Upgrading PC for some gaming, mainly World of Warcraft

A

ashrr

Adept
Q: What is your budget?
Around 25k I suppose, I have no idea what components cost.
Q: What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
CPU - Intel E6550
Motherboard - Some MSI board, not sure what model
GPU - ATI 5670
RAM - Transcend 2 GB
Monitor - Viewsonic 24 inch
SMPS - Corsair VX450
Q: Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
Monitor - Dell 2409
SMPS - Corsair VX450 if it will support the new hardware. If not I'll have to buy a new one.
Q: Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.
CPU - Intel i5 2500K is what a friend recommended.
Motherboard - any compatible motherboard
RAM - 4 to 8 GB
HDD - 1 SSD for OS and a couple of games.
Cabinet - If I need a new one
Q: Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component
Depends on whether I'll need anything. My usage is pretty specific. Maybe a GPU if the new CPU alone doesn't cut it.
Q: Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
Flipkart only. My credit card company gives me great installment options.
Q: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
No.
Q: What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
Gaming - Primarily World of Warcraft and possibly some Dota 2, Quake Live, Skyrim and Diablo 3. None of the games I play are extremely GPU intensive, barring maybe Skyrim. Now World of Warcraft is a special case. It's an old game but it's still very very CPU intensive due to the number of people playing it at any given time. I've been told that an i5 2500K is able to handle a 25 man raid at a steady 60 fps @ 1080p. This is what I'm mainly upgrading for. I play this game more than anything else.
Browsing
Download rig
Watching HD movies
Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
Intel, from hearsay.
Nvidia if I'm buying a GPU later. Their cards have just been less problematic for me. I've had a lot of trouble with ATI drivers.
Q: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
Answered above.
Q: What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
1080p for both.
Q: Are you looking to overclock?
No
Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
Windows 7 64 bit, Windows 8 in the future, maybe Ubuntu.

Thanks in advance.
 
i5 2400-10.5k OR i5 2320-9.5k[No need of 'K" lined processor if you're not ocing]
Intel DH67BL-B3-5.6k
Corsair XMS3 OR Gskill Ripjaws 2X2GB 1600mhz-1.7k
Gigabyte HD7770-8.5k OR Sapphire HD6770-6.5k
Nzxt Gamma-2.4k
Corsair Force3 64GB SSD-5k
Hope this helps:)
If your budget cannot stretch then go for i3 2100-6.2k rest the same.
 
i have an AMD phenom x2 555 with 2gb ram and and asus M2N68-AM PLUS mobo.. I could easily run the 25 men raid without a graphic card at lowest settings.. I could even do all the battlegrounds.
 
Jakob said:
i5 2400-10.5k OR i5 2320-9.5k[No need of 'K" lined processor if you're not ocing]
Intel DH67BL-B3-5.6k
Corsair XMS3 OR Gskill Ripjaws 2X2GB 1600mhz-1.7k
Gigabyte HD7770-8.5k OR Sapphire HD6770-6.5k
Nzxt Gamma-2.4k
Corsair Force3 64GB SSD-5k
Hope this helps:)
If your budget cannot stretch then go for i3 2100-6.2k rest the same.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the suggestions. I read a few posts on a WoW centric forum and it seems like the i5 2500K is the tried and tested choice for this game. Will the 2400 or 2320 be good enough?
If I do end up going with the 2500K, will that motherboard go well with it?

---------- Post added at 08:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:56 PM ----------
benryu said:
i have an AMD phenom x2 555 with 2gb ram and and asus M2N68-AM PLUS mobo.. I could easily run the 25 men raid without a graphic card at lowest settings.. I could even do all the battlegrounds.
Click to expand...

I don't want to play at lowest settings :) I want a computer that can handle Ultra.
 
i5 2400 is good enough plus you'll be adding external gpu so the igp won't matter you'll be able to play at high setting with this config.Here's the difference between i5 2400 and 2500K-AnandTech - Bench - CPU
Go for the rig i've suggested it's good enough for your requirements.
ashrr said:
Thank you for the suggestions. I read a few posts on a WoW centric forum and it seems like the i5 2500K is the tried and tested choice for this game. Will the 2400 or 2320 be good enough?

If I do end up going with the 2500K, will that motherboard go well with it?

---------- Post added at 08:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:56 PM ----------



I don't want to play at lowest settings :) I want a computer that can handle Ultra.
Click to expand...
 
Okay what @Jakob said is a bit too much for any MMORPG, a more balanced and easily upgradable RIG will be --

Intel Core i3 2100 ~6500/-
Intel DH67-BL ~5500/-
G.Skill RIPJAWS OR Corsair XMS3 4GB x1 ~1700/-
AMD HD 6850 ~9500/- OR *nVidia GTX 560Ti ~12900/-
NZXT Gamma ~2600/-
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB ~5500/- [instead of an SSD, go for this add an SSD later preferable from Intel / Crucial / Corsair Force GT line-up]

*if you are going for the nVidia graphics card, please note that you will have to upgrade the SMPS to a --> Corsair VX550W ~4500/-.

Hope this helps, Cheerio!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ALPHA17 said:
Okay what @Jakob said is a bit too much for any MMORPG, a more balanced and easily upgradable RIG will be --
Intel Core i3 2100 ~6500/-
Intel DH67-BL ~5500/-
G.Skill RIPJAWS OR Corsair XMS3 4GB x1 ~1700/-
AMD HD 6850 ~9500/- OR *nVidia GTX 560Ti ~12900/-
NZXT Gamma ~2600/-
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB ~5500/- [instead of an SSD, go for this add an SSD later preferable from Intel / Crucial / Corsair Force GT line-up]
*if you are going forhe nVidia graphics card, please note that you will have: to upgrade the SMPS to a --> Corsair VX550W ~4500/-.
Hope this helps, Cheerio!!
Click to expand...

A couple of things. Most people on the wow forums report FPS drops in 25 man raids on i3 and lower. The engine is old and it is common knowledge among wow players that the game requires way more processing power than it ought to. Even turning down graphics settings only helps to a certain extent as the engine is poorly optimized. I will also be recording my game play in real time which would require additional processing power. I'm not going to upgrade the processor for a long time so the 2500k looks enticing.
As far as hard disks go I already have the one you mentioned. I was looking to get an SSD for my OS and a few programs.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ashrr said:
I'm not going to upgrade the processor for a long time so the 2500k looks enticing.

As far as hard disks go I already have the one you mentioned. I was looking to get an SSD for my OS and a few programs.
Click to expand...

Okay but, as you are not over-clocking get a Core i5 2400 / 2500 vanilla version, the only difference between theses processors and the -k marked piece is --
  • the Core i5 2400 is clocked 100MHz slower than the Core i5 2500 / 2500k. This also affects the Turbo capability of the processor by the same margin.
  • Intel HD 2000 IGP instead of the slightly faster HD 3000.
  • the architecture is same-same.
  • amount of cache memory is same-same.
Really no point going for the Core i5 2500k, in the light of the above.

If you want an SSD, minimum go for a ~80GB -->90GB flavour because --
  • the SSD performance values start tapering of if it is chock filled with data.
  • a 60GB SSD will offer no great performance boost as it will be occupied wholly by the OS.
  • good quality SSD's with Asynchronous NAND memory chips are still priced on the higher end of the spectrum, if you are insistent on a SS noe, you have the following options --

  1. Intel 320 / 310 series 90GB SSD ~9500/- [Intel honours international warranty, available in the forum via systembuilder]
  2. Crucial M4 series 128GB SSD ~8000/- [source it from abroad via Amazon, in India it is not locally available]
  3. Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD ~9500/- [locally available from Prime ABGB Bombay and Corsair has a good after sales reputation]

Hope this helps, Cheerio!!
 
Ended up doubling my budget haha.
Bought an i5 2500 (non K), Intel DH67-BL, 8 gigs of Corsair Vengeance RAM, ATI HD 6870 (was 2k less than GTX 560 Ti) and Corsair Force 3 60 GB (was only 4K).
I don't think the rig is performing as well as it should though. Skyrim on Ultra is slightly laggy while FPS drops to 40s in a crowded city in WoW. A friend with a slightly better rig (but not by much: 2500K, 560Ti) is getting 300+ in the same spot. I don't know what's wrong.
What is a good method for testing the new rig out?
Thanks for all your help again.
 
ashrr said:
Ended up doubling my budget haha.

ATI HD 6870 (was 2k less than GTX 560 Ti) and Corsair Force 3 60 GB (was only 4K).

I don't know what's wrong.
Click to expand...

Well you should have gone for the nVidia GPU and gone for the Core i5 2400.

The Corsair Force 3 60GB is not what you should have bought, Intel drives OR Corsair Force GT series SSD is what you should have bought. The performance is much more superior and so is the pricing, the issue is as soon as you start loading up the SSD the performance will taper off.

Update all your drivers to the latest version and patch the OS as well. Then rerun the game to see if any improvements are to be found.

To update your graphics card drivers, go here. For the motherboards latest BIOS patch, head here.

Apart from this to test your new RIG, you can try out the following benching software -- Futuremark Benches / Passmark Benches / AIDA64. These will stress your PC out and should give you an understanding of how well your PC performs.

Another article pertaining to Benchmarks.

Hope this helps and may the RIG serve you in good stead for many years to come, Cheerio!!
 
ALPHA17 said:
Well you should have gone for the nVidia GPU and gone for the Core i5 2400.

The Corsair Force 3 60GB is not what you should have bought, Intel drives OR Corsair Force GT series SSD is what you should have bought. The performance is much more superior and so is the pricing, the issue is as soon as you start loading up the SSD the performance will taper off.

Update all your drivers to the latest version and patch the OS as well. Then rerun the game to see if any improvements are to be found.

To update your graphics card drivers, go here. For the motherboards latest BIOS patch, head here.

Apart from this to test your new RIG, you can try out the following benching software -- Futuremark Benches / Passmark Benches / AIDA64. These will stress your PC out and should give you an understanding of how well your PC performs.

Another article pertaining to Benchmarks.

Hope this helps and may the RIG serve you in good stead for many years to come, Cheerio!!
Click to expand...

Yes I agree. I bought the wrong combo. However, it still shouldn't be performing this badly. The friend's rig isn't that much better to make for a 250 FPS difference. I'm using the latest Catalyst drivers (12.4) and the motherboard drivers that came with the box.

I'll try updating the mobo drivers to see if there's any difference but I highly doubt it. I'll also try Futuremark and post here. Thank you once again.
 
ashrr said:
Yes I agree. I bought the wrong combo. However, it still shouldn't be performing this badly. The friend's rig isn't that much better to make for a 250 FPS difference. I'm using the latest Catalyst drivers (12.4) and the motherboard drivers that came with the box.

I'll try updating the mobo drivers to see if there's any difference but I highly doubt it. I'll also try Futuremark and post here. Thank you once again.
Click to expand...

What about your internet connection, are they the same OR different ISP's?

Here is a head to head comparison of the two SSD's in contention, to me they seem pretty evenly matched trading blows. But the Force GT comes out on the tops overall, they both have the same SandForce controller though.
 
Very different ISPs considering he's in the UK :p However, my internet connection should be more than sufficient for the game's requirements. I have a 4mbit download with 1mbit upload and WoW doesn't require even half of that. We can rule out network spikes too. My ping stays very stable at 200 ms.

As far as the SSDs go, the only reason I bought this one was because it costed only 4K. I was previously booting my OS off an old 5200 RPM Seagate. There's this particular application I use to record game footage which works best when recording to a separate physical drive, so I'll run the program off the SSD and have it record to my 7200.14 Barracuda 1 TB. It turns out that games load fast enough when stored on the 7200.14 so I won't be filling up my 60 gig SSD in a hurry.

3D Mark 11 score - http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3489830;jsessionid=3p9a2cbhx5ar1it3h03xw2za6
 
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