No fair, WoW got an upgrade. I want one too!

So I need to upgrade my PC. No doubt about it, but I can't really afford to do it all at once, thankfully my PSU and GPU are both still serviceable for a little while longer, so I can focus on the main issue. My archaic Core2Duo @ 1.86GHz. Basically it makes me want to slit my wrists with the horror of it, and while I'm sure I could overclock it a bit, I doubt it's worth the trouble. Anyway, I was looking around and I stumbled across this deal and was wondering if it was an alright buy?

Intel i5 760 + ASRock P55 Extreme4 + 4GB XMS3 DDR3 1600 > $535

From what I've heard, the 760 overclocks quite nicely, which I'd probably end up doing when I buy a decent cooling system (read: water, because where I live is dumb). I have no experience with ASRock though, all my mobo's have been FOXCONN or Gigabyte in the past. Also, this is AU$, and it wouldn't surprise me if people think it's obscenely expensive because Australia's pretty dumb like that.

I think I've read you in the other thread saying you dont mind amd/intel, if that's the case I'll suggest going AMD and enjoying their new hex core, AMD Phenom x6 1055, same cost of the i5, same clock, 2 extra cores.

In general i5 performs better than the amd processor for each Hz. Counting the number og Hz was outdated years ago. 6 cores? You rarely need that many. There aren't any games out there that can utilize more than 3, and I don't think wow uses more than 1 core.

Here is a nice hierarchy chart for CPUs. i5 760 is in top tier, while the 1055 is in the 3rd.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bes ... 791-6.html

I don't know how well it clocks, but my i7 950 runs stable at 4.18 ghz and comes at 3.07 from factory. I'm pretty sure you could easily get 20-25% out of it.

I find that the main bottleneck in my system is my GPU. I'm using a Radeon HD6870 now and I'm not completely happy with it in highly populated areas when everything is on max (including the settings that aren't maxed by dragging the bar to ultra).

Yeah, I've been doing some research since I kinda wanna get a decent bang for my buck which tends towards the i5 at this point. All my sources have said that the i5 has great OC headroom (4.0+ easy apparently), so it seems to be a decent cpu to last for a few years. Hooray! New CPU (at some point in the near future when I'm not lazy)!

Go for 2500K in about a month. Comparing apples to apples (clock/clock and core/core), Sandy Bridge will be 15-20% faster than Lynnfield, on average. Some previews : [1], [2].

tlitp wrote:Go for 2500K in about a month. Comparing apples to apples (clock/clock and core/core), Sandy Bridge will be 15-20% faster than Lynnfield, on average. Some previews : [1], [2].

This. So many times this!

I'm on the same boat as you in terms of updating my gaming rig. Although my budges is far bigger than yours 2k uk pounds, I'm still waiting for Sandy Brigde to pop. Initially I had aspired to go for an i7 980x/ramp3/580/domGT's for my pc, however, I've decided to drop down to the best motherboard/gpu/ram I can buy for the 1155 board, and get the 2600K intel processor. I'll use the remaining cash to buy myself a proper watercooling loop and make my pc worthwile, also while investing in a 1k branded PSU.

This way, I'll retain some forward compatibility with any possible updates that I'm looking down the road, and still get a flagship pc. Meaning, I'll be able to throw another 580GTX in there if and when I need it, or I'll just outright get a newer card etc. Also, if I see that the 2600k sandy bridge isn't up to my tasks, I'll change for the higher end ones coming around in half/one year.

Also, keep an eye out for the 69xx series coming out later this month. They postponed their release just to pass the 580GTX, so I guess that if you have the budged for it, go for the 6950. If not, I believe the 6870 is the best card out there for ya.

Do not under any circumstances buy a 480gtx. It took MSI a month to fix the fuckups of nVidia, and to make a proper cooler for it, without making you deaf while gaming. Also, it usually pulls mores Watts than a 6870, for ABOUT the same performance.

I recently upgraded mine, but didn't have the budget for new MB and RAM as well as processor and vid, so I stayed with the 775 platform.

I added a Core2 Quad 8400 processor and a GeForce GTS 450 vid card.

I am easily running WoW on Ultra settings.

tlitp wrote:Go for 2500K in about a month. Comparing apples to apples (clock/clock and core/core), Sandy Bridge will be 15-20% faster than Lynnfield, on average. Some previews : [1], [2].

Ouuu, I might just do that.

Why would you over-clocked a PC? Wouldn't that just burn it out?

My spam blocker seems to be bound and bent on preventing me from seeing any emails that promise to upgrade me.

That said, I have finally gotten my new computer put together and up and running. Got the parts, did the wiring of the power supply (with a friend to double check it), and installed Windows 7 - thankfully I was able to get an student license as I am still on the books at the college.

Full tower from Thermaltake (with an extra fan, just in case)
22" ACER flatscreen
Phenom IIx4 640 Quad processor
8g of DDR-1333 memory
Radeon HD 5770 video card
etc, etc, etc

All told, it cost me about $800. All hail NewEgg and Microcenter.

In hindsight, I probably should have sprung for full-size Motherboard.

I recently put together a new PC that ended up costing me more than I think it should have, probably because I went for both highend and good reviews on NewEgg, aaand the retail copy of Win 7. Gotta say though the 470 GTX does really well by WoW on high settings. Also SSDs are awesome.

I'm looking at putting together a piece-meal computer tower dedicate to WoW gaming. I'm no IT person, but do have some basic computer knowledge.

Are there any specific specs I should be looking for so I can run WoW on max settings? I've always had to run WoW on bare bones settings, since I started in late vanilla.

Are there guides for this sort of thing?

Palisade wrote:I'm looking at putting together a piece-meal computer tower dedicate to WoW gaming. I'm no IT person, but do have some basic computer knowledge.

Are there any specific specs I should be looking for so I can run WoW on max settings? I've always had to run WoW on bare bones settings, since I started in late vanilla.

Are there guides for this sort of thing?

Yes. Google is your friend. I found several sites that had walk-through videos of both purchasing ideas and assembly instructions - several of them on Youtube. I'll try and find some of the old links I used but, as I said, Google is your friend.

Njall wrote:

Palisade wrote:I'm looking at putting together a piece-meal computer tower dedicate to WoW gaming. I'm no IT person, but do have some basic computer knowledge.

Are there any specific specs I should be looking for so I can run WoW on max settings? I've always had to run WoW on bare bones settings, since I started in late vanilla.

Are there guides for this sort of thing?

Yes. Google is your friend. I found several sites that had walk-through videos of both purchasing ideas and assembly instructions - several of them on Youtube. I'll try and find some of the old links I used but, as I said, Google is your friend.

To steal someone else's quote, my google fu is not much to speak of But I'll definitely give it a round or three when I can.

If you could make a budget for the computers, and the usage you're gonna put it through (be honest!) I'll be able to make a list of parts for you. Feel free to choose a site you want them (personal reckomentations for UK are aria, and newegg for US)

Sabindeus wrote:I recently put together a new PC that ended up costing me more than I think it should have, probably because I went for both highend and good reviews on NewEgg, aaand the retail copy of Win 7. Gotta say though the 470 GTX does really well by WoW on high settings. Also SSDs are awesome.

Indeed. It's easy to get a PC with a good GPU, lots of ram and a many MHz processor which is what most people look at. For me those components took about two fifths of my total computer cost. (only buying case and internal components).

Laterna wrote:If you could make a budget for the computers, and the usage you're gonna put it through (be honest!) I'll be able to make a list of parts for you. Feel free to choose a site you want them (personal reckomentations for UK are aria, and newegg for US)

I was looking at spending maybe $600 AU if I could get away with being that stingy. I only really need the new CPU/Mobo/RAM at the moment as well, since my GPU and HDD are serviceable for a while longer and aren't in dire need of upgrades like the aforementioned. My PC's mostly just for games, my uni work is pretty much limited to word processing, lol. Gogo Bachelor of Education! I don't expect to be able to blast out Crysis 2 or FFXIV at max settings or anything like that, but I'd like to be able to crank WoW up a little bit higher than the High it's at now, and I'd appreciate being able to overclock somewhat and future-proof myself for a little bit.

Afaik, Aus doesn't have a site like Aria or Newegg, which is a stupid shame. They've gotta be one of the very few reasons I'm jealous of you guys. But chyeah, I was looking at an i5, heard good things, dunno if you agree or not though.

I'd be extremely surprised if there wasn't a good solid online computer parts store for .AU, just ask around the uni geeks for where they buy all their parts.

But that would mean I'd have to... like... talk to the uni geeks. That's like, social suicide (it's kinda scary how alike uni and high school are). I might ask around, if I'm ever anywhere near the IT department, which I probably won't be since the Education and Performing Arts faculties are at opposite ends to the IT one.

I must be missing the boat on this, but what is the point of a solid state drive versus a regular hard drive? And why do you need both?

Palisade wrote:I must be missing the boat on this, but what is the point of a solid state drive versus a regular hard drive? And why do you need both?

No moving parts. Much more reliable from a mechanical standpoint. However, for long term storage, they require a certain amount of power. Basically, solid states are biiiiiiig Jump Drives.

SSD's are much, much faster then a regular HDD, because they have no moving parts. Downside is that they are alot more expensive per Gigabyte.
So usually you'd buy a decent sized SSD disk for your OS and other drive intensive programs, and a seperate huge HDD for all your other files like music, movies etc.

Levantine wrote:But that would mean I'd have to... like... talk to the uni geeks. That's like, social suicide (it's kinda scary how alike uni and high school are). :P I might ask around, if I'm ever anywhere near the IT department, which I probably won't be since the Education and Performing Arts faculties are at opposite ends to the IT one. :(

oh noes teh geeks they will get their geek cooties on you

much easier to talk to geeks on the internet forums amirite

Goodheart wrote:SSD's are much, much faster then a regular HDD, because they have no moving parts. Downside is that they are alot more expensive per Gigabyte.
So usually you'd buy a decent sized SSD disk for your OS and other drive intensive programs, and a seperate huge HDD for all your other files like music, movies etc.

pretty much this. I have a 256 GB SSD for Windows and WoW, and then a 1 TB 7200rpm platter HD for all my other games.

Palisade wrote:I must be missing the boat on this, but what is the point of a solid state drive versus a regular hard drive? And why do you need both?

I have my OS and WoW on my SSD. Windows 7 boots in under ten seconds. Dalaran loading is comparably quick.