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System Build for Blizzard gaming (Wow:MOP/SC2/D3)! Please critique!

Lyfer

Lyfer

Diamond Member
Please review, I play Wow:Mop 90% of the time, SC2 7%, and D3 3% of the time 😀.

Mobo: ASUS H81M-E (barebones 1150 board) $62
CPU: i5 4570 (will use stock HSF, no OC planned hense non-K series) $190
GPU: MSI R7850 Twin Frozr 2GB $150
Power: Corsair Builder Series CX600 $65
OS: 64-Bit Windows 8 (already have thru DreamSpark)
RAM: GSkill 8gb DDR1600 $60
SSD: Samsung 840 120gb $99 (will use a 500gb seagate laying around for storage)
Monitor: Dell P2314H (23in IPS) $180
Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini Black $50
KB/Mice: Razr KB/Mice I'm reusing!

Total is about $880 (no tax since I live in NC)

My questions:

1. Is the 7850 for my price range ($150'ish) the best for Wow/sc/D3? I heard some people say Nvidia is more better, but I can't find benchmarks to confirm for the life of me.

2. I can get a Toshiba 128gb (8gb more room) for the same price as the Samsung 840, should I sacrifice the performance? I just care about reliability from an SSD.

3. If you know a better display than the Dell P2314H let me know, I want a quality IPS from a reliable manufacturer so I went with Dell. I would like a 27" but couldnt find any quality IPS for $30-50 more.

4. I built several sandybridge's in the past that did 4.5-4.8ghz on a basic HSF. Is it worth to go with a K series haswell and OC?

Thanks!
 
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Your video card is fine.

Your SSD is good, use the 500gb for stuff that doesnt need to be fast, dont install any more games than needed to the 120gb drive.

The rest I cannot say.
 
Also, can you link the parts you are planning to buy? I would love to see the full specs of that G-Skill RAM
 
if your going to play Wow (and only wow)... im going to suggest you look at an Nvidia card... (ATI > Nvidia for everything not named WOW)

There was a single benchmark done before, and Wow plays better on GTX cards for some reason. And it plays way worse on multiple cards.... (no crossfire no sli) Im trying to find that benchmark, but it is escaping me at this time.

And that is the only reason I got my gtx 670.


wow_1920_1200.gif
 
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sao123 said:
if your going to play Wow... im going to suggest you look at an Nvidia card...

There was a single benchmark done before, and Wow plays better on GTX cards for some reason. And it plays way worse on multiple cards.... (no crossfire no sli) Im trying to find that benchmark, but it is escaping me at this time.

And that is the only reason I got my gtx 570.
Click to expand...

Lol yeah I've been trying to find benchmarks to confirm, everyone who I play with says "GO NVIDIA OMG FOR WOW". But I dont think anything can compare to the 7950 3gb at under $200 for anything. To answer some questions:

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813132042 is the mobo I picked. I've always just used Asus boards, love there stability and reliability.

2. Never heard of Team Volcan RAM, and I'm trying not cut any corners for stability sorry 🙁. I picked the CX 600 because its basically $50 with the coupon and combo discount, so I figured I pay $15 more to future proof if I added more HDD's and periphals down the line.

Thanks all, appreciate all the replies!
 
I found the benchmark and posted it.

the only thing i dont like about your mobo, is it only has 2 ram slots. If it would be in your budget, I would look for an H87 or Z87 instead of the H81.
(more ram + more sata 3.0 slots + ability to do the SRT SSD chaching if you want in the future...)

You'll at least have some upgrade room.
Sticking with Asus, look at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131995


This is a good resource to check out...
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z87-H87-H81-Q87-Q85-B85-What-is-the-difference-473/
or http://us.hardware.info/reviews/444...and-3x-b85-the-three-chipsets-b85-h87-and-z87
 
Lyfer said:
Lol yeah I've been trying to find benchmarks to confirm, everyone who I play with says "GO NVIDIA OMG FOR WOW". But I dont think anything can compare to the 7950 3gb at under $200 for anything. To answer some questions:

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813132042 is the mobo I picked. I've always just used Asus boards, love there stability and reliability.

2. Never heard of Team Volcan RAM, and I'm trying not cut any corners for stability sorry 🙁. I picked the CX 600 because its basically $50 with the coupon and combo discount, so I figured I pay $15 more to future proof if I added more HDD's and periphals down the line.

Thanks all, appreciate all the replies!
Click to expand...

The 7950 is a very good choice, especially now that it's under $200. You're not going to find an Nvidia card that can beat it overall for the money.

As for the SSD, both the 840 and the Toshiba Q have 128GB of NAND on board. Neither will let you see all 128GB because they reserve some capacity to use as a performance buffer (overprovisioning).

$80 is simply too much to pay for 8GB of DDR3 1600. The Team Vulcan kit is just a good as the G.Skill Ripjaws, actually slightly better because it has shorter heatspreaders. RAM is pretty much RAM especially when it comes to a standard speed like DDR3 1600. Neither Team nor G.Skill actually fab DRAM, they both buy it from Hynix, Samsung, or Micron, so you're getting the same stuff either way.

Overall though, your build looks very good.
 
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