Opinions & Thoughts

[Maxemiss]

I was going to post a link but it would not let me.... So I will try to give a quick description:
AMD Phenom™II X4 925 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
CoolerMaster HAF 912 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Adjustable HDD Cage
XtremeGear Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Card (Major Brand Powered by ATI)
ASUS M4A77T/USB3 AMD 770 Chipset Hardware Core Unlocker DDR3 Socket AM3 ATX w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB 3.0, SATA-II, RAID, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1, & 3 PCI
4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module
600 Watts - XtremeGear Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

I was wanting thoughts & opinions on whether it is worth it or not. Also what the FPS might be on High with 1920x1080?

I chose the Mobo due to a lot of good reviews, same as the video card.

But a buddy of mine keeps telling me I should get the i5 or i7, over AMD. I have always been a fan of AMD and my current comp has one. But I have also been told that the current AMD's of today are not the same ones as of a few years ago (i.e. long lasting, somewhat low temp, durable, & good for gaming). Problem is for almost for the exact same rig, if I go with a i5..... I am forking out I think another $125. Price right now is roughly a lil over 700 bucks. <<----Which is where I AM trying to keep it! =P

So basically...
1) What will the FPS be on a 1920x1080, a "guesstimate" is fine (wow setting on high, Shadows OFF)?
2) Does the set-up (config) look decent? (If not any suggestions?)
3) AMD or i5? (AMD I know more about then i5 technology)

[Vashuna]

If you're going to get liquid cooling kit for your cpu at least get the AMD phenom II x4 955/965 black editions so you can actually OC it.

1)HD5770 are mid range that won't do well with shadows by itself, though in crossfire it could get 60 fps in areas and low 30s in orgimmar on a busy day.
2)My only suggestion is to find a different video card, or SLI the 5770's. A cheap AMD radeon 6850+ will play wow at nice fps at 1920x1080
3)Everyone on this forum seems to ride the Intel fantrain, so i will tell you this. When it comes to wow, everyone is going to argue that intel cpu's are better than AMD, However with an AMD phenom II x4 965/970 BE you won't notice any difference between an intel and that cpu. It doesn't quite bottleneck systems as everyone will have you believe, expecially if you overclock it.(overclocking a black edition is soooo easy now)

The only thing the first gen i5's have over AMD is hyperthreading, which is a joke. Hyperthreading was released to simulate 2 cores when there were only single cores out and they just carried it on because it's useful when multitasking A LOT of things, as well as heavily threaded programs.
And the new generation i5's don't have HT(afaik) but they are 32nm not 45nm.(kind of makes a difference... not really noticeable.)

[Stefy]

I suggest getting a Phenom x5 955/65, overall a better choice. Don't listen to your friend, AMD is your best bet when you have a budget.

Get the Radeon 6850, the 5770 is getting older. But both is able to max out WoW with no issues.

I am very unsure of the quality of that PSU, a link would be nice

If you do the things I've listed about, it will be an excellent build. It's hard to estimate the FPS. But when I had the GTX 260 and an i7 930 I was able to max out WoW with everything on ultra with 60+ FPS everywhere except from high populated areas like cities. (Doesn't really matter, as you could buy a PC tripple that price and still would have issues in those areas).

[Jaarh]

If you're going to get liquid cooling kit for your cpu at least get the AMD phenom II x4 955/965 black editions so you can actually OC it.

1)HD5770 are mid range that won't do well with shadows by itself, though in crossfire it could get 60 fps in areas and low 30s in orgimmar on a busy day.
2)My only suggestion is to find a different video card, or SLI the 5770's. A cheap AMD radeon 6850+ will play wow at nice fps at 1920x1080
3)Everyone on this forum seems to ride the Intel fantrain, so i will tell you this. When it comes to wow, everyone is going to argue that intel cpu's are better than AMD, However with an AMD phenom II x4 965/970 BE you won't notice any difference between an intel and that cpu. It doesn't quite bottleneck systems as everyone will have you believe, expecially if you overclock it.(overclocking a black edition is soooo easy now)

The only thing the first gen i5's have over AMD is hyperthreading, which is a joke. Hyperthreading was released to simulate 2 cores when there were only single cores out and they just carried it on because it's useful when multitasking A LOT of things, as well as heavily threaded programs.
And the new generation i5's don't have HT(afaik) but they are 32nm not 45nm.(kind of makes a difference... not really noticeable.)

I think shadows are more based on your processor rather than your graphics card, anyway.

[aggs]

I still can't link myself but a simple google search lead me to buyxg a .com that sells parts to build with basically and that psu I have never heard of either goes for roughly 30$ on that site. I personally would go towards something a little more reputable on the psu end, thought tbh I am like that with most all components and thats why you do it yourself after all for the most part right? As for the amd/intel I say go with what you want and your budget allows for as what you are using it for seems as it will be a negligible difference. Also maybe step up the board to handle 6gb sata and a bit larger cache on the hdd along with being 6gb sata compliant won't cost you much more and get you a lot longer life out of your build.

[vesseblah]

PhenomII x4 925 should be able to run 25-man raids and in busy cities at 30fps with everything on ultra except shadows few steps down. With 965 you get maybe 10fps more. It might sound like small difference, but when you're doing heavy AOE in raid, the differnece between 10 and 15fps can be a big deal for playability.

If you're going to get liquid cooling kit for your cpu at least get the AMD phenom II x4 955/965 black editions so you can actually OC it.

That is a good and valid suggestion. Price difference from 925 to 965 is not that much, and the overclocking capability will make up for it. Also if OP is not going to overclock at all, paying for any kind of water cooling is 100% waste.

1)HD5770 are mid range that won't do well with shadows by itself, though in crossfire it could get 60 fps in areas and low 30s in orgimmar on a busy day.

My only suggestion is to find a different video card, or SLI the 5770's. A cheap AMD radeon 6850+ will play wow at nice fps at 1920x1080

Biggest misinformation of the thread. First of all, WoW does not play nice with Crossfire on old cards, and second, shadow quality depends on CPU not graphics card. None of the current CPUs available in mainstream stores can run WoW with shadows on ultra with 1920x1080 or higher screen resolution. One Radeon 5770 is totally fine for running the game and Crossfire would be tragic mistake. Instead of CF one better card would always be the sane choice.

3)Everyone on this forum seems to ride the Intel fantrain, so i will tell you this. When it comes to wow, everyone is going to argue that intel cpu's are better than AMD, However with an AMD phenom II x4 965/970 BE you won't notice any difference between an intel and that cpu.

There's around 30-40% difference in minimum FPS during heavy AOE or busy cities between AMD x4 965 and i5-2500K at stock speeds and you can overclock Sandy Bridge much much further than any AMD at home. I wouldn't call it "wont notice any difference". The real deal is that AMD gives better performance at low budget, but if you can afford baseline i5-2500K build, the difference is so big that all AMD options just... suck in comparison.

Vashuna can jump back into his fantrain with his blatant lies or gross misinformation.

[Wries]

The only thing the first gen i5's have over AMD is hyperthreading, which is a joke. Hyperthreading was released to simulate 2 cores when there were only single cores out and they just carried it on because it's useful when multitasking A LOT of things, as well as heavily threaded programs.
And the new generation i5's don't have HT(afaik) but they are 32nm not 45nm.(kind of makes a difference... not really noticeable.)

First gen of i5's was in fact true quad cores with the exception of the lowest tier and the mobile versions which were 2c4t.

Though the new i5's are still better than previous gen by a measurable shot. Read a review.

[Maxemiss]

www .newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227282R (this is open box though , and minus liquid cooling)
or
www .cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1D1A3H (new and has liquid cooling)
or
www .cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1D1A3Q (My personal fave as I think it might be able to do the job)
or
www .newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229206 (minus the liquid cooling, and about 50-75 more $$ then I want to spend)

Only way I would buy the last link would be due to it being the deal of a lifetime not one I should pass up. I thank you for your help, I am just tired of always playing MMOs on bottom line comps and vid cards. Ever since I have been playing MMOs (past 11 years since EQ) I have always had everything set to bare minimum so I could move around. In EQ I would have to turn my cam away from the raid so I could cast with no problems. Yes I like the 3rd link the most, but I want to see the awwwww of it all. I want to be able to record raids and not have it looks tacky. That and people have always told me I should do "How to be a Better Raider", as I have taught many people over the years how to be better raiders. New & Vets, even myself. I always try to be the best with a down to earth personality, and encourage those around me to be the same. Any case back on point.

Usually while running WoW, I am running the following on a Regular Basis:
Vent
Skype
Firefox (with on avg about 5-7 tabs, i.e. youtube or pandora, or tankspot to name a few)
World of Logs
Yahoo (not so much)
Xfire (not so much)
Plus whatever I can record WoW with when I get it (Heroics, Bgs, Arenas, 10 or 25 m raids)

I know which one would be the best, but which one can I SAFELY record WoW and not have my comp bottleneck and get low FPS (I would like to get around 50 on avg on high settings, SHADOWS OFF). Right now on AVG (with or without the above running) I get anywhere from 8 to 20 fps. I get that in 10, 25, heroics, orgimar during peak hours. It is consistent. I also want to hook up my Hard Drive from my current comp to the new one (yes it is sata)

Max

Side Note: I also use my 42 inch HDTV as my monitor. Hence why I want 1920x1080, but I like to run WoW in Windows mode and that is usually about 16## x 10## (or x 12##) if I remember right. I am not sure if that makes a difference or not?

[Vashuna]

That is a good and valid suggestion. Price difference from 925 to 965 is not that much, and the overclocking capability will make up for it. Also if OP is not going to overclock at all, paying for any kind of water cooling is 100% waste.

So what you're saying is that you agree that it's worth it to upgrade to the 965 because he has a liquid cooling kit for his cpu? Cool, i thought the same thing.

Biggest misinformation of the thread. First of all, WoW does not play nice with Crossfire on old cards, and second, shadow quality depends on CPU not graphics card. None of the current CPUs available in mainstream stores can run WoW with shadows on ultra with 1920x1080 or higher screen resolution. One Radeon 5770 is totally fine for running the game and Crossfire would be tragic mistake. Instead of CF one better card would always be the sane choice.

Hence the 6850 suggestion, but thanks for the clarification.

There's around 30-40% difference in minimum FPS during heavy AOE or busy cities between AMD x4 965 and i5-2500K at stock speeds and you can overclock Sandy Bridge much much further than any AMD at home. I wouldn't call it "wont notice any difference". The real deal is that AMD gives better performance at low budget, but if you can afford baseline i5-2500K build, the difference is so big that all AMD options just... suck in comparison.

You don't really notice 30 fps if your fps is higher than 60. Op is also on a budget

Vashuna can jump back into his fantrain with his blatant lies or gross misinformation.

I have an intel platform so saying i'm an amd fanboy is kinda lol. p.s it's lonely on this train

[aggs]

Biggest misinformation of the thread. First of all, WoW does not play nice with Crossfire on old cards, and second, shadow quality depends on CPU not graphics card. None of the current CPUs available in mainstream stores can run WoW with shadows on ultra with 1920x1080 or higher screen resolution. One Radeon 5770 is totally fine for running the game and Crossfire would be tragic mistake. Instead of CF one better card would always be the sane choice

.

I'm curious to know more about this as I run 2x 4850 much older than the 5770 and don't suffer from this "tragic mistake" It is news to me and would definitely like to know about it.

[BicycleMafioso]

.

I'm curious to know more about this as I run 2x 4850 much older than the 5770 and don't suffer from this "tragic mistake" It is news to me and would definitely like to know about it.

Disable one of the 4850s and you might actually see your framerates increase.

[aggs]

I guess that doesn't explain the issue, and as I had one then added another and it got better is why I asked why they made the statement.

[Deleted]

The more you want it to be true the more you skew the numbers to make it so. Some games you would have seen stellar improvement but WoW was not one of them, i would say if you are one of the lucky few you seen little to no improvement in WoW when you went CF.

[vesseblah]

I'm curious to know more about this as I run 2x 4850 much older than the 5770 and don't suffer from this "tragic mistake" It is news to me and would definitely like to know about it.

Some people report up to 20fps drop when using crossfire with WoW compared to just one card with 4k/5k series of Radeons, most people don't see any difference before or after. That's why going blindly for Crossfire for WoW is bad idea. It's just too flaky at the moment, and Blizzard does not officially support either Crossfire or SLI. If you have performance issues, the first thing they do is ask you to turn it off. For most other 3D games CF/SLI will give nice boost.

[aggs]

The more you want it to be true the more you skew the numbers to make it so.

I'm guessing this wasn't directed at me and was more of a generalization as like I stated definitely saw an improvement. It was drastic but it was definitely an increase in fps overall and less of drop in high pop and raid settings at higher settings no less. So yeah it was a boost to mine, I don't speak for others.

[Maxemiss]

This has gone completely off-topic. Let us get back on it please.....
So once again!

www .newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227282R (this is open box though , and minus liquid cooling)
or
www .cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1D1A3H (new and has liquid cooling)
or
www .cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1D1A3Q (My personal fave as I think it might be able to do the job)
or
www .newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229206 (minus the liquid cooling, and about 50-75 more $$ then I want to spend)

Only way I would buy the last link would be due to it being the deal of a lifetime not one I should pass up. I thank you for your help, I am just tired of always playing MMOs on bottom line comps and vid cards. Ever since I have been playing MMOs (past 11 years since EQ) I have always had everything set to bare minimum so I could move around. In EQ I would have to turn my cam away from the raid so I could cast with no problems. Yes I like the 3rd link the most, but I want to see the awwwww of it all. I want to be able to record raids and not have it looks tacky. That and people have always told me I should do "How to be a Better Raider", as I have taught many people over the years how to be better raiders. New & Vets, even myself. I always try to be the best with a down to earth personality, and encourage those around me to be the same. Any case back on point.

Usually while running WoW, I am running the following on a Regular Basis:
Vent
Skype
Firefox (with on avg about 5-7 tabs, i.e. youtube or pandora, or tankspot to name a few)
World of Logs
Yahoo (not so much)
Xfire (not so much)
Plus whatever I can record WoW with when I get it (Heroics, Bgs, Arenas, 10 or 25 m raids)

I know which one would be the best, but which one can I SAFELY record WoW and not have my comp bottleneck and get low FPS (I would like to get around 50 on avg on high settings, SHADOWS OFF). Right now on AVG (with or without the above running) I get anywhere from 8 to 20 fps. I get that in 10, 25, heroics, orgimar during peak hours. It is consistent. I also want to hook up my Hard Drive from my current comp to the new one (yes it is sata)

Max

Side Note: I also use my 42 inch HDTV as my monitor. Hence why I want 1920x1080, but I like to run WoW in Windows mode and that is usually about 16## x 10## (or x 12##) if I remember right. I am not sure if that makes a difference or not

[vesseblah]

First computer of those is clearly best, but it's a dice roll with Newegg's open box policy. 2 and 4 are pretty close in performance so I would drop the more expensive 4th computer since you're short on cash. 3 is weakest of the options, quite notably weaker when doing video capture. Water cooling makes zero difference. High quality air cooler is just as good in cooling as the cheap-ass water coolers, and neither is needed unless you're overclocking.

If I had to guess something, you can do about 20fps FullHD capture on #3, and 30fps on the three other computers.

So it's either #1 or #2, depending on how lucky you feel.