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Need some new build advice :)
indojabijin
Member UncommonPosts: 97
in Hardware
I have a friend who currently plays WoW and want's to be able to do 25 man raids without losing so many FPS and having issues seeing what is going on. I have no idea what to suggest to him and was wondering what he should get.
He doesn't need any new mouse/keyboard/etc and when I asked him his budget he says it doesn't matter as long as he doesn't struggle with performance in 25 man raids. So, all in all, he doesn't need the latest and greatest for the newest games. He just needs a new build that will work for what he does currently.
Any suggestions? (:
Comments
Really hard to answer a question like that, i mean if a budget does not matter tell him to buy an expensive Alienware, but somehow thats not what i am thinking this person needs.
A 25 man raid or anything that has that many players in the same area at the same time can be bottle necked by your internet just as much as your computer and its parts (video card,ram,cpu).
More useful information.... like does he just want to upgrade a current comp ? or does he want a completely new system ?
Yes also having a maximum amount he wants to pay for a system is needed cause if hes only thinking of just 500 or less then that limits things.
So post back with more details.
Lolipops !
He's looking to build a new system. I urged him to give me a budget and he says in the $750-$900 range.
His current computer is: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01695628&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=3941396#N72
I'll be building his PC for him, I just wasn't sure what to suggest to him in terms of what is best for his current needs.
You can get an AMD 6 core processor for about 170(factory oc to 4.1 ghz a core), a mobo will run you around 80-110, 8gb ram about 40-50 for high speed, a gfx card is from 170(6870 series) or one like mine, 6970(300+). A proper power supply at 600-750 watts is around 50-100, a new tower is around 110-140 depending on the type. HDD is up to it's owner, I pref a SSD with HDD for majority of files. All can be found on new egg. If you want me to create a wishlist, you can ask. But everything is pretty much there. Plus newegg has guides for building PCs.
While i am sure there will be detractors from these guys (iBUYPOWER) i have had 2 systems from them (1 for me 1 for my son) and have had ZERO problems with them. http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Special-B this one was around $799.00. This would run WoW 25 mans and all other current games and alot of the future games coming out.
Go to the site look at it, there are tons of additions you can make to any of the computers they sell and you can even downgrade it to save some cash also.
Fyi, the AMD 7750 is a low end card, but it runs skyrim at 30-50 FPS with everything maxed on my sons computer, so there is an example of a nice cheap card, that performs great also.
Lolipops !
That system should easily be able to run WoW, no problem. It sounds more like he is having lag issues. What sort of Internet connection does he have, and what bandwidth?
He has not issues running WoW. He has issues when running 25 main raids - he dips to about 20-25 fps.
I'd suggest that you start by replacing just the power supply and video card in the old computer:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182068
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
That will roughly triple his video card performance, which might be enough to get him the performance he wants without having to replace everything else. If it's not good enough, then maybe you keep those two parts (they're both a good deal) and use them in the new build when you replace everything else.
Also note that the promo code on the power supply ends today, so tomorrow, it will still be a decent value, but not practically a steal like it is today.
He replaced the graphics card with a GTS 250.
I might get some differing opinions on this but the card i was talking about above the AMD 7750 does not need an extra power supply other than what it gets from the motherboard slot. So you could just try that card and see if it makes a difference, if hes just worried about WoW and your sure the bottleneck is not his internet connection, this card is a simple fix for that.
But umm i played in 40 man raids back in WoW vanilla and i had a computer at the time that was very powerful, but compared to his it was a dog so i am not sure what his issue is. Think on this i did DAoC on a 10 year old computer (well back when DAoC was new) and we had 100s of players on the field and i barely had a hiccup back then, and that was on 56k modem.
Anyhow, as i said if he is only concerned with WoW and you really think its a video issue then you might try the above mentioned card. GL.
Lolipops !
Which is only slightly faster than the GeForce 9800 GT that supposedly came with it. They're literally two different bins of exactly the same GPU die. A Radeon HD 6870 would still more than double the performance of a GeForce GTS 250.
I'd still say try that (and the new power supply) before replacing everything else. If he does decide he needs to replace everything else, then he's already got a good deal on a video card and power supply suitable to the budget, and can easily build around those and stay inside the budget.
Yeah.. a 250 wasn't an upgrade for him.
WoW has got a good bit beefier graphics than it used to, especially in 25-mans, but it's not horrible on hardware. That said, there are a lot of things that impact performance aside from just hardware. Addons and internet connection greatly impact performance in that game. And a lot of people have bad habits of running a lot of stuff in the background that can severely impact performance.
It may very well be that he just needs to turn off a few graphics options, disable all but essential addons, and/or drop the resolution a touch while he raiding (can turn it back up when he is done raiding), and that alone will be enough to get him up to par.
It's not like you need stuff to look pretty when your trying to get business done anyway - turn it back on after the kill for the pretty screenshots.