£500-750 budget PC for Rift and WoW

sharingan_sasuk

sharingan_sasuk

sharingan_sasuk

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Hi all, I'm looking to build a new gaming PC for the above two games. I plan to run it at 1920x1080 on a 22" monitor, at High/Ultra settings if possible with a smooth 40-60fps framerate.

I need all of the following: CPU, CPU cooler (unless the retail is just as quiet) motherboard, case, RAM, and graphics card. The hard drive, OS, DVD-RW and monitor I've already got, while I have an OCZ SXS 500W already but if it can't handle it, then it would have to be included too.

I'm hoping to play at stock speeds and thus have no plans to overclock.

Atm, I'm thinking either an AMD Phenom II X4 setup with, I dunno maybe a Radeon 5770 if I go for a lower end of the budget spec, but I'm not sure which card matches that CPU best without one bottlenecking the other.

To use up all of my budget, then I was thinking more of an Intel I5 2500K with a Radeon 6950 (flashed to 6970) or GTX 480 which will last a big longer. But please bear in mind all I play is Rift and WoW. I don't how their requirements compare to other games that I can play on my XBox 360 instead.

I was initially thinking of getting a mini-ITX build around a Sugo SG07 but wasn't sure what motherboard and graphics card would go with it, considering many are dual-slots! If it can still be done, then that would be even better, but I'm not too bothered if it cannot.

I plan to order after I get paid at the end of the month if that helps. So any advice would be much appreciated thanks.
 
Asus GeForce GTX 480 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Far Cry 2 £199.98

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE Shogun 2 Game £179.99


Asus P8P67-M PRO Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £124.98

XFX Pro 650W Core Edition Power Supply £68.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £43.99


Coolermaster Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £38.80


Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £33.98

Sub Total : £575.59
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £117.22
Total : £703.31
 
How old is your current PSU? Just thinking that you don't need to upgrade it if it's fairly recent... my 500w runs my rig perfectly, and yours will be lower, or close power draw with that spec above.

Just remembered my rig isn't in my spec now :P
i3 540 @ 4.2ghz, MSI 5850, UD2H, 2x 24" screens, 160gb ssd, akasa venom cpu cooler and ****ty LEDs :)
 
Just bear in mind that Rift is very machine hungry, you won't get Ultra settings smooth play (40-60fps) with that spec, at least as soon as you enter Rifts and Warfronts your FPS will shoot down. I get stead 60fps without entering those places, but as soon as I enter them I can go as low as 20fps - 2500k + 570GTX.

Also, if you aren't overclocking why go for the K versions and the P67 board? Makes no sense to be honest.
 
My AMD build for ya!

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.20GHz
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1943
£98.39 inc VAT

(Mobo Option 1)("currently out of stock but has crossfire support for future upgrading")
ASRock M3A770DE AMD 770 (Socket AM3)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-034-AK&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1481
£53.99 inc VAT

(Mobo Option 2)
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-134-MS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=1782
£64.99 inc VAT

OCZ Special OPS 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-222-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517
£39.98 inc VAT

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB - 7200RPM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279
£41.99 inc VAT

Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-037-ZA&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=736
£44.99 inc VAT

Coolermaster Silent Pro Modular 600W Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-166-CM&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1103
£69.98 inc VAT

Sub-total
£360.32 (!!!!"without a GPU"!!!!)

The Cpu may only be 3.2ghz but that baby Overclocks very easy without a lot of knowledge, If I can OC it to 4.1Ghz stable then im sure you can, Zalman Z9 has a lot of airflow and space and the Power Supply has 85% efficiency which is nice if your playing WoW 10 hours a day like I used to, also the HDD is one of the fastest 1Tb's out there so means uber fast loading times.

Now to the GPU

Budget~ £520.30

MSI ATI Radeon HD 5850 Twin FrozR II 1024MB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-103-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=411
£159.98 inc VAT

MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 1024MB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-092-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1830
£159.98 inc VAT

Higher~ £565-£585

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 480 "Special Edition" 1536MB
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-078-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1750
£224.99 inc VAT

MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-119-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752
£209.99 inc VAT

I didnt get a chance to play wow on my new build rig but I guarantee it will play it 60fps on highest with the 5850 or the 460 not sure with Dx11 enabled that were the 480 and 6950 would fair better I think, I only got a chance to play Rift in Beta on my old GTX8800 which didnt goto well :( but i'll be buying Rift this friday payday!

Btw only thing missing from the build is a Dvd drive and mouse + keyboard :)
 
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £209.99
(£174.99) £209.99
(£174.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE Shogun 2 Game £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION ** £114.98
(£95.82) £114.98
(£95.82)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599) £79.99
(£66.66) £79.99
(£66.66)
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
(£35.82) £42.98
(£35.82)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Patriot Viper 2 Sector 5 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-12800C8 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit £34.99
(£29.16) £34.99
(£29.16)
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £29.60
(£24.67) £29.60
(£24.67)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
Sub Total : £623.76
Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £124.75
Total : £748.51

Stayed on budget, but for a bit more you could get a better PSU and case.

I'd flash the 6950 to 6970 shaders/speeds, or you could go for a GTX 480 (personal preference). I've also included the retail version 2500k which will be fine for stock clocks, but add a better cooler in the future if you plan to overclock. (if you're 100% certain you won't be overclocking just go for the 2500 and add a h67 board which will save you some coins)
 
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Bearing in mind I already have the hard drive, OS, DVD-RW and monitor sorted, I should be able to afford some of the specs provided so far no problem.

Seems like I'm all set apart from deciding whether paying more for a Intel i5 2500K over an AMD Phenom X4 is worth it for these 2 games, and of the two £200 cards, GTX 480 and Radeon 6950, which is best?

And sorry, I do realise now that while I should be able to get up to 60fps easily in most places in RIFT, it will obviously drop a lot when it comes to group events and rifts. As long as it's playable at say 25fps or so, and I can heal with lag, then I'm fine with that!

Finally, I'm sure I won't overclock because I just don't have the time and I want to be able to play out of the box.
 
Keep in mind going for the AMD option would, in your budget probably let you squeeze in, infact would let you squeeze in either 6850/6870xfire or 460 sli option all of which would be incredibly fast.

Infact depending on the current deals on 6850, 2 of them is silly silly fast for the money.

Ok OCUK has £145-150 3rd party cooler Asus 6850's around, 2 of those, about £100 more than a 6950, very very fast. The only thing that would increase the cost a little would be getting the best mobo combo for it because you ideally want something that has excellent spacing between pci-e slots, which normally means a mobo thats got 3 slots between its two fastest pci-e slots. At £300 for 6850 mobo its £50 more than a 6950, I'd have to see how fast it comes out, but it would be close to 50% faster, maybe more infact. If you could pick a couple up for the £125-135 mark the value for the performance just increases.

Its actually insanely hard to find newer 6870/50 reviews with xfire scores and compared to 6950/70 and newer stuff.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-crossfirex-review/7

If you look there you should basically see, at least for BC:2 (and in many things with drivers improving constantly) 95% scaling.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4209/amds-radeon-hd-6990-the-new-single-card-king/12

Then you look there and look at 1920x1200 scores(keep in mind the guru ones were 8xaa vs lower on anand, and newer results so not directly comparable). Anyway no 6870/50xf results but, assume 95% scaling or so, the 6870 ends up with 110fps, the 6850 with over 90fps, the 6970 with 73fps and a 6950 with 65fps.

Now keep in mind, buy the right 6950 and you've got a 95% chance it will unlock to a 6970 anyway. But thats still a hefty performance bump 50% increase for 6870's in xfire over a 6970.

The 6870's are slightly less good at stock but have a lot more oc'ing headroom than the other cards simply as its 125mhz lower clocked than the 6870.

On your budget, for absolute gaming performance I'd certainly be considering xfire setups. Actually having looked around, you can get some really nice 6850's with decent cooling for a little less.

its a close call, if the 6950 didn't "unlock" to a 6970, it would be a no brainer to get 2x 6850's, but the 6950 unlocked is awesome value.
 
WoW doesnt benefit from sli/crossfire, runs much better on nvidia cards and it's cpu limited. So an i5 2500k and an nvidia gtx 480 would be the best for you.
 
Why are people suggesting the "k" version CPUs when he clearly stated (twice) that he won't be overclocking. Do yourself a favour and get the 2500 and a H67 board, this will save you a decent amount of cash which you can save or spend on additional things.

I wouldn't bother with any SLI/Crossfire setups in your case, the high temperatures, the strain it puts on the PSU, for WoW and Rift? Not worth it, not to mention the price of a better motherboard. I would personally go for a single card 480GTX or 570GTX since you are saving some cash on mobo and cpu (£50+).
 
While the XF/SLI options sound great for my budget, I can't help but think it's overkill for my needs. I'd rather buy a single 6950 or GTX 480 brand new and keep it simple.

Right now I'm leaning towards the 6950, but still don't know whether an i5 2500 over a Phenom II X4 is worth it for WoW and RIFT?
 
So, I've got 2 builds atm, one for the lower end of my budget and another for making the most of it:
6rnd37.jpg

35k1jif.jpg


What do you guys think? I'm not sure about the motherboards and the important differences between them other than if they are the right socket or not.
 
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Just a heads up you will not run this game at complete max settings!

My rig struggles when all the settings are turned up max

Lighting and shadows are the worst settings for a performance hit.
 
sharingan_sasuk said:
So, I've got 2 builds atm, one for the lower end of my budget and another for making the most of it:


What do you guys think? I'm not sure about the motherboards and the important differences between them other than if they are the right socket or not.
Click to expand...

Intel build looks bang on mate, if you're willing to fork out the extra £100 over the AMD build then go for it.
 
Cheers Rexton for those links. It seems like the GTX 480 is at least on par with the Radeon 6950/6970 and even beats it quite well in some tests. But then the trade off is more power consumption, temperature and noise levels!

In that case, looks like I'm firmly set on the Radeon 6950, and besides, I've always been a fan of Radeons as I've had a 9700 Pro and 4850 in the past which have served me well.

In terms of the CPU, I think the extra £100 will be definitely worth it because even the older i5 non-SB chips outperform the Phenom II X6s!

Oh and I've played MMOs for about 5 years now so I understand I won't always get full smooth framerates when it comes to congested areas, but as long as it ain't a slideshow, then it's good enough for me. I usually have Shadows on low or even off because it massively helps framerates, and I'm not bothered about shadows to be honest in a MMO!
 
Glad to help mate. The Gigabyte version of the 480 can be had for £200 from here with a voucher code (not sure if that deal is still on) which is actually cooler and quieter than the 6950/70 from what I've heard.

Either way they're both good cards, personally I'm ordering a 6950 soon though.

:)
 
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