3gb.
4) SATA2 hard drive. You get a minor performance gain out of a Raptor (3% or so?) but I don't think its worth it
5) 700 watt power supply, and don't let anyone oversell you on this. Less is too little, more is WAYYYY too much. You aren't watercooling.
6) Case - anything. If the Powersupply is located above the processor, make sure the power supply has a bottom-side fan to assist in cooling the CPU, rather than acting as a heat shield.
7) Graphics Card - This is where you splurge on an Nvidia SLI setup. Avoid ATI because they're moving towards a cell based tech that hasn't reached maturity yet. I'd suggest two 9800 GT's, best bang for buck at the moment

Estimated price: 1200$. You have another 800$ to blow on two 24" widescreen monitors. Nothing says "OMG" like 4 feet of pixels.

[gherkin]

If you decide to go with a laptop, you'll be spending 1200$ on average for a decent one just so you can get a good video card.

Check this site if you do, it'll help you find out which card gets you what kind of speed.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...ist.844.0.html

You're looking for a 3DMark06 score of ~5000+, as my laptop can run max everything (except shadows) and sit at 40FPS in dalaran, and it only scores 3000.

[PvE_Mage]

I made my wife a new PC for $600 a couple of weeks ago. Best thing is I got the video card for free because they forgot to ring it up.
I'm also in WA (seattle area) and got all my parts from Frys. However, I recommend buying everything you need online because Frys sometimes doesn't have what you want in stock.

(quad core, 4Gig 1333 Mhz ram, BFG GeForce GTS 250, winXp)

The only components I reused were DVD drive, LCD monitor, keyboard, and HDD)

[scotpc]

Check out the ASUS G50vt for a great, low priced gaming laptop. I bought one a month ago and this thing is great. 60fps all the time. I removed the 60fps default the other night with /console maxfps 0 and /console maxfpsbk 0, now I get 130fps all the time.

You really can't beat this machine. It is hands down better then most laptops, and about $300-$500 cheaper.

[epitaph]

what...no mention of the AMD Phantom Black edition? You guys don't know what you are missing.

[Spiritus]

If you have enough knowledge to build one. Then do it. DO NOT buy a retail machine unless you feel that the stock/purchased warranty is what you need.

One thing to note, WoW is not an HD game. You don't need to purchase products with the "HD" label on them. I just built my buddies gaming rig for 900 dollars and he's running 60-70 FPS all the time.

I got him an AMD Athalon 64-bit Dual-Core 3.0 ghz processor. Don't go get a Quad, it's not necessary, not worth the money, and generally slower if you only run WoW, Vent, and iTunes. Got him a PCI-E graphics card with 1GB of GDDR3 dedicated RAM. 4GB of Corsair 1000mhz RAM. A nice mobo to fit the core. Two Raptor 100GB, 10,000 RPM HD's with a full gig of transfer speed. A Gateway 24-inch HD monitor. An Antec Nine-Hundred Fifty Black case (filling in all the fan slots).

Let me know if you want more specifics.