New system advice

[Uggorthaholy]

Yes, I have read the stickies.
Yes, I have built before.
Yes, I checked the "sweet spot" thread
No, I have never had an AMD system.
No, I have no clue how beneficially quad vs dual core is.
No, I have not been 100% able to keep up with the newest technology.

This is why I am here.
I feel like it may be time for a new system, more from boredom than from a dire need to upgrade - other than the fact that my build is 2 years old and I feel like I'm ready to make the leap from XP to 7.

I have some minor questions that I would like concise (if possible) answers on. I'm trying to construct this post and my questions cleanly in hopes for some legitimate, clearly written advice.

Let me start off by saying I'd be looking to build in the $750.00 range, without peripherals, OS included.

I would normally just swap out a mobo and processor in this situation, since it's nearly the same system, and the ram matches speed. HOWEVER, my fiance wants my old rig, because all she has is a netbook, and she games casually.

Quad-core processors : I have read they are not a huge benefit on WoW's processing, however, if I occasionally run 2 instances of wow, and frequently run other programs at the same time, they prove to be worth the upgrade. Is this true?
sub question : 64-bit OS required with quad-core?

AMD vs Intel - For my price range, it appears AMD holds better value. Am I right in those observations?

ATI vs NVidia - verdict seems to be out on this, but it appears, again, I can get more bang for my buck out of ATI in this price range. Is that a valid observation as well?

4gb vs 8gb ram - do I really need more than 4 gb of ram? Not sure how memory-hogging 7 is.

PSU - I'm thinking Antec 650w. Anyone have any horror stories or personal objections?

SLi - friends don't let friends SLi

I'm only looking at a 7200 RPM 500gb drive. suits my needs, and saves a couple bucks.
I'm going to get a super cheap CD drive, just because some things I do require one.

Motherboards - I've always heard the best things about ASUS, and love the ASUS board I have now. Do they still hold a little higher above the rest of the market?

Cases - I personally love my current case, but it was discontinued (enermax uber chakra ) I would be willing to make a small sacrifice to case for costs, but my requirement is full tower. I am a large man with large hands. I do not work well in small spaces. I also like mounting brackets. I have no idea how to find a good case anymore, it makes my head want to explode.


I appreciate any and all constructive criticism and advise from anyone. As I said, I haven't even thought about this for 2 years, so I'm a little rusty. Thanks for reading through this. The link below was the thought I had on a system.

build i was looking at below
Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129066
PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371015
MoBo - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131699
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103808
RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277
GPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121418
HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136769

windows 7 64-bit ($100.00)
7200 RPM 500gb WD - I will honestly never have the need for 1tb of space, I don't do a whole lot of downloading ($40.00)
DVD/CD rom - basic small sony drive, don't need much here, I rarely use DVD drives ($20.00)

Total for that system comes to $784.91


current system specs :
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @2.80 GHz
4gb ddr3 1333 ram (corsair)
NVidia GeForce GTS 250 (asus black knight edition) 1GB
650W rose PSU
500gb 7200 WD HDD
Basic 2XPcie express, 4 memory slot asus mobo (can't find model name atm)

[Xuvial]

Quad-core processors : I have read they are not a huge benefit on WoW's processing, however, if I occasionally run 2 instances of wow, and frequently run other programs at the same time, they prove to be worth the upgrade. Is this true?

WoW is optimized for 3 cores, so yes a quad will be the most beneficial. As for your other programs.....I doubt they're heavily threaded, so you shouldn't need anything more than a quad. But in case you DO run applications that utilize lots of cores, it's worth noting that AMD's hex-cores (1050 - 1090t, etc) are the cheapest 6-core solution while still allowing you to upgrade to AMD's new CPU's, some of which will continue to work on an AM3 socket. Someone else will have to expand a bit on this if you want to know more

sub question : 64-bit OS required with quad-core?

Nothing like that...I'm running XP 32bit on a Q8200. If a CPU is capable of 64-bit processing, then it most definitely can do 32 bit

AMD vs Intel - For my price range, it appears AMD holds better value. Am I right in those observations?

Hmm debatable. I suck at quickly mapping $US builds in my head, but if your budget can fit a Sandy Bridge system then there's nothing like it. Currently AMD don't have an answer to Intel's Sandy Bridge, they're making a potentially costly mistake by delaying their new CPU's for so long...a LOT of people have already jumped ship to Intel.
In case your budget can't fit a Sandy Bridge, I would say the first-gen i5 series (750 and 760) are also awesome gaming CPU's and can out-perform AMD in a similar price range. But this is all up in the air since I haven't looked too deep into AMD CPU's.

ATI vs NVidia - verdict seems to be out on this, but it appears, again, I can get more bang for my buck out of ATI in this price range. Is that a valid observation as well?

AMD has the most options for bang for your buck, but this doesn't mean that nVidia gives any less value. The GPU war between the two companies essentially keeps price/performance ratios neck-and-neck when it comes to mid-range cards, which is great for us consumers :P. Excellent-value cards from AMD include HD5770, HD6870/6850 and HD6950 (2gb version can potentially unlock to a 6970). Meanwhile nVidia has GTX460 (768mb and 1gb) and GTX560 delivering amazing value. GTX560 is quickly becoming a favorite due to it's staggering overclocking ability and being one of the coolest-running cards out there.

4gb vs 8gb ram - do I really need more than 4 gb of ram? Not sure how memory-hogging 7 is.

You mentioned running two copies of WoW + other programs? Considering how cheap RAM is getting, go with 8gb. G.Skill low-voltage 8gb is pretty nice I hear

PSU - I'm thinking Antec 650w. Anyone have any horror stories or personal objections?

Is it Earthwatts? TruePower apparently has some flaws in it.

SLi - friends don't let friends SLi

Well a cheap 650w PSU won't let you SLI/Crossfire anything too flash anyway :P

I'm only looking at a 7200 RPM 500gb drive. suits my needs, and saves a couple bucks.

1TB drives provide the best-value. Samsung Spinpoint 1tb is tough to beat in both value and performance at the moment.

Motherboards - I've always heard the best things about ASUS, and love the ASUS board I have now. Do they still hold a little higher above the rest of the market?

Great manufacturer, but then so is Gigabyte and MSI. Stick with Asus if you've had a good experience with them

Cases - I personally love my current case, but it was discontinued (enermax uber chakra ) I would be willing to make a small sacrifice to case for costs, but my requirement is full tower. I am a large man with large hands. I do not work well in small spaces. I also like mounting brackets. I have no idea how to find a good case anymore, it makes my head want to explode.

A full-tower case that's cheap? That's hard to come by :P but take a look at NZXT Phantom. Low price, 3 different colors! Or look at HAF932 if you want something that looks more rugged/military. I can't really recommend any other decent full-towers that don't cost a fortune (e.g. HAFX, Storm Sniper, etc). But really, you'll be surprised by how roomy mid-towers are capable of getting these days. CM 690 II Advanced is what I'm personally going for in my next build, it's basically a mid-tower with full-tower capabilities :P

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...px?ID=12725894

We can't see that link since it requires YOU to be logged in :P

[Uggorthaholy]

Thanks for some of the advice - I removed the link, it was sent via an email so I thought maybe you could see it.

Any advice as to how I can post my current system specs? I haven't even looked in ages, and I'd like to post it here for comparison. Later today, I will re-edit my above post with individual newegg links to the products I picked out for this build.

I'll also look into those towers and compare them to what I found.

Thanks again!

[Xuvial]

Case: If you're aiming for that price range you might as well go for a Antec Three Hundred. TONS of great reviews/feedback, decent size, good features.
PSU - Fine
MoBo - Fine
CPU - Fine
RAM - Corsair's great, but I haven't seen that model before. I recommend spending $5 more for something with a drastically better track record: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277
GPU - Depends what games you play. HD6870 is a great card, but it won't even break a sweat running WoW...it'll take on Cry:Warhead/BFBC2 at medium-decent settings @ 1080p
HDD - Will do

[Uggorthaholy]

Case: If you're aiming for that price range you might as well go for a Antec Three Hundred. TONS of great reviews/feedback, decent size, good features.
PSU - Fine
MoBo - Fine
CPU - Fine
RAM - Corsair's great, but I haven't seen that model before. I recommend spending $5 more for something with a drastically better track record: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277
GPU - Depends what games you play. HD6870 is a great card, but it won't even break a sweat running WoW...it'll take on Cry:Warhead/BFBC2 at medium-decent settings @ 1080p
HDD - Will do

Thanks again - for right now it's WoW with DA;O and DA2, my woman plays sims 3 (so many graphicz omg).

Just making sure it's worth my money/time/effort to upgrade from my current system to this. I'll change out the ram when I have a little bit more free time.

[Deleted]

im no computer expert, but these days isnt it better to get a solid state HD as your main drive?

you should be able to build a nice rig with 750$ , i spent only 230£ on mine 2 years ago and it still runs wow fine on full gfx (shadows on 2nd tier). have fun with it

also consider upgrading PSU if you are going for a 650. wow never crashed my old 650 but other games did fairly often when the gpu was drawing heavily from it (but then i do run 6 HDs) its not much more cash to get a stronger psu.

[Uggorthaholy]

I've never had an issue, my current psu is a 650w, and I've never crashed it doing some pretty dumb things (seeing if I could tri-box on my system alone, running WoW+DA:O+utorrent+WC3 simulatenously)

I do not want to fork up cash for an SSD.

Main post edited to include change of ram and case.

[Xuvial]

also consider upgrading PSU if you are going for a 650. wow never crashed my old 650 but other games did fairly often when the gpu was drawing heavily from it (but then i do run 6 HDs) its not much more cash to get a stronger psu.

6800 series = ridiculous efficiency, 6870 peaks a measly 150-160 watts at max...you could comfortably run two 6870's on a 650w PSU with overclocking headroom + additions lol.