New setup ?

[Alex1996P]

Hello, I am kind of new here, but have been playing WoW for 2 years and have not been active in forums. Anyway, My PC is 4 to 5 years old with some parts atleast being 2 years old. I need a major overhaul in this section, and I have read the stickies. My budget is around 1800 dollars and I have a list I would like to show about what you think of the gaming rig. I have quit xbox as I dont find it fun an just need a overhaul. Let me know what you think- Alex

PS: Updated parts are from newegg

PSU: Corsair 850 watt 80 plus fan
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 advanced full tower case
HD: Western Digital 1TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB, SATA 6Gbs
Disc Reader:Sony Blu Ray dvd reader and burner
GPU:MSI Lighting Radeon 6970
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB
CPU Cooler: Noctura NH-D14
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64bit
Monitor: Asus Black 23.6" 1080p monitor
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k processor

[Fuzzykins]

PSU is overkill, and CoolerMaster isn't known for their power supplies.
For a budget like that, go for a full tower case, not a midsize, unless you have an explicit reason.
I'd go for the 6970 instead of the 570, but whatever.
If you're getting an enthusiast motherboard, get all enthusiast parts.
If you want a gaming rig, drop down to an i5 2500k, and use the money you spent on either an H70 or a Noctua NH-D14.

[Skelly]

PSU is overkill, and CoolerMaster isn't known for their power supplies.
For a budget like that, go for a full tower case, not a midsize, unless you have an explicit reason.
I'd go for the 6970 instead of the 570, but whatever.
If you're getting an enthusiast motherboard, get all enthusiast parts.
If you want a gaming rig, drop down to an i5 2500k, and use the money you spent on either an H70 or a Noctua NH-D14.

I agree. See sig for 2500k/2600k

[Alex1996P]

PSU is overkill, and CoolerMaster isn't known for their power supplies.
For a budget like that, go for a full tower case, not a midsize, unless you have an explicit reason.
I'd go for the 6970 instead of the 570, but whatever.
If you're getting an enthusiast motherboard, get all enthusiast parts.
If you want a gaming rig, drop down to an i5 2500k, and use the money you spent on either an H70 or a Noctua NH-D14.

Well, I'm not really an enthusiast, but I do love to play PC games. I wanted a full tower case but my budget didn't allow it. I will go with the i5 2500k processor. The only real difference was hyper threading, which really is not necessary. I will look up the 6970, but I'm not sure,because I have always stuck with ASUS for Mother boards and Nvidia for graphics cards. Thanks for the reply. Could I just keep the Maximus Formula IV or would I be bottle necking ? The whole total of that was 1,799.99, which is 1 dollar less than my budget. -Alex

[Fuzzykins]

The point being that if you got the Maximus, you wouldn't use any of the features that make it a Maximus. You wouldn't be able to clock high enough with that cooler to make it worth the money you spent. Drop down to a P8P67, get the i5 2500k, and get a 6970. You should be well under budget.

[Alex1996P]

Oh ok, The p67 as in the ASUS P67 Sabertooth ? I heard they were pretty good. Which 6970 do you recommend. I have never gone Radeon, but it seems that the GTX 570 is around the same price range as the Radeon 6970

[Fuzzykins]

No, JUST the P8P67...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-705-_-Product

[DeltrusDisc]

PSU is overkill, and CoolerMaster isn't known for their power supplies.
For a budget like that, go for a full tower case, not a midsize, unless you have an explicit reason.
I'd go for the 6970 instead of the 570, but whatever.
If you're getting an enthusiast motherboard, get all enthusiast parts.
If you want a gaming rig, drop down to an i5 2500k, and use the money you spent on either an H70 or a Noctua NH-D14.

I agree with this post, and about enthusiast parts, try and see if you can fit in an SSD for games/OS.

[Alex1996P]

Oh, wow thanks for that. So, I saw the most popular and highest rated Radeon 6970's was the XFX. Is this good manufacturer of the Radeon Chips ?

[Fuzzykins]

I agree with this post, and about enthusiast parts, try and see if you can fit in an SSD for games/OS.

SSD's are useless unless you frequently boot up and down or care about an extra 3-5 seconds of loading time. If your 3-5 seconds of loading time is worth $100+ dollars, then so be it.

[DeltrusDisc]

No, JUST the P8P67...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-705-_-Product

bleh I have this board. I'm really kinda..... disappointed. Wish I'd spent like $50-100 more on the board at least and either gotten Pro or Deluxe.

[Fuzzykins]

bleh I have this board. I'm really kinda..... disappointed. Wish I'd spent like $50-100 more on the board at least and either gotten Pro or Deluxe.

There's no difference except the PCI-E ports.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-581-_-Product
If you're going to stay single GPU, use that.

[DeltrusDisc]

SSD's are useless unless you frequently boot up and down or care about an extra 3-5 seconds of loading time. If your 3-5 seconds of loading time is worth $100+ dollars, then so be it.

I found the recent SSD addition has made WoW run a lot smoother, honestly. I use a ton of addons too, so hey. :P

[Fuzzykins]

I found the recent SSD addition has made WoW run a lot smoother, honestly. I use a ton of addons too, so hey. :P

Addons are CPU reliant, and the only smoothness you'd notice is a quicker loading of characters when you first log in and a faster loading screen.

[DeltrusDisc]

There's no difference except the PCI-E ports.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-581-_-Product
If you're going to stay single GPU, use that.

Gotta back up this recommendation too, even if it's just the cooling solution/brand of the card, my 560 Ti Twin Frozr 2 from MSI is so damn cool and yet it does so much more than my old 9800. Amazinggggg.

---------- Post added 2011-06-18 at 06:00 AM ----------

Addons are CPU reliant, and the only smoothness you'd notice is a quicker loading of characters when you first log in and a faster loading screen.

Don't forget the RAM!
I do believe I read somewhere though that a large amount of addons will lag a hdd from loading WoW quickly. The SSD loads WoW much quicker, just like Win7, and idk.... things just look smoother. O.o Course that probably has to do with the new GPU too....

btw by large amount of addons I mean, RealUI + some more stuff. ;p Quite a lot.

[Alex1996P]

I would plan on staying with one, because I just run off a 42" vizio hd tv. SSD's are to expensive and I dont think they are worth the investment when I have a 1TB hard drive. It might be useful for games and loading up screens, but an extra seconds doesnt really bother me.

[Fuzzykins]

I would plan on staying with one, because I just run off a 42" vizio hd tv. SSD's are to expensive and I dont think they are worth the investment when I have a 1TB hard drive. It might be useful for games and loading up screens, but an extra seconds doesnt really bother me.

With your money saved, get a proper monitor. TV's have quite a few drawbacks.

[Alex1996P]

Oh, ok, I havent been on my TV long . What monitor brands to you recommend. Acer, HP, Gateway, etc ?

[Midean]

I'm a fan of Asus Monitors myself.
They were a definite step up from the terrible Samsung one I got back when anything other than CRT was rare.

[Alex1996P]

Yea ,I just swapped out the CPU, Motherboard, CPU fan, Case, and GPU adding a ASUS 23.6 in 1080p monitor witha total of 1,736.36. Saved around 53 dollars, but would have saved more if I dont get the monitor. This should be able to run Battlefield 3 in very high quality am I not correct ?