Decent CPU/Mainboard Combo for WoW?

Totenkopf1001 · December 19, 2007, 12:46 AM

HI,

I'd like some advice about a new CPU and Mainboard. I will be coupling it with a 7900GTX and 2 sticks of 2gbyte RAM with Vista. I don't need a screamer: Just something that wont bog down at the typical places (e.g. Org Bank/AH when many folks are playing). I want to run all of the Graphics full out, at 1900x1220 Res (I have a Samsung 24" monitor).

I may decide to go SLI down the road, really dont know. If SLI could net me a 25 performance boost eventually I guess I would be willing to spend the extra for an SLI-capable mainboard. Basically, I'm not too concerned about SLI. I''m more concerned about price: total price for mainboard and CPU: $200-250 USD. My preference is AMD, and Newegg, and I've enjoyed Asus boards in the past, but I'm willing to go with other well-known brands.

BTW, please let me know if your recommendation will likely run with a 550Watt supply. If so, I can return a 650 that I got from BB that I thought would solve the problem that is causing me to upgrade my gear.

neej · December 19, 2007, 04:37 AM

In the mid-price area Intel currently gives more power per dollar, so unless AMD is a political (?) decision I would go Intel these days. Mainboard quality is pretty much the same if you reach the range about 100 $, it's rather about individiual models/revision, I heard stories about every manufacturer already. Chipset differences on the Intel side are there, many claim that Nvidia is faster and Intel more stable, but I think I would be cautious. I would avoid too much on-board clutter that you don't need and to disable all the parts you don't use in BIOS (secondary RAID, secondary LAN, Firewire etc.).

Do not care about SLI. It is STILL very buggy in too many games (well not in WoW As far as I know) and you can just buy a new mid-range card every year with less hassle, less power usage and less noise.

If you stick with Vista, be aware that some components still perform slightly slower than on XP, but WoW would be not the most extreme example.

Graphics full out should not include Anti-Aliasing at 1920x1200, it's just a HUGE performance hog on this resolution.

Devicus · December 19, 2007, 07:06 AM

The graphics will be limited by your card not the motherboard and processor. No idea how good the 7900 is. Processor wise, anything dual core should be fine. Intel's processor have a slight bang for buck advantage right now, and if you have the money to throw you can get much nicer hardware that way.

Lastly, 550w is plenty, none of the better processors on the market use much power unless you're going quad core (useless for WoW by the way)

Barkle · December 19, 2007, 09:13 AM

I recently upgraded myself. I got an AMD X2 4600 and a Gigabyte mobo (sorry, I'm at work and don't remember the model#), and 2 GB of DDR2 800 RAM. Total cost was under $250. All of that won't allow you to run graphics on full with decent frame rates, especially in Org/Shatt.

The big upgrade for me was the EVGA GeForce 8800GT. Around $300 right now, for a 512 MB version. With that, and the new mobo/CPU combo, I run 30FPS in Shatt, with graphics all at max levels, and full screen glow etc. The 8800GT is an amazing card for $300, simply amazing.

Debuff · December 19, 2007, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devicus

The graphics will be limited by your card not the motherboard and processor. No idea how good the 7900 is. Processor wise, anything dual core should be fine. Intel's processor have a slight bang for buck advantage right now, and if you have the money to throw you can get much nicer hardware that way.

Lastly, 550w is plenty, none of the better processors on the market use much power unless you're going quad core (useless for WoW by the way)

I have a 7950 with 2 gigs of ram and I run at a constant 60FPS. It's an excellent card, in my experiences.

neej · December 19, 2007, 12:01 PM

Noone really has constant 60 FPS. :-) The "pro-gaming" approach implies that you really have a lowest valkue of X, and 60 is really hard to reach with max details if you have some 80 person Alterac Valley situation. The point is, the game becomes hard to control once you drop below 15, or in emergency 10 fps (I often have <10 in Alterac valley zerg, and it's NOT fun...).

jeprscreprs · December 19, 2007, 12:06 PM

I got
Case: A-Top Tower X-Blade Black
Power Supply: 550 Watt Power Supply
Motherboard: Asus P5B-VM DO 775 Core2Duo,HD Audio, 7xSATA-II, VGA, PCI-E
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz 4Mb (775)
Memory: 2 x DDR2/667 1024MB
Hard Drive 1: SATA II 160Gb 7200RPM 8MB
Hard Drive 2: SATA II 160Gb 7200RPM 8MB
Optical Drive 1: None
Optical Drive 1: DVDRW 20X Lightscribe (Black)
Optical Drive 2: None
Optical Drive 2: None
Removable Media: None
Keyboard: None
Monitor: None
Mouse: None
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 8600GTS 256Mb PCI-E Video Card
Network Card: Onboard Gigabit NIC
Software: None
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic
Warranty: 1 YEAR PARTS & LABOR DESKTOP DEPOT WARRANTY

recently, I checked tom's hardware tests. My last 2 cpus were AMD, but for the same price there was a slight performance edge with the intel mobo. The difference with WoW is huge compared to my 2005ish AMD 3800. It wasn't a bad price at all, I am happy with the performance, if you are not a tweaker/techie guy, I'd recommend XP Pro--Vista is OK once you go through and customize the **** out of it.

Debuff · December 19, 2007, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neej

Noone really has constant 60 FPS. :-) The "pro-gaming" approach implies that you really have a lowest valkue of X, and 60 is really hard to reach with max details if you have some 80 person Alterac Valley situation. The point is, the game becomes hard to control once you drop below 15, or in emergency 10 fps (I often have <10 in Alterac valley zerg, and it's NOT fun...).

/shrug
my framerate stays capped at 60 even in shattrath on a busy saturday night. I run at 1680x1050 with max video settings. I imagine it would run faster but I'm pretty sure that wow won't run at faster than 60 fps.

qwwerty · December 19, 2007, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debuff

/shrug
my framerate stays capped at 60 even in shattrath on a busy saturday night. I run at 1680x1050 with max video settings. I imagine it would run faster but I'm pretty sure that wow won't run at faster than 60 fps.

I'm with you 60 fps almost always will occasionally drop to like 2-3 but thats just a reboot issue. I have a dell xps with old pent 4 extreme with raid 0 and 2 gig and old 9200xt video card.

Totenkopf1001 · December 19, 2007, 03:26 PM

Guys, thanks for the replies: based on your suggestions I've ordered the following from Newegg:

Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz

Mem: GSkill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC6400)

How do you think this will boost WoW performance relative to my Athlon 64 3700 +?

jeprscreprs, you mentioned customizing Vista for game performance: can you refer me to a reliable resource?

Many thanks guys, I was considering AMD, but went Intel based on the majority of replies: the reviews for the E6750 were really good. 2 Day Fed Ex ship: might be here Friday, Monday at latest, I'll let you know how things work out.

December 19, 2007, 12:46 AM	#1 (permalink)
Totenkopf1001 Lurker Character Info Totenkopf 49 Undead Warlock Chromaggus US PvP Guild: SOBs Talent Spec: 39/0/0	Decent CPU/Mainboard Combo for WoW? HI, I'd like some advice about a new CPU and Mainboard. I will be coupling it with a 7900GTX and 2 sticks of 2gbyte RAM with Vista. I don't need a screamer: Just something that wont bog down at the typical places (e.g. Org Bank/AH when many folks are playing). I want to run all of the Graphics full out, at 1900x1220 Res (I have a Samsung 24" monitor). I may decide to go SLI down the road, really dont know. If SLI could net me a 25 performance boost eventually I guess I would be willing to spend the extra for an SLI-capable mainboard. Basically, I'm not too concerned about SLI. I''m more concerned about price: total price for mainboard and CPU: $200-250 USD. My preference is AMD, and Newegg, and I've enjoyed Asus boards in the past, but I'm willing to go with other well-known brands. BTW, please let me know if your recommendation will likely run with a 550Watt supply. If so, I can return a 650 that I got from BB that I thought would solve the problem that is causing me to upgrade my gear.

December 19, 2007, 04:37 AM	#2 (permalink)
neej Member	Re: Decent CPU/Mainboard Combo for WoW? In the mid-price area Intel currently gives more power per dollar, so unless AMD is a political (?) decision I would go Intel these days. Mainboard quality is pretty much the same if you reach the range about 100 $, it's rather about individiual models/revision, I heard stories about every manufacturer already. Chipset differences on the Intel side are there, many claim that Nvidia is faster and Intel more stable, but I think I would be cautious. I would avoid too much on-board clutter that you don't need and to disable all the parts you don't use in BIOS (secondary RAID, secondary LAN, Firewire etc.). Do not care about SLI. It is STILL very buggy in too many games (well not in WoW As far as I know) and you can just buy a new mid-range card every year with less hassle, less power usage and less noise. If you stick with Vista, be aware that some components still perform slightly slower than on XP, but WoW would be not the most extreme example. Graphics full out should not include Anti-Aliasing at 1920x1200, it's just a HUGE performance hog on this resolution.

December 19, 2007, 07:06 AM	#3 (permalink)
Devicus Member Character Info Devicus 70 Gnome Warlock thunderhorn Euro PvE Profile: Blizzard Armory	Re: Decent CPU/Mainboard Combo for WoW? The graphics will be limited by your card not the motherboard and processor. No idea how good the 7900 is. Processor wise, anything dual core should be fine. Intel's processor have a slight bang for buck advantage right now, and if you have the money to throw you can get much nicer hardware that way. Lastly, 550w is plenty, none of the better processors on the market use much power unless you're going quad core (useless for WoW by the way)

December 19, 2007, 09:13 AM	#4 (permalink)
Barkle Member Character Info Barkle 70 Undead Warlock Rexxar US PvE Guild: Corpus Vile Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/21/40	Re: Decent CPU/Mainboard Combo for WoW? I recently upgraded myself. I got an AMD X2 4600 and a Gigabyte mobo (sorry, I'm at work and don't remember the model#), and 2 GB of DDR2 800 RAM. Total cost was under $250. All of that won't allow you to run graphics on full with decent frame rates, especially in Org/Shatt. The big upgrade for me was the EVGA GeForce 8800GT. Around $300 right now, for a 512 MB version. With that, and the new mobo/CPU combo, I run 30FPS in Shatt, with graphics all at max levels, and full screen glow etc. The 8800GT is an amazing card for $300, simply amazing.

December 19, 2007, 12:01 PM	#6 (permalink)
neej Member	Re: Decent CPU/Mainboard Combo for WoW? Noone really has constant 60 FPS. :-) The "pro-gaming" approach implies that you really have a lowest valkue of X, and 60 is really hard to reach with max details if you have some 80 person Alterac Valley situation. The point is, the game becomes hard to control once you drop below 15, or in emergency 10 fps (I often have <10 in Alterac valley zerg, and it's NOT fun...).

December 19, 2007, 12:06 PM	#7 (permalink)
jeprscreprs Member Character Info jeprscreprs 70 Orc Warlock Ysera US PvE Guild: Anam Cara Talent Spec: 45/5/11	Re: Decent CPU/Mainboard Combo for WoW? I got Case: A-Top Tower X-Blade Black Power Supply: 550 Watt Power Supply Motherboard: Asus P5B-VM DO 775 Core2Duo,HD Audio, 7xSATA-II, VGA, PCI-E CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz 4Mb (775) Memory: 2 x DDR2/667 1024MB Hard Drive 1: SATA II 160Gb 7200RPM 8MB Hard Drive 2: SATA II 160Gb 7200RPM 8MB Optical Drive 1: None Optical Drive 1: DVDRW 20X Lightscribe (Black) Optical Drive 2: None Optical Drive 2: None Removable Media: None Keyboard: None Monitor: None Mouse: None Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 8600GTS 256Mb PCI-E Video Card Network Card: Onboard Gigabit NIC Software: None Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic Warranty: 1 YEAR PARTS & LABOR DESKTOP DEPOT WARRANTY recently, I checked tom's hardware tests. My last 2 cpus were AMD, but for the same price there was a slight performance edge with the intel mobo. The difference with WoW is huge compared to my 2005ish AMD 3800. It wasn't a bad price at all, I am happy with the performance, if you are not a tweaker/techie guy, I'd recommend XP Pro--Vista is OK once you go through and customize the **** out of it.

December 19, 2007, 03:26 PM	#10 (permalink)
Totenkopf1001 Lurker Character Info Totenkopf 49 Undead Warlock Chromaggus US PvP Guild: SOBs Talent Spec: 39/0/0	Re: Decent CPU/Mainboard Combo for WoW? Guys, thanks for the replies: based on your suggestions I've ordered the following from Newegg: Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz Mem: GSkill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC6400) How do you think this will boost WoW performance relative to my Athlon 64 3700 +? jeprscreprs, you mentioned customizing Vista for game performance: can you refer me to a reliable resource? Many thanks guys, I was considering AMD, but went Intel based on the majority of replies: the reviews for the E6750 were really good. 2 Day Fed Ex ship: might be here Friday, Monday at latest, I'll let you know how things work out.