(REFERENCE) Entry Level Gaming Desktop

[Deviant82]

Hey all. I figured that, while I have some downtime here at work, I would post a thread that may help someone out, with regard to a new PC for WoW, and other games.

I work for a locally-owned Computer sales and service shop, and this is a build we have gone through here at work a few times and it proves to be a decent entry-level gaming system for warcraft, as well as other games of course.
If anyone has some options to add, by all means post some alternative options for those looking to build a system, but please refrain from posting non-constructive, fanboy, etc... replies.

-CPU: AMD Athlon II x3 450 3.2Ghz Triple-Core
-MSI 760GM-E51 motherboard
-4GB Kingston DDR3-1333 Value RAM
-500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue hard drive
-22x LG DVD/CD Multi drive
-Gigabyte Radeon HD5450 512MB DDR3 Video card
-In-Win EM013 microATX Chassis w/350watt PSU
-Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Now, we sell this machine for $699, which includes the prebuild, hardware tested, windows / Antivirus / Open office / DVD software installed and updated, with a 3-year parts & labour warranty. That being said, I am sure if you are building it on your own, it will cost a fair bit less. (good ol' business markup :P)

I have personally used this machine for warcraft, post 4.0.3a patch, and it runs very well.
Graphics options can be set to fair, or even higher, and it will give consistantly an average of 35 to 50 FPS.
The only thing is, you need to turn off shadows, and set the new graphics settings (water, sunshafts, particle density) to off or lowest possible.

I believe this build is an excellent starter, or entry level build, due to the out-of-the-box playability, as well as minimal-cost upgrade options to maintain it as a decent little gaming rig. (motherboard holds up to 16GB RAM, bigger vid card, higher end phenom processor, etc..)

So, hopefully this can shed some light on the subject of a basic, low-cost build, that performs well for current World of Warcraft conditions, for those of you interested in getting into to building your own rig, or maybe just needing a starting point in looking for a PC replacement or upgrade.

Feel free to message me with questions, I am always happy to help as best I can.

-Deviant82

[Cilraaz]

Take it into a raid and let us know how it goes. Also, you don't mention one of the bigger hits to framerate: resolution. I can use a piece of junk and run at playable framerate if I drop it down to 800x600 with 0xAA/0xAF.

[edit: And $700 for that is horrendous. That's at least a $200 mark-up... and that doesn't count the lower price that OEM builders typically get for hardware.]

[Kripparrian]

That video card is not a gaming card, even for wow.

[Deleted]

Cooler Master 590 Case
ASUS M4n68t-m mATX Motherboard
ATI 5770 1GB
AMD Phenom X2 II 560 @ 3.5GHz
Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200 RPM
GigaByte SuperB 550W PSU
2x Corsair 2GB XMS3

^That cost me 600€ and runs wow ultra at 1920x1200.
I'd like to see your rig do the same, as it costs 100 more.

[llDemonll]

this is a build we have gone through here at work a few times and it proves to be a decent entry-level gaming system for warcraft, as well as other games of course.

-CPU: AMD Athlon II x3 450 3.2Ghz Triple-Core
-MSI 760GM-E51 motherboard
-4GB Kingston DDR3-1333 Value RAM
-500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue hard drive
-22x LG DVD/CD Multi drive
-Gigabyte Radeon HD5450 512MB DDR3 Video card
-In-Win EM013 microATX Chassis w/350watt PSU
-Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

"Gaming" build? More like HTPC build...

Now, we sell this machine for $699, which includes the prebuild, hardware tested, windows / Antivirus / Open office / DVD software installed and updated, with a 3-year parts & labour warranty.

Parts & labor means nothing. Almost all computer part companies warrant their parts for at least a year, most for 3-5 years

I believe this build is an excellent starter, or entry level build, due to the out-of-the-box playability, as well as minimal-cost upgrade options to maintain it as a decent little gaming rig. (motherboard holds up to 16GB RAM, bigger vid card, higher end phenom processor, etc..)

This pretty much sums up why I will never buy a computer from a retailer. RAM = nothing. cpu upgrade Potential = nothing, just a "selling point" that retailers will tell unsuspecting victims in order to upsell (or just sell) the computer at hand

CPU: $80
Mobo: $70
RAM: $70
HDD: $55
CD: $18
GPU: $60
Case: $50
Win7: $100
Total: $503 + 2 hours of work

[Kripparrian]

the cost for those parts would be less where I live.. around $450

[Deviant82]

Guys I asked to keep replies simply constructive. If you dont like what I posted, you dont need to get hostile lol.

Things to remember here:
-Not everyone can afford high end hardware
-I did not say the machine WILLcost 699, i even noted my dreadful markup (sorry, my family needs food on the table too)
-I did not say its a high end, ultra graphics raiding rig
-Not everyone can build their own machine

Now, again, PLease keep posts constructive. This is merely to help those people out there who arent sure on what to do, or if a certain machine will run WoW.

Thanks

*EDIT*

The machine was tested a few times here in-shop. Both on a 21'5" LG LCD @ 1920X1080, and also on a Generic refurbished Dell LCD @ 1280X1024.
Ran surprisingly smooth on both at settings mentioned above.

I did not post this to sell a machine. I mentioned upgradability because guess what: a lot of people WILL take advantage of throwing in an extra 4GB of RAM later on a build of this calibre, or even a higher end vid card.

[Deleted]

-Not everyone can build their own machine

Like it or not, everybody with eyes and access to www.youtube.com can build a computer.
Please don't tell me otherwise. The rig I posted was build by myself with no help at all, first time ever, 17 years old, had a notebook since I was 10.

[Kripparrian]

Now, again, PLease keep posts constructive. This is merely to help those people out there who arent sure on what to do, or if a certain machine will run WoW.

Constructive? Youre just making a post to advertise a machine you are selling. Theres nothing to be constructive about. I dont even get the point of this thread at all. Does anyone else?

[Deleted]

Constructive? Youre just making a post to advertise a machine you are selling. Theres nothing to be constructive about. I dont even get the point of this thread at all. Does anyone else?

I do not. I'm surprised there isn't some kind of link to the company. Maybe you should add a WoW sticker on the case to make it seem even more like a no-brainer.

Edit: Btw, just read his post again. He said: For wow and other games, makes me giggle.

[llDemonll]

I don't think he's attempting to sell anything (otherwise a link to his store, a city in which he lives, name of the store, etc. would have been mentioned), but asking for criticism on something that everyone here hates (prebuilt computers) is a mistake. No one in their right mind will support you in trying to sell that computer as a gaming computer and I sincerely feel bad for those who you have sold it to.

[Deviant82]

Okay, seriously guys, stop posting crap in my thread please.
I simply posted this as a 'guideline' if you will, on a machine THAT I KNOW PLAYS WOW pretty darn decently, all things considered.

I AM NOT selling the machine to anyone, as i stated in the original post, its cheaper to buy the parts yourself.
I AM NOT selling any of the parts to anyone on here, as my markup is the same as buying off newegg, tigerdirect, or ncix anyway.

Like I said before, some people do not have the means, or maybe even the desire to build their own rig, but want something better then crap sold at big box retailers.
Stop complaining about the parts I chose, and perhaps post alternatives, and state what type of a performance gain it would have? just a thought.

Again, THIS IS A BUDGET, ENTRY LEVEL BUILD. LOW COST, LOW PERFORMANCE, BUT AFFORDABLE.
Yes, I am aware its cheaper to build it yourself
Yes, I am aware my markup on it here is fairly high
Yes, I am aware there are much better builds

but also, I am 100% postive that this machine plays warcraft pretty darn good, and for those of you that may be reading my post and yet to build a machine, please please please, get all the facts on hardware.
I have used this machine. I have played Warcraft on this machine. It works. It's cheap. Period.

[llDemonll]

I am 100% postive that this machine plays warcraft pretty darn good, and for those of you that may be reading my post and yet to build a machine, please please please, get all the facts on hardware.
I have used this machine. I have played Warcraft on this machine. It works. It's cheap. Period.

We require fraps or benchmarks to backup that statement.

Also, this is not cheap for that caliber of computer when that same amount of money can buy you this (and is only missing Windows). If you have 1 day of fun time you can get that computer I linked up and running and will stomp this one into the ground.

Don't expect sympathy from us, we are here to make sure people get the best computer they can for the money and that money doesn't go to waste; the computer you are telling us about is the exact opposite of what we are trying to do. Seeing people ripped off peeves me when I know that I could have prevented it with a 15 minute conversation.

[ChexMix]

"Gaming" build? More like HTPC build...



Parts & labor means nothing. Almost all computer part companies warrant their parts for at least a year, most for 3-5 years



This pretty much sums up why I will never buy a computer from a retailer. RAM = nothing. cpu upgrade Potential = nothing, just a "selling point" that retailers will tell unsuspecting victims in order to upsell (or just sell) the computer at hand

CPU: $80
Mobo: $70
RAM: $70
HDD: $55
CD: $18
GPU: $60
Case: $50
Win7: $100
Total: $503 + 2 hours of work

Entry level is for noobs, these people are in business to make money and to sell to the new consumer that wants a PC to play. They are not looking to sell to you, someone who looks for those sort of things.

/noh8 <3

[Deviant82]

We require fraps or benchmarks to backup that statement.

Also, this is not cheap for that caliber of computer when that same amount of money can buy you this (and is only missing Windows). If you have 1 day of fun time you can get that computer I linked up and running and will stomp this one into the ground.

Don't expect sympathy from us, we are here to make sure people get the best computer they can for the money and that money doesn't go to waste; the computer you are telling us about is the exact opposite of what we are trying to do. Seeing people ripped off peeves me when I know that I could have prevented it with a 15 minute conversation.

Well, I dont make a habit of installing fraps or other hardware onto our customers computers. So, unfortunately, if anyone is building and would like to use my post as a REFERENCE (<--Keyword), you will just have to take my word for it.
My sell cost is not the issue, as others have so graciously pointed out, my markup is attrocious.
You can build this machine for what, $450 - $499?
I am not even recommending THESE EXACT PARTS. Change brand names, add / subtract a bit.
Again this is moreso to be used as a refference of an ENTRY LEVEL (<-- again: Keywords, for those that missed them earlier) Gaming Desktop.

I did not ask for criticism on the build. I asked for helpful contributions in the form of constructive posts.
I KNOW this machine plays well.
I KNOW its reliable.

So again, please stop posting crap about prices, or performance, as I have CLEARLY STATED the nature of this design.

[Deleted]

IMO your definition of "Entry Level" is completely wrong. You advertise it as a GAMING desktop, therefor I, from a consumer standpoint, would think this game loads up battlefield BC2 and plays it at my monitors resolution at some decent graphics settings, since it's a gaming computer. However I have a feeling that this is not the case on this build, and the only reason it runs wow at "normal" settings is because wow isn't that demanding at normal settings anyway.

[Cilraaz]

I did not ask for criticism on the build. I asked for helpful contributions in the form of constructive posts.
I KNOW this machine plays well.
I KNOW its reliable.

Again, I'd like to ask about its wonderfully reliable performance in a 25-man raid. Buying a "gaming" computer, even an entry level one, should allow me to raid with a decent framerate at a decent resolution... right?

[Deleted]

Again, I'd like to ask about its wonderfully reliable performance in a 25-man raid. Buying a "gaming" computer, even an entry level one, should allow me to raid with a decent framerate at a decent resolution... right?

isnt an entry lvl gaming rig able to handle 1680x1024 on medium settings ATLEAST(keyword)

[llDemonll]

isnt an entry lvl gaming rig able to handle 1680x1024 on medium settings ATLEAST(keyword)

Don't know where you got that statement (or resolution), but no, there is no 'benchmark resolution' that a computer should be able to run. It should just be able to run all modern games at low and get excellent fps, and get decent fps at medium settings

[Deleted]

Don't know where you got that statement (or resolution), but no, there is no 'benchmark resolution' that a computer should be able to run. It should just be able to run all modern games at low and get excellent fps, and get decent fps at medium settings

Odd resolution indeed. As far as that key word ENTRY goes, Entry for me means that it should be a rig for people new to gaming, yet give them an experience that will make them want to play a game and not buy a Nintendo 64 as far as graphics go. Entry level should be medium AT LEAST in wow.