Cheap PC for WoW

[MissileMech]

I am trying to buy/build a cheap PC for playing WoW only nothing else really maybe some basic web surfing. Not wanting to spend more then $400USD tops, I am looking at prebuilts I can buy and add a graphics card to. I am currently looking at a refurbished Dell Optiplex 9020 with I5 4570 3.2ghz and 8GB RAM for $270, and adding a GTX1060 3GB for $100 or so. Any thoughts or better suggestions?

[Shmazard]

Keep saving your money, get something worth while.

[MissileMech]

I already have something worthwhile, I want a second PC to play with friends.

[Saphyron]

I would save your money.

But in case you want one right now this is the best you can get:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($91.99 @ Walmart)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox E300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 450 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $391.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-07 23:19 EST-0500

This APU can play wow without too much trouble. Don't expect to play on high or anything you can always put a GPU into the system later on.

I have personally tested this APU:
You should get an average of 30 fps in boralus on 1080p on 3.
Or:
You should get an average of 45 fps in boralus on 720p on 7.

edit: if you prefer other review sites
https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Ra....260180.0.html
This has a comprehensive benchmark of that APU.

[chazus]

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($91.99 @ Walmart)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox E300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 450 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $391.74

I just built this system a couple months ago as a 'vacation system'm except I did 8gb ram and a 500gb SSD (comes out to about the same). It plays WoW just fine at 1080p and medium settings.

[MissileMech]

Thank's guys I didn't realize the 2200 would be decent for WoW, I'll prog go that route.

[chazus]

Thank's guys I didn't realize the 2200 would be decent for WoW, I'll prog go that route.

It's not AMAZING but it will play at medium settings with ~50-60fps in most places and respectably in raids. For the price it's quite good, and you can always add a GPU or replace the relatively cheap CPU/board down the road and already have all the other parts.

[darkvexen]

buying old prebuilts and then shoving graphic cards in them is a good way of saving money, but can be dangerous if the OEM has locked the motherboard. takes a tech savy person to know how to get around it.

or you could use:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/T8v829

you don't NEED the rx 570 since it is just wow, but a video card is nice to have. You could also try ebay, as I got my RX 580 for 190$. never mined on, not a flashed bios, and an amazing overclocker. if ebay scares you and you want a graphics card, you could also pick up a RX 470/480 for cheaper and then just flash the bios to a 5 series card. or just use the integrated graphics on the 2200G :P

Also, while there may be cheaper "1 stick of 8gb" memory on the market, go for 2x4gb memory sticks since ryzen benefits from dual channel. Don't want to hold back your cpu, as that is whats most important in running wow. Also, you should overclock you CPU

- - - Updated - - -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($91.99 @ Walmart)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox E300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 450 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $391.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-07 23:19 EST-0500

You dont need 16gigs of ram if your just playing wow and you dont need G.skill. also there are much cheaper SSD's on the market.

[MissileMech]

Yeah I already have a spare SSD I can use, and I will probably go with 8GB RAM, and try to put those savings into a under $100 graphics card from ebay.

[Saphyron]

Yeah I already have a spare SSD I can use, and I will probably go with 8GB RAM, and try to put those savings into a under $100 graphics card from ebay.

Then I would recommend getting at the minimum 3000 MHz RAM. AMD systems really benefit from faster RAM. 2400 MHz RAM is fine in a budget build for Intel but really underperforms for AMD builds.

[chazus]

Yeah I already have a spare SSD I can use, and I will probably go with 8GB RAM, and try to put those savings into a under $100 graphics card from ebay.

Dont but the GPU yet. Get the 2200G first, see how it runs, and see if the GPU is even worth it, or if you can hold off for something bigger/better later.

[Kagthul]

Since you already have an SSD to use, i didn't include storage:

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mdhDsZ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mdhDsZ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Thermaltake - Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.87 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - BR 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($36.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $351.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-08 01:31 EST-0500

Went with the 2400G instead of the 2200G because it is clocked faster, has more GPU cores (11 vs 8) that are also clocked higher, and has SMT (so 4 cores/8 threads vs just 4 cores/no SMT).

You can knock it down to 300 if you go with the 2200G instead.

The 2400G will handle WoW at medium-high settings and 1080p fairly well.

- - - Updated - - -

Dont but the GPU yet. Get the 2200G first, see how it runs, and see if the GPU is even worth it, or if you can hold off for something bigger/better later.

And what he said.

the 2200G and/or 2400G will deliver playable framerates in WoW.

Dont invest in an under-100 GPU unless you can get a spectacular deal on an RX 580, or GTX 1060 or better.

Better off just holding on, saving up, and putting a bettter GPU in in a few months.

[therealbowser]

I just built this system a couple months ago as a 'vacation system'm except I did 8gb ram and a 500gb SSD (comes out to about the same). It plays WoW just fine at 1080p and medium settings.

IMHO I wouldn't do less than 16GB ram these days. Windows 10 alone seems to waste a lot of RAM, let alone if you want to have a browser active in the background, or something.

That said, the nice thing about RAM is that you can always add more later. So I guess it doesn't matter too much anyways.

[chazus]

IMHO I wouldn't do less than 16GB ram these days. Windows 10 alone seems to waste a lot of RAM, let alone if you want to have a browser active in the background, or something.

That said, the nice thing about RAM is that you can always add more later. So I guess it doesn't matter too much anyways.

I have never seen any reason to go for more than 8gb. The only reason I've increased to 16gb on both my systems was because my home system struggled on 8 when running WoW, HotS, D3, and Chrome all at the same time, which most people don't do (nor have I for years). My other system was upgraded because State of Decay 2 suffered a pretty nasty memory leak for a while. I don't see any situation, including gaming, that would need 16gb unless you're doing something specific.

[Saphyron]

Yeah I already have a spare SSD I can use, and I will probably go with 8GB RAM, and try to put those savings into a under $100 graphics card from ebay.

Dont but the GPU yet. Get the 2200G first, see how it runs, and see if the GPU is even worth it, or if you can hold off for something bigger/better later.

Agree here with Chazus. Get the GPU after you have seen the performance of the 2200G.

Else here is an updated build with your updated specifications.
Personally, I would still run 16GB of RAM. But that is because of the way I use my machine I often use up quite a lot of RAM.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant


CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($91.99 @ Walmart)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team - T-Force Delta RGB 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($66.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox E300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 450 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $323.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-08 03:37 EST-0500

EDIT: getting the 2400G is also a very good alternative. As mentioned by @Kagthul it is a faster APU ie. it should handle wow slightly better.
Quick userbenchmark comparisons.
CPU:
GPU:

[therealbowser]

I have never seen any reason to go for more than 8gb. The only reason I've increased to 16gb on both my systems was because my home system struggled on 8 when running WoW, HotS, D3, and Chrome all at the same time, which most people don't do (nor have I for years). My other system was upgraded because State of Decay 2 suffered a pretty nasty memory leak for a while. I don't see any situation, including gaming, that would need 16gb unless you're doing something specific.

It's just my experience. 8GB ram is pretty good, but heck, I'm using 5GB of ram right now just running my browser. To be fair, 8GB will run WoW well enough, at least, which is what the OP was looking to build a minimum quality PC for.

[Onikaroshi]

It's just my experience. 8GB ram is pretty good, but heck, I'm using 5GB of ram right now just running my browser. To be fair, 8GB will run WoW well enough, at least, which is what the OP was looking to build a minimum quality PC for.

You can actually get a lot lower RAM usage out of your browsers by getting something to suspend tabs.

[therealbowser]

You can actually get a lot lower RAM usage out of your browsers by getting something to suspend tabs.

I won't lie; a big reason I recommend higher ram is because I like having a browser and a game up at the same time. And I have not seen a browser that wasn't ravenous with its ram usage in some time.

As for suspending tabs, I haven't looked into that. Perhaps I should... but my PC doesn't really have issues with Ram, to be fair.

[Saphyron]

I won't lie; a big reason I recommend higher ram is because I like having a browser and a game up at the same time. And I have not seen a browser that wasn't ravenous with its ram usage in some time.

As for suspending tabs, I haven't looked into that. Perhaps I should... but my PC doesn't really have issues with Ram, to be fair.

Edge barely uses any RAM.

[Temp name]

Edge barely uses any RAM.

It's being converted to Chromium soon though