Ultra CHeap WOW rig.

[Mathlete]

So one of my friends approached me last night and asked, "How cheap can you build me a rig that will play WOW well. That's all I want to do" Now I know he like to to surf the web and blah blah blah, but basically, I need the cheapest rig that will play WOW beautifully with NO lag. Any suggestions?

BTW, I have built a couple of middle of the road rigs, so I have some experience.

 

[Axon]

Screen resolution? Can you reuse any parts? Monitor?

If 1680: AMD X3 435 + Biostar MoBo ($140ish) or MicroCenter X3 720 ($110) deal. RAM $85. Case/PSU $70. Something around a 4850 gpu: $100. hdd: $50-$100. SSD preferable, runs WoW like butta.

$425 or so. Could make it cheaper with more ghetto parts but you need to advise me of the screen resolution. WoW is no longer the low end system intensity game it once was.

 

[mfenn]

WoW is actually pretty intensive when you get into big raids, especially since the engine isn't optimized for shit. If by "NO lag," he means high framerates absolutely all the time, then you need a pretty stacked rig, like $800-$1k.

Aside: WoW players don't know WTF lag is BTW. They think it is framerate instead of network latency. Anywho...

However, if by "NO lag," he really means, "a lot less lag than my POS Dell Inspiron with an Intel GMA", then what Axon suggested would be good.

 

[mOeeOm]

WoW is actually pretty intensive when you get into big raids, especially since the engine isn't optimized for shit. If by "NO lag," he means high framerates absolutely all the time, then you need a pretty stacked rig, like $800-$1k.

Aside: WoW players don't know WTF lag is BTW. They think it is framerate instead of network latency. Anywho...

However, if by "NO lag," he really means, "a lot less lag than my POS Dell Inspiron with an Intel GMA", then what Axon suggested would be good.

My current comp is 5 years old, i played WoW at 1920x1080 everything max with shadows, decent frame rates during raids/arena, only dalaran took me down to like 10-15, otherwise 30-40.

I really doubt you need $800-1k to play WoW on max with shadows, $400-500

 

[mfenn]

My current comp is 5 years old, i played WoW at 1920x1080 everything max with shadows, decent frame rates during raids/arena, only dalaran took me down to like 10-15, otherwise 30-40.

I really doubt you need $800-1k to play WoW on max with shadows, $400-500

LOL. Reading comprehension fail. Please read my post again.

My i7 860 w/ GTX 260, 8GB of DDR3 1600, and an OCZ Agility 120GB gets nowhere near what I would call "NO lag" (i.e. >60 fps at all times). I have no doubt that a $500 machine will give you the performance you describe, but that's hardly what I would call "NO lag". I in fact suggested that the $425 machine Axon described would probably do fine for what the OP's friend probably meant instead of what the friend actually said.

 

[mOeeOm]

LOL. Reading comprehension fail. Please read my post again.

My i7 860 w/ GTX 260, 8GB of DDR3 1600, and an OCZ Agility 120GB gets nowhere near what I would call "NO lag" (i.e. >60 fps at all times). I have no doubt that a $500 machine will give you the performance you describe, but that's hardly what I would call "NO lag". I in fact suggested that the $425 machine Axon described would probably do fine for what the OP's friend probably meant instead of what the friend actually said.

:/

You have a silly definition of no lag, but okay. >60 fps with a $500 machine will be achievable, you'll drop to 30-40 in dalaran. Otherwise ya, no lag. I actually have no idea where you drop below 60 fps other than dalaran, my garbage 5 year old comp was 30-40 everywhere, but dalaran and that includes all the raids.

Anyways no point talking about it when OP didn't post resolution.

"LOL. Reading comprehension fail."

Manners please.

 

[mfenn]

:/

You have a silly definition of no lag, but okay. >60 fps with a $500 machine will be achievable, you'll drop to 30-40 in dalaran. Otherwise ya, no lag. I actually have no idea where you drop below 60 fps other than dalaran, my garbage 5 year old comp was 30-40 everywhere, but dalaran and that includes all the raids.

Anyways no point talking about it when OP didn't post resolution.

I have a silly definition of "play WOW beautifully with NO lag"? Where have you been? The standard for perfect FPS has been 60 minimum ever since 3D games started appearing.

Sorry, your statement about FPS is just plain wrong. I posted the exact specs of a machine that cannot get >60FPS at all time. Such a machine would probably cost >$1k if you bought today, but I was being conservative.

"LOL. Reading comprehension fail."

Manners please.

Sorry, I don't appreciate people posting comments that clearly reflect that they haven't read the OP or put the slightest bit of thought into the thread. Frankly, it's not helpful in the slightest, and quite rude to the OP. I however, gave a well reasoned response that even took into account the typical mentality of WoW players. (See, two can play at the snark game.)

 

[mOeeOm]

I have a silly definition of "play WOW beautifully with NO lag"? Where have you been? The standard for perfect FPS has been 60 minimum ever since 3D games started appearing.

Sorry, your statement about FPS is just plain wrong. I posted the exact specs of a machine that cannot get >60FPS at all time. Such a machine would probably cost >$1k if you bought today, but I was being conservative.


Sorry, I don't appreciate people posting comments that clearly reflect that they haven't read the OP or put the slightest bit of thought into the thread. Frankly, it's not helpful in the slightest, and quite rude to the OP. I however, gave a well reasoned response that even took into account the typical mentality of WoW players. (See, two can play at the snark game.)

WHERE are you dropping below 60 fps exactly (dalaran doesn't count) and what res do you play at :/

 

[mfenn]

WHERE are you dropping below 60 fps exactly (dalaran doesn't count) and what res do you play at :/

I play at 1920x1200 w/ all Ultra (incl. shadows) and 4x AA. I see drops in 25-man Uld vs. most bosses (esp. FL). Basically anywhere where you've got 25 players worth of spell effects going.

WoW is an especially annoying game to optimize for since it is GPU-bound at some times and CPU-bound at others. Raids are generally more GPU-bound whereas big cities (Dal) are more CPU bound. Thus, to fulfill the OP's requirement of high FPS at all times ("NO lag"), you need a pretty decent CPU and GPU.

 

[mOeeOm]

I play at 1920x1200 w/ all Ultra (incl. shadows) and 4x AA. I see drops in 25-man Uld vs. most bosses (esp. FL). Basically anywhere where you've got 25 players worth of spell effects going.

WoW is an especially annoying game to optimize for since it is GPU-bound at some times and CPU-bound at others. Raids are generally more GPU-bound whereas big cities (Dal) are more CPU bound. Thus, to fulfill the OP's requirement of high FPS at all times ("NO lag"), you need a pretty decent CPU and GPU.

Something sounds wrong here, what did you drop to exactly? :/

If you went below 60 fps with your rig that is really shocking, I ran at same settings with a 5 year old pc and in all raids 30-40.

 

[mfenn]

Something sounds wrong here, what did you drop to exactly? :/

If you went below 60 fps with your rig that is really shocking, I ran at same settings with a 5 year old pc and in all raids 30-40.

Mins in the 40's. Not unplayable by any stretch, just not silky smooth.

 

[Fox5]

Wouldn't an i3 or i5 dual core be preferable to the athlon x3? I don't think wow scales beyond two cores.

 

[themisfit610]

Correct. WOW does not multithread very much at all.

I have a stock Q6600 and a Radeon 4830, driving 1920x1200 with 4xAA and I get excellent FPS everywhere except 25 man raids and Dalaran. Raids will drop below 30fps on heavy encounters, and Dalaran is a wash, but that's no problem.

Getting below 30fps in raids, however, is a problem, and I feel it affects my ability to react to events and change my rotation as quickly as possible. SO, in short, I think that's mainly the 4830 at fault. I'm planning a new i7 920 rig soon (for encoding mainly), but will probably put in a 5850 or something equivalent.

But, if your friend isn't going to be doing endgame stuff for awhile, build him a cheap box and upgrade his GPU once he's doing content that isn't 3 years old 😉 I never got below 60fps before a few areas in TBC.

~MiSfit

 

[Axon]

Wouldn't an i3 or i5 dual core be preferable to the athlon x3? I don't think wow scales beyond two cores.

If he can swing the price, absolutely. The i3 530 is like $120 alone on newegg..

 

[batuchka]

Hmm $463AR and good to go for say 1680 x 1050 hehe