WoW rig

[Pyx]

Although I'm a notebook player (Dell XPS, rawr), it might be nice to have a choice between that a more conventional setup. As I am totally out of the build it yourself scene by now, I'm wondering if it is possible to make a rig that:
> would run WoW super smooth at the highest game settings @ 1920x1200 monitor resolution
> wouldn't make a terrifying noise, but is fairly silent by itself (at least when running WoW)
> isn't a hideous-to-see-cobbled-together monstrosity
> would cost around EUR 1000

[Jaera]

get a dell imo,

if you arnt prepared to make it yourself that is. mines self built and i much prefer it

get at least an 8800 GPU. at least a 3ghz dual core cpu. and you are laughing for wow

looked at one;

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 920 (2.66GHz, 8MB cache, 4.8GT/sec) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 64Bit - English edit
HARDWARE SUPPORT 1Yr XPS Premium Warranty Support - Priority Call In and Onsite Support edit
MICROSOFT APPLICATION SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9 - English edit
MONITOR Display Not Included edit
MEMORY 4096MB (4x1024) 1067MHz DDR3 Dual Channel edit
HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) Hard Drive edit
GRAPHICS CARD 512MB ATI® Radeon® 4850 Graphics card edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/- RW Optical Drive (DVD & CD read and write) edit
KEYBOARD Dell Multimedia USB Keyboard Black - UK edit
MOUSE Dell Laser Mouse USB (6 buttons scroll) Black edit

for 869 GBP.

thats a beast of a cpu, and a decent GPU. that will sort ye out good - no monitor as i assume you have one?

still assuming you dont want to make your own, but with my experience with dells they seem quiet also

[Jaera]

although you should sell your old-ass xps and get this badboy!

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/produ ... _promo_2~~ pricey though :O and still way slower than my desktop. but you can carry it around!

[Pyx]

There are enough stores who could assemble a rig, so a big list of parts isn't a problem. The criteria which are important are neatly listed above (leaving out a monitor or suggesting a GBP 1900 new laptop ain't cutting it ).

[Jaera]

1920x1080 is a TV resolution mainly. man up and get 1920x1200

ok so imo;

CPU : e8400 intel
Motherboard: some 790 Nvidia Chipset based thing. they are all pretty similar.
GPU : 9800 GTX/GTX260
Memory: 4Gigs if you are going 64bit
HDD: whatever you need
Monitor: Samsung T240 24" (i have this, its great) 1900x1200
Vista for DX10 stuff if you go that route.
misc stuff like KB/mouse/Speakers.

there, case closed. its a pretty powerful machine, will eat wow for breakfast, and you wont play on your laptop again also you have th eoption to upgrade the cpu to a new quad like the one khila has, no need for wow, but in the future you may want to.

[Rhaena]

I would invest in a decent case, not only does it look nice, but makes building/upgrading much easier and can help in keeping the machine cooler (and therefore quieter).

I have a Tsunami Thermaltake case, which is solid, aluminium (helps keep some of the noise inside), has scope for adding big, quiet fans and a joy to play around inside.

They're not particularly cheap but imo it's a worthwhile investment, and probably the only component of a new PC that won't be tecnically obselete within a couple of years.

[Pyx]

Probably a good idea to start with a case and work from there with the parts J suggested. However, it's either a low cost rig with a CPU/GPU with some age, or the latest and greatest. So let's split this in two options instead of some half assed mix.

Low cost, low noise, good WoW performance rig:
- case: Antec Solo @ EUR 91
- PSU: Coolermaster M520 @ EUR 69
- Fans/CPU cooler: Scythe Mugen 2 @ EUR 37
- Motherboard: MSI P43 NEO-F @ EUR 67
- CPU: Intel E8400 Duo 3.0 Ghz @ EUR 159
- GPU: Nvidia 9800GTX+ @ EUR 167
- HDD: 2 x Seagate 500GB on single platter at 7200 rpm @ EUR 59
- Ram: Kingston 2x2GB at 800 Mhz @ EUR 42
- Screens: Samsung LS2443BW 24" at 1920x1200 @ EUR 269
- Keyboard: Logitech G11 @ EUR 69
- Mouse: Logitech G9 @ EUR 55
- OS: Windows Vista Basic 64-bit @ EUR 89
- LAN: Netgear WiFi PCI @ EUR 25
- Misc: DVD/RW @ EUR 19
-> EUR 1273

[Jaera]

i would stick to nvidia. 8800GT/9800GTX/+/GTX260 - the 9800 http://www.informatique.nl/123303 is pretty nice. plenty for your needs. and gives you the option for physx/cuda etc

ati cards always seem to have terrible drivers. and be noisier

apart from that looks good

http://www.informatique.nl/890612

is my cpu cooler. you can turn the fan right down. or even off. OR you can have it sound like a jet taking off. but you can get silent with it. its great.

you wont need more extra fans than the case comes with. so that sorts that. also you can use a program called rivatuner to change the fan speed on your gfx. make that silent or loud too depending on what you need at the time. easy to do.

[Rhaena]

Second on the nvidia > ati thing.

[Puchiko]

*gets popcorn for useless ati vs. nvidia fight'o*

p.s. it's the other way around

[Pyx]

Compared both, and noticed that the ATI 4870 is both faster and quieter, so back to ATI

[Jaera]

you will regret it.

A) you wont notice the difference,
b) the noise is irrelevant if you see rivatuner (and im sure they are the same anyway)
c) you dont get physX. or cuda.

have a look at the folding@home thing. (google)

you may get 5 fps in crysis, but in wow, nothing. most games, nothing

worse drivers more expensive, ugly card. the list goes on!
but its your money

[Pyx]

What are PhysX/Cuda, and what is the relevance to WoW-gaming, photo-editing?

[Jaera]

the same relevance as is the perf diff between the 4870 and 9800gtx+ in WoW

as in, they both will run it the exact same

physx is for hardware accelerated physics. cuda is for using the gpu for cpu stuff, but much faster. folding protien etc etc. at home.

basically means you have something else to do.

seriously, wow is not a demanding game, there is 0 diff between the cards - but with nvidia you have somewhere to go

[Puchiko]

4870? PhysX? Cooking proteins and listening for ET @home? People waste way too much money... instead of drinking it!

I'm fine with 20-60 fps in WoW with nothing but on-board gfx chipset - beat that in heat / noise. Not with the highest details, nor anywhere close to 1920x1200, sure; but what good would that be?

[Jaera]

4870? PhysX? Cooking proteins and listening for ET @home? People waste way too much money... instead of drinking it!

I'm fine with 20-60 fps in WoW with nothing but on-board gfx chipset - beat that in heat / noise. Not with the highest details, nor anywhere close to 1920x1200, sure; but what good would that be?

or do this pyx

[Thuren]

On a recommendation from a friend I got the Asus-made 4870 card. Bad call. Installed latest chipset reference drivers, as anyone will tell you to do, with the result that the game kept crashing, freezing and locking. This, apparently, is a know feature of the chipset. Tried manufacturer drivers, but the problem stayed essentially the same. I finally got the card running when I went back to the drivers that came on a CD with the card, i.e. a much older set.

Based on this, I'd recommend nVidia for a WoW rig.

[Pyx]

Thanks for the warning Thuren, back to Nvidia I guess. Also, thanks for the out of the box idea Puch (which I won't follow .

[Cortex]

On a recommendation from a friend I got the Asus-made 4870 card.

MuhahahaHAAAAAA!!!

On a more serious note, there has been numerous problems on NVIDIA cards with WoW aswell, so i guess there arent safe bets here. When i bought my nvidia 9800 GX2 i had to wait a couple of driver iterations to get it right.

[Jaera]

On a recommendation from a friend I got the Asus-made 4870 card.

MuhahahaHAAAAAA!!!

On a more serious note, there has been numerous problems on NVIDIA cards with WoW aswell, so i guess there arent safe bets here. When i bought my nvidia 9800 GX2 i had to wait a couple of driver iterations to get it right.

the 9800gx2 is a special case. insofar as it failed hugely. bad bad card. but the rest are solid

its not the same as the 9800 gtx+