Girlfriend wants to buy a new computer

[Uggorthaholy]

i run with a X4 955 BE @ 3.7ghz /w a HD Radeon 5770 and i run orgimmar from 30 to 60 fps (depending on if its a low to high pop server) and In Raids it doesnt matter i always run it at 60 fps.and over 100 fps in dungions.

my setup only costed me 650 US dollars to build and i used an expensive case too. lol

and i built my setup like 4 months ago. most of my parts have gotten cheaper since then and its more like a 550$ build now.

AMD is a good alternative in low budget ranges, however, going back to a primary use of WoW, the i3 2100 is in the same range and performs better. I only dip to the low 50s while in stormwind during busy times. Occasionally, when loading in, if there is a LOT going on (train dance parties, horde raid on sw, etc) I'll load in to the mid 40s, but then as soon as there aren't 100 people around me I jump right back up to 60 (probably higher but I play with VSYNC on

[Deleted]

So I've been playing around with that cyberpowersystem.co.uk site that Arslay provided, and with inspiration from some of your replies I've come up with:

* CPU: AMD Athlon™II X4 645 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
* HDD: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache HDD (Single Hard Drive)
* MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
* MOTHERBOARD: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (780L) Chipset DDR3 Socket AM3+ Micro-ATX w/ 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III, 1 PCIe X16, 1 PCIe X1, & 2 PCI
* SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
* VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX460 1GB 16X PCI Express [+76] (Major Brand Power by NVIDIA)

http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/sy..._Configurator/


for a grand total of £432 including shipment and taxes. (~$700), which sounds pretty cheap. Now first of all; will that setup work? Will it work too well for the job of running WoW or does it need more juice? Perhaps we could even make it cheaper by stripping some things down on it?

As always I appreciate any help.

[vesseblah]

Switch graphics card to GTX450 and CPU to PhenomII x4 955. Will run WoW notably faster especially in raids, but other games bit slower. Or just CPU up to 955, IIRC the price difference was really small.

[Uggorthaholy]

Switch graphics card to GTX450 and CPU to PhenomII x4 955. Will run WoW notably faster especially in raids, but other games bit slower. Or just CPU up to 955, IIRC the price difference was really small.

Why would you have someone downgrade the gpu from a 460 to a 450?

So I've been playing around with that cyberpowersystem.co.uk site that Arslay provided, and with inspiration from some of your replies I've come up with:

* CPU: AMD Athlon™II X4 645 Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
* HDD: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache HDD (Single Hard Drive)
* MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC10666 DDR3/1333mhz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
* MOTHERBOARD: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (780L) Chipset DDR3 Socket AM3+ Micro-ATX w/ 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III, 1 PCIe X16, 1 PCIe X1, & 2 PCI
* SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
* VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX460 1GB 16X PCI Express [+76] (Major Brand Power by NVIDIA)

http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/sy..._Configurator/


for a grand total of £432 including shipment and taxes. (~$700), which sounds pretty cheap. Now first of all; will that setup work? Will it work too well for the job of running WoW or does it need more juice? Perhaps we could even make it cheaper by stripping some things down on it?

As always I appreciate any help.

that configurator link is taking me to the base model. You'd need to click 'save' and paste the saved link here.

Also, I still have a problem suggesting AMD builds to people who use the system with a primary function of woW. The i3 beats every single AMD chip on the market for WoW purposes. Plus going with a sandybridge chip now will allow you to upgrade to ivybridge when they come out.

This would be my suggestion. I toned it down from my earlier build to get closer to the build you posted.

i3 2100 build

i3 2100
GTX 460
Spinpoint F3 drive

CASE: Thermaltake V3 Black Mid-Tower Case [+4]
FREEBIES: None
Lights & Illumination: NONE
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default Case Fan
Cyberpower Noise Reduction Technology: None
CPU: Intel® Core™ i3 2100 Dual Core 3.10GHz 3MB cache LGA1155 + HD Graphics
FREEBIES: None
Overclocking Service: No Overclocking
Cooling Fan: INTEL LGA1156 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK [-23]
Coolant for Cyberpower Advance WaterCooling Kits: NONE
MOTHERBOARD: MSI H61M-E33 H61 DDR3 Intel LGA1155 Micro ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, SATA-II, 1 Gen2 PCIe & 2 PCIe X1 (B3 Stepping) [-13]
Intel Smart Response Technology for Z68: None
Internal USB/SATA Expansion Module: NONE
MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC12800 DDR3/1600mhz Dual Channel Memory [+10] (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX460 1GB 16X PCI Express [+110] (Major Brand Power by NVIDIA)
FREEBIES: None
DONGLES: NONE
VIDEO CARD 2: None, or On-Board Integrated Graphics
Video Card 3: None, or On-Board Integrated Graphics
Dedicated PhysX Card: None
Power Supply Upgrade: 500 Watts Power Supplies [+8] (CoolerMaster Elite 500watt Gaming Power Supply [+4])
Hard Drive: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive [+14] (Single Hard Drive)

[vesseblah]

Why would you have someone downgrade the gpu from a 460 to a 450?

Because the OP asked is there anything more to downgrade. It makes little difference for WoW, but pretty big difference for price.

Also for OP, make sure you downgrade the CPU heatsink to "AMD certified" which is the cheapest option. You do not need extra cooling since you most likely aren't gonna overclock anything.