Need Cristism on this budget build

[vesseblah]

That AsRock brand. Is it a good reliable brand? Since everywhere I look people always go Asus/Gigabyte or GTFO lol

ASRock is cheap-ass brand of Asus. Basically comes from same factory except using 2nd grade components. You get exactly what you pay for. ASRock is by far the best choice of motherboards if you want to build on very strict budget, but those will lack certain features if you want something special. Also ASRock is one of the biggest OEM board manufacturers for big brand computers like HP.

i didnt think WoW was that CPU heavy tbh.
guess i was wrong?

Raiding is very CPU-heavy, as well as hanging around in busy cities (like Dalaran now). Solo content depends more on GPU.

[Brandoh]

Makes sense.


also from personal experience
i have used 2 ASRock boards on budget systems and neither have had any problems so far.

[Squall13]

Thanks for the all the help.

Additional questions

Is the 20$ difference between a Phenom x4 955 vs Phenom x4 956 worth it? Or is the performance gain negligible?

Also. I found these Processor + MoBo combos in Newegg. What would be the best in terms of performance for price?

Phenom X4 965

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDe...t=Combo.548071

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDe...t=Combo.548053


Thanks again

EDIT: Looks like the boards have some bad reviwes on the CONS area. Pretty disheartening.

[vesseblah]

Is the 20$ difference between a Phenom x4 955 vs Phenom x4 956 worth it? Or is the performance gain negligible?

If you're doing moderate overclocking 955 and 965 are worth exactly the same and there's no reason to pay extra for 965. If you aren't overclocking 965 is slightly faster, and it's up to you if you feel 'slightly' is worth $20. In WoW the difference is about 5%, or 1-2fps during 25-man raids.

EDIT: Looks like the boards have some bad reviwes on the CONS area. Pretty disheartening.

Probably some/most of those come from user stupidity, as Asus is generally considered to be one of the better manufacturers. AMD motherboards can be very picky about RAM, especially if you're buying some special RAMs and/or are trying to overclock the NB/memory. Take the supported memory lists in manufacturers' site seriously when picking parts.

[Squall13]

Thanks a bunch vesseblah.

If you are saying that most of it come from user stupidity, it would mean that myself would prolly fall into that catergory since this would be my first time building one and who knows what insane things I might end up doing

What tip would you give when choosing a MoBO? In terms of compatibilty, future proofing, etc. I mean, I saw this retardedly cheap MoBo

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813131603

which make me feel like there's a catch or something lol.

Thanks again. Really appreciate it.

[vesseblah]

I meant incompatible RAM with the user stupidity

Asus website has link to memory compatibility char from every motherboard's details. When you pick a board, download the compatibility list and make sure to pick RAM which is on the list. There's quite high chance of problems when you go to 1600MHz or faster RAMs on AMD board unless the RAM is promised to work flawlessly, and I think lot of the complaints of those boards comes from that issue instead of the boards being shit. Although that's possible too.

If you want retardedly cheap, ASRock is the right manufacturer in that category. I'm using one too with Phenom. Problem is that it doesn't overclock that well, but don't have any other complaints with it.

[Squall13]

Hi. Sorry to necro my thread but I have a couple more questions regarding my future build

- I'm leaning narrowing down my MoBO choices to http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813130250 and http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-443-_-Product. My problem is if it is compatible with this RAM http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-277-_-Product. I've looked at the memory standards detail the the 2nd MoBo didn't say 1600 explicitly. I've also read a little about latency and timings because people have commented that it changing these would make the memory work w/o any hitch. I've also looked at the trusted memory PDFs of the said MoBos and the memory isn't on the list.

- How much big of a difference are the two boards minus the USB 3.0 and the 6GB HDD thingy? Is the North Bridge/South Bridge thing a big difference? I plan to do some baby steps in overclocking.

- Lastly. Would u guys suggest to just shell out the extra dough and get a GTX 460 rather than a Radeon 5770 (about $50 difference). I would probably play WoW 90% of the time and D3 when it comes out. But at the same time I don't want to /baaww when I suddenly find a good game and a 5770 can't handle it.


Thanks a bunch in advance.

[Moobious]

What resolution do you plan to play at?

[Squall13]

What resolution do you plan to play at?

Right now my monitor is a 1377 x 768 monitor

I plan to buy a better one in the future though. But not with the system yet.

[Moobious]

Right now my monitor is a 1377 x 768 monitor

I plan to buy a better one in the future though. But not with the system yet.

At 1440x900 or lower a 5770 should meet your needs. If you want to get a full HD monitor the gtx 460 would be a better choice.

[Alienmonkey]

I can only see the Graphics card and the rams :s
The GFX i can recommend (Use it myself!) Ultra works perfectly fine might want to lower shadows though.
The rams looks fine and should cause you no trouble.
But i would not really call this SUPERTIGHT budget :P

[Squall13]

Thanks for the response. Sorry I would update the wish list.

The main concern I have is if the memory is compatible with the MoBo since the website didn't list it as one of their compatible models. Also, I know that the speeds should be the same but I don't know much about the latency.

Well, it is true that it is not a uber duper chocking tight budget I just want one that would serve me a good 3 or maybe even 4 years. I don't need much of the newest of the new since I just play WoW mostly and some HoN on the side. But If you have any suggestions to save a few more bucks without a huge performance drop I would greatly appreciate it (it's $690 with tax on NCIX.ca)

[kc8pnd]

i didnt think WoW was that CPU heavy tbh.
guess i was wrong?

I recently replaced my mobo with a newer MSI P43 with only a Core 2 Duo because of a budget and it completly blows my old mother board away. My old board was an abit Kn8, granted it was only a single core amd processor in it. Same GFX card and amount of ram.

[Dethh]

If the memory isn't listed on the manufacturers list I wouldn't get it. Try to find one that says its 100% compatible.

[Markro]

I'd recommend you go with an Intel, either i7 or i5, you could get a very solid i5 for ~60 dollars more I believe. I'm positive it will perform better than the AMD. I would recommend a ASUS motherboard, only because I have had a bad experience with GIGABYTE. As for Video Card, I would recommend EVGA, although MSI is still very good quality so no change required there. I believe you'll have to adjust your RAM, it's DDR3 1600, but your mother board only supports 1866/1333/1066. I'm not familiar with SeaSonic, so I don't know if they're a quality PSU manufacturer, I would recommend Thermaltake or Antec, in my experience they're the best quality PSUs. Also, nice case

[Squall13]

Thanks. But I'm really on a bad budget spot now. Mortgage + XMAS + Insurance + Student loans = bank breaking. That's why I'm trying to slash off as much as I can but still can play WoW in Ultra in 25mans.

Are you sure about the Ram MoBo compatibility? The PSU I read reviews about it and it's pretty legit.

[Markro]

Thanks. But I'm really on a bad budget spot now. Mortgage + XMAS + Insurance + Student loans = bank breaking. That's why I'm trying to slash off as much as I can but still can play WoW in Ultra in 25mans.

Are you sure about the Ram MoBo compatibility? The PSU I read reviews about it and it's pretty legit.

I'm pretty positive on the Mother Board. Visit: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813128443 then click 'Details'.

Under the heading "Memory", you'll find:

Memory Standard DDR3 1866(OC)/1333/1066

Your ram is: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820231277 Under 'Details', it reads:

Speed DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

I think you would be better off going with DDR3 1333.

[Squall13]

Yeah but a guildie of mine says that it accepts "up to" 1866.

Now i don't know who to believe >.<. Got to research more then

[Fuger]

I would not go with a 460 since the release of the 6850. It beats the 460 in most benchmarks and has the same price.

Unless you prefer nVidia to AMD.

I prefer ASUS so I will link you their version. (It is out of Stock ATM -.-)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121399

You can also buy another once you get some money and Crossfire them with WoW supporting Crossfire in Cata. (So ive been told)

[Markro]

Yeah but a guildie of mine says that it accepts "up to" 1866.

Now i don't know who to believe >.<. Got to research more then

I did some brief research and came across a review: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...-review-8.html

In his review he used DDR3 1600 RAM, which would lead me to believe I was incorrect with my previous assumption. Sorry for misguiding you. Based on this (assuming his information is correct), it appears as if your existing selection of RAM may work fine.