Strict WoW PC

[Tortuga]

Hey guys, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is come up with a cheap, low budget build strictly for WoW Gaming, Ultra settings, dx11, 1680x1050, medium resolutions. Here's what I got so far as a rough build.

EVGA P55V 120-LF-E651-TR LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Model #:120-LF-E651-TR

Item #:N82E16813188064

Return Policy:Standard Return Policy

In Stock

Mail in Rebate Card $94.99 $94.99

EVGA 01G-P3-1366-TR GeForce GTX 460 SE (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Model #:01G-P3-1366-TR

Item #:N82E16814130591

Return Policy:VGA Standard Return Policy

In Stock

Mail in Rebate Card $199.99 -$40.00 Instant $159.99

CORSAIR Builder Series CMPSU-500CX 500W ATX12V v2.3 Active PFC Power Supply

Model #:CMPSU-500CX

Item #:N82E16817139018

Return Policy:Standard Return Policy

In Stock

Mail in Rebate Card $69.99 -$10.00 Instant $59.99

Intel Core i3-550 Clarkdale 3.2GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80616I3550

Model #:BX80616I3550

Item #:N82E16819115065

Return Policy:CPU Replacement Only Return Policy

In Stock $129.99 $129.99

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model ...

Model #:996585

Item #:N82E16820146740

Return Policy:Memory Standard Return Policy

In Stock $39.99 $39.99

Western Digital AV-GP WD2500AVVS 250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal AV Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Model #:WD2500AVVS

Item #:N82E16822136523

Return Policy:Standard Return Policy

In Stock $44.99 -$10.00 Instant $34.99

Subtotal: $519.94

I would like to stay under $700, and looking for a case that a Mac lover would like. Any help would be greeeeat. If any wow players play with the 460 se, would like to know how it handles ultra at your resolution! Thanks! Also, if someone played wow on a plasma 1024x768 would that be more cpu intensive? sorry for the questions lol. Is this overkill? underkill? Any money that could be shaved?

 

[thestepster]

whats the priuce difference between the crippled 460 and proper 460?

 

[Tortuga]

Looks like, EVGA wise...30 bucks with the given discounts as of right now. Also, maybe a 768 would be the better choice for wow, thats where I was hoping for some input.

 

[thestepster]

the SE is a totally pointless card, just get the full fat one better to have plenty under the hood

 

[Tortuga]

You're probably right, at the medium resolutions, a faster 768mb might be the way to go?

 

[thestepster]

deffo mate, and it always leqaves the option there to play at a higher res later on it pair it up

 

[Stryker64]

Case: Fractal Design R3, simplistic, modest, clean and quiet.

Motherboard: Maybe a MSI H55 board, save some money, without too much of a difference.

Heatsink: Xigmatek Loki

 

[thestepster]

Case: Fractal Design R3, simplistic, modest, clean and quiet.

i really love the look of the insides of those, but i hate doors on pc so it turns me off, hope they bring out one with no door as i would love to try one

 

[Stryker64]

deffo mate, and it always leqaves the option there to play at a higher res later on it pair it up

World of Warcraft has like non-existent scaling, and apparently with SLI/Crossfire, while the average fps remains pretty much the same it spikes up and down more. At least this is what I've heard.

Also for you 4xx and 5xx cards you need to force DX11 api, because there's like some bug that causes wow to run at 10 fps unless you do this.

 

[T.A.K]

World of Warcraft has like non-existent scaling, and apparently with SLI/Crossfire, while the average fps remains pretty much the same it spikes up and down more. At least this is what I've heard.

Also for you 4xx and 5xx cards you need to force DX11 api, because there's like some bug that causes wow to run at 10 fps unless you do this.

This is true of WotLK, but with 4.0 crossfire and SLI are both supported.

 

[Tortuga]

Ok, so maybe with a cheaper mobo swap...the consensus is that gtx 460 is capable of ultra settings, maxed eye candy, great frame rate? Opinions on the cpu?

 

[T.A.K]

Ok, so maybe with a cheaper mobo swap...the consensus is that gtx 460 is capable of ultra settings, maxed eye candy, great frame rate? Opinions on the cpu?

I would go for a decent quad core.

 

[Stryker64]

2500K is apparently the best CPU for WoW, since WoW can only utilize a max for 4 threads.

Regarding cases.

Lian Li Lancool Dragon Lord PC-K62R1? It's very pretty, there's also a plain black one with blue LED fans if red isn't your thing.

Silverstone FT02, pricey, but EXTREMELY cools well, and a nice minimalistic look.

BitFenix Survivor, there's a fair bit of info on this in the forums.

 

[Tortuga]

Then the whole budget idea starts slipping away. The i3 with hyperthreading i'm sure will outperform AMD quads. I guess I could look into the Phenom X2 555 and hope to win the lottery and unlock to 4 cores. Not the route I was hoping for.

 

[Aurus_OC]

Then the whole budget idea starts slipping away. The i3 with hyperthreading i'm sure will outperform AMD quads. I guess I could look into the Phenom X2 555 and hope to win the lottery and unlock to 4 cores. Not the route I was hoping for.

I would say the i3 will be able to handle some WoW gaming. Since gaming is most dependant on the GPU rather than the CPU two cores with four threads should be plenty and won't hold anything back. For a motherboard you probably get away with a nice H55 board, maybe even Micro Atx.

 

[dielbe]

Then the whole budget idea starts slipping away. The i3 with hyperthreading i'm sure will outperform AMD quads. I guess I could look into the Phenom X2 555 and hope to win the lottery and unlock to 4 cores. Not the route I was hoping for.

I have an AMD quad and I run WoW on ultra at 1920 x 1080 at 100fps solid.

 

[Rastalovich]

Then the whole budget idea starts slipping away. The i3 with hyperthreading i'm sure will outperform AMD quads. I guess I could look into the Phenom X2 555 and hope to win the lottery and unlock to 4 cores. Not the route I was hoping for.

Don't take your eye off the ball.

Your immediate concern is a strictly WoW gaming pc. So seeing as your not talking a huge demanding game, but probably has some dx11 hacks badly stuffed into it atm, you want a semi decent mid-high range dx11 card.

I can't see them dx11'ing purely as they re-wrote the game before the dx11 sdk hit the scene. As I probably mentioned, they're more likely to bolt in minor dx11 things. But in a few updates time, more and more may creap in.

So keep your aim on that mid-range dx11 card, doesn't need to be spectacular, plenty of memory onboard. The rest of the rig doesn't matter to any extent. Heck an old 775 mobo with 4g and a c2d would flatline it.

 

[Tortuga]

Thanks for all the advice. This would be a no brainer if budget wasn't a concern, so I just wanted some people to chime in who are currently playing!

Thanks

 

[williamlexcrawford]

I'm running a GTX 460 and all I play is WoW. On ultra settings with v sync enabled my FPS will stay in the 58 to 60 range virtually all the time. The only time I really see any sort of particularly noticeable losses in frame rates are areas that have a massive load of trees. I've found the ultra setting with the view distance on high instead of ultra gives me the really stable 60 FPS virtually all the time.

In battlegrounds and 25 man raids (where you'd really care about performance) it plays very smoothly.

If you're interested in where your potential parts might line up against other video cards and CPUs, Tom's did benchmarks for WoW (about as reliable one as is possible).

Tom's Cataclysm Performance Review

 

[Stryker64]

Interesting as Tom's hardware states Crossfire and SLI don't scale well at all. HA! But it appears from the tests Intel and nVidia is the way to go.