I need your help with picking out a decent computer.

[Razziinc]

Hi.

Let me start by saying that I am in no way a pro when it comes to computer specs etc.
And neither am i rich and can afford a super computer, but i think i found an alright computer for my needs.

The specs:

Corsair CX 500W PSU ATX 12V V2.3
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Quad Core, 3,2Ghz, AM3, 8MB, 125W, Boxed.
MSI 870A-G54, Socket-AM3 ATX, AMD870+SB850, DDR3, 2xPCIe(2.0)x16, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0, Military Class.
Corsair Vengeance™ DDR3 1600MHz 4GB CL9 Kit w/2x 2GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, 1.5V, Vengeance Heatspreader, 240 pin.
Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI, HDMI, 2xmini-DisplayPort.
Western Digital Caviar® Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3.0), 32MB, 7200RPM.

The above is just a simple copy-paste from the website that sell this.
I'm planning on running Windows 7 Professional 64bit.

My needs:
Im playing in a top 500 world guild for 10 man progression, so i would like to be able to run 10-mans smoothly on a decent quality.

How would this work out - what quality/settings can i expect?

[taekvideo]

Intel i5-2500k with a p67 board is best for gaming right now, especially for wow since it's cpu-intensive. It's a bit more expensive than the amd's but worth it.
Also caviar black is higher performance than blue... blue is a medium between performance/power-saving.
I'm not sure but I don't think sapphire's 6950 is unlockable... especially the 1gb version... if you want to unlock the 6950 to a 6970 you'd be best with a reference design card (I got an msi)... though you'd probably need custom cooling with a reference-design card since they come with 1 small fan aha..

Some improvements you can make but what you have there would work fine.
How much are they charging for it?

[Biernot]

Basically speaking, this is a capable gaming rig. To optimize your WoW performance, a few adjustments could be done. Don't get me wrong, this pc could run WoW at 1920x1080 with ultra settings in a raid. But if the main focus is WoW, a few alterations will get you more bang for your buck.

CPU + MB
Personally i really like and support AMD, but at this moment, Intel SandyBridge is far ahead in terms of WoW performance. Get an i5-2400 (or i5-2500k if you want to OC) and a matching H67 / P67 motherboard (P67 if you want to OC). Don't buy so called high-end motherboards. All the extra stuff they have on them is mostly garbage and makes them more susceptible to failure. The basic variation is mostly the best (e.g. Asus P7H67-M or Gigabyte P67A-UD3).
Also, AMD's boxed coolers are crap, while Intel's aren't that bad at all. If you plan to have a more silent pc, then you should always opt for a third-party cooler (e.g. Scythe KATANA as a reasonable priced but good heatsink, or Scythe MUGEN as a upper-class solution).

RAM
Only buy the "fancy" ram if they are more or less the same price as a standard one. All the crap they slap on them makes the cooling actually worse and the higher clock and timings don't bring a noticable performance boost.

Graphics
An HD6950 is probably overkill for WoW, even in 25 raids. Save 50-100 bucks on the graphics card and invest them instead in a SandyBridge + MB.

Also caviar black is higher performance than blue... blue is a medium between performance/power-saving.

Wrong. Caviar Black and Blue are identical in performance and power consumption (maybe except that the black has a bigger cache). The actual differences are the following:
- black has extended warranty (3 -> 5 years)
- black is certified for 24/7 use and has a significantly higher MTBF
(- and then there is also the RE4 model, which is basically a black, but each unit is pretested before being shipped)

[Razziinc]

Thanks for the answers, really awesome, but like i said, im not 'pro' in computer specs etc. so most of the terms you guys use means nothing to me (lol)

They are charging 470 Euro (595 pounds/990 dollars)
But yeah, my primary goal is getting a reasonably priced computer that can play wow at a good quality.

I'll check a few more places to see if i can get something at a better price with the specs you suggested.

[sizzlinsauce]

Intel i5-2500k with a p67 board is best for gaming right now, especially for wow since it's cpu-intensive. It's a bit more expensive than the amd's but worth it.
Also caviar black is higher performance than blue... blue is a medium between performance/power-saving.
I'm not sure but I don't think sapphire's 6950 is unlockable... especially the 1gb version... if you want to unlock the 6950 to a 6970 you'd be best with a reference design card (I got an msi)... though you'd probably need custom cooling with a reference-design card since they come with 1 small fan aha..

Some improvements you can make but what you have there would work fine.
How much are they charging for it?

you do know AMD fixed their 6950's any bought brand new now a days will be bricked if you attempt to flash it to a 6970. You have been warned. people enjoy the first released 6950's you bought. you're a select few with a graphics card people would pay full price for used.



on topic. change the CPU to a 2500K I5. it runs circles around AMD's PhenomII x6 1100T I'm not even joking. you can OC the I5 to 4.5 easily on air without a problem, x6 amd? not so much ease.

[Razziinc]

So, I've been looking around, and it seems like the one I linked above is not the only option at that price range.
However, the ones I have found with the i5-2400/2500 are just too expensive.

I'm looking at another one now with the following specs:

AMD 770 mainboard
AMD Phenom II X4 975 / 3.6 GHz
AMD Radeon HD 6850
4GB DDR3 SDRAM @ 1333MHz

Would it be possible to over-clock this to over 3,6GHz (if i found a friend that knows how to do it) and would it even be benificial when my main concern is WoW?
4 cores with 3,6GHz seems like a lot to me, as im currently playing on a labtop with dual-core 2,0GHz

[llDemonll]

What is your budget and what country do you live in?

[Biernot]

So, I've been looking around, and it seems like the one I linked above is not the only option at that price range.
However, the ones I have found with the i5-2400/2500 are just too expensive.

I'm looking at another one now with the following specs:

AMD 770 mainboard
AMD Phenom II X4 975 / 3.6 GHz
AMD Radeon HD 6850
4GB DDR3 SDRAM @ 1333MHz

When talking about wow performance, this setup might actually bring a little higher fps then the previously posted. But the difference wouldn't be that big. I would go with the build in the first post for two reasons:
- It will perform better in other games than wow, because of the better video card.
- It has a current generation motherboard (AMD 8xx chipset), instead of a previous one (AMD 7xx chipset)

Would it be possible to over-clock this to over 3,6GHz (if i found a friend that knows how to do it) and would it even be benificial when my main concern is WoW?
4 cores with 3,6GHz seems like a lot to me, as im currently playing on a labtop with dual-core 2,0GHz

I would not try to overclock. Especially not the already power hungry Phenoms.

[Razziinc]

Budget is around 5.000 DKK (1.000$ / 600£ / 650Eur) and I'm from Denmark, like i said in my previous post, im not gonna spend a fortune on a super-computer, i just want a decent one for the money I'm willing to spend :P

The first one I posted would cost me 4.999 DKK and the second one 5.195 DKK, so not much of a difference in the price.

[llDemonll]

This will be a solid build for what you're looking for.

Granted, you will have to find the appropriate parts on Amazon / wherever, but the price should be semi-similar.

If not, the GPU can be dropped down to a GTX460 Superclocked ($215) and the Motherboard can be dropped down to a P8H67-M. If you go with the P8H67-M you can also lose the CPU Cooler and drop the CPu down to an i5 2400.

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
MB: ASUS P8P67-M (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
GPU: XFX HD-687A-ZDBC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity (Mail In Rebate $15.00 E
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6402AAEX 640GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5' Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS CertifiedActive PFC 'compati
CPUHS: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 'Heatpipe Direct Contact' Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7
CASE: COOLER MASTER Elite 310 RC-310-BKR2-GP Black with blue front panel Steel Body / ABS plastic front bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 420W Power Supply
Total Price: $915 (+30% ~ 650€)
Configure More

If you're not looking to spend that much or don't play much aside from WoW;

CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52400
MB: ASUS P8H67-M LE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
GPU: EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6402AAEX 640GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5' Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS CertifiedActive PFC 'compati
CASE: COOLER MASTER Elite 310 RC-310-BKR2-GP Black with blue front panel Steel Body / ABS plastic front bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 420W Power Supply
Total Price: $750 (+30% ~ 533€)
Configure More

[Razziinc]

Thank you, thank you, thank you llDemonll .

This is awesome! Gonna take me some time finding the pieces in a relatively small country like Denmark, but your post is perfect, now atleast i know which pieces to look for