Building a New Computer

[Sef]

My roommate and I want to build a computer for her that is meets her needs, and is not real happened. She wants it to be able to play World of Warcraft, so here are some specs (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/14580888055):

Windows 7/Windows 8 64-bit (latest Service Pack)
Intel Core i5 2400 or AMD FX-4100 or better
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470, ATI Radeon HD 5870 or better

Ram will be 16gb.
Hard drive will be taken from an old computer.


Questions:

1) How big should the power supply be?
2) Would an Intel Core i7 be better?
3) What would be a good graphics card?
4) What would be a good case?
5) What motherboard wold be good?
6) Anything else?

Besides Newegg and Tiger Direct is there any other places in the US that one could order from?

[oldrocker99]

1) At least 500W; more is not unreasonable.
2) The i5 has four cores, without HyperThreading, and the i7 has four cores with HyperThreading. Most people use the i5 and are happy; the i7 is considerably more expensive. I will mention, as a long-time AMD user, that the Intel i5 is faster than any ATI CPU, and uses much less power, which means much less heat to dissipate. The initial cost is higher, but..
3) For Windows:shock:, you might actually do better with ATI, but nVidia certainly has lots of Windows fans. I have a GeForce 750, and it's as good with Windows as it is with Linux.
4) Look at http://maximumpc.com for case reviews; that's what I do.
5) There is a plethora of motherboards. Stay away from the lowest-price mobos, and look for features like stable voltages, lots and lots of USB and SATA ports, and a good BIOS allowing you to overclock if that's what you want. MaximumPC is good for this, too.

6) TALK HER OUT OF WINDOWS! WOW plays very well indeed under wine, and look at the 800+ Steam for Linux games. Who needs the viruses?](*,) Bear in mind that the programmer who wrote Symantec's current anti-virus program refuses to run Windows on his own PC, and uses Linux instead. He knows what's out there, and he knows that no anti-virus program can possibly deal with all the threats which are constantly updated and released.

Amazon has some pretty good prices on parts as well, and they certainly have the selection. I've found things there that were out of stock on NewEgg.

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

The case depends on the form-factor you want

if you are looking at micro atx the fractal core 1000 is a nice case (just used one today), plenty of airflow potential (hdds will not kill the front intake), i really like the HDD mounting system, only con is i would not suggest using a 2.5" mechanical drive unless you have some washers for spacers if you have a 3.5" hdd you can only add 1 ssd or hdd

if you are looking for mini-itx i like cooler-masters 130/120 cases

plenty of great ATX cases out there, rosewill challenger makes a decent budget case that should meat anyone basic needs, the rosewill r5 has a easily cleaned filter as well as the define r4 and 650 d


Wow can be made to use any many core as you want it to, i would not consider hypertheading worth the price IMO

you dont need no 16gb ram, 8 is plenty, the extra 80 is better spent on a ssd

intel's high end cpus i5/i7 are much better more powerful than AMDs cpus in single threaded processes

Motherboard really depends on what you want (overclocking)
just be careful with cheap boards paired with a amd 8 core, some cant handle the full load power delivery

here is a gpu chart for comparasion
https://community.newegg.com/archive_2007-2013/product_support/f/18228/p/96235/733189.aspx

as for the PSU if you are using a intel CPU and only 1 gpu i highly doubt you want more than 500W, with WOW CPU>GPU, so i would recommed a Intel CPU (haswell i5/i7)
a current intel i3 usually beats out AMD quad core in game performance

if you post a desired budget and max budget i can make a port list for you

[sffvba[e0rt]

16GB Ram is over-kill. If she wants to play some more intense things then she will need a better graphics card and then some more ram will be nice. Also use the OS that works the best, I have always found Windows applications seem to work the best in... Windows :p

[SurfaceUnits]

Here's ever thing you need to know

http://www.logicalincrements.com/games/wow/

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

[oldfred]

I also like Microcenter. They are on line, but happen to have a store a few blocks away.

I like reading the reviews in tomshardware, but they are more Windows and do not include Linux normally.
You do need to read the entire thing as the comments are discussions of advantages and disadvantages of each.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html
Intel Core i5-4690K is considered better than i7's unless you have an unlimited buget as incremental gain is small, but incremental price high
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/system-build-pc-value,3946.html

[OrangeCrate]

1) At least 500W; more is not unreasonable.
2) The i5 has four cores, without HyperThreading, and the i7 has four cores with HyperThreading. Most people use the i5 and are happy; the i7 is considerably more expensive. I will mention, as a long-time AMD user, that the Intel i5 is faster than any ATI CPU, and uses much less power, which means much less heat to dissipate. The initial cost is higher, but..
3) For Windows:shock:, you might actually do better with ATI, but nVidia certainly has lots of Windows fans. I have a GeForce 750, and it's as good with Windows as it is with Linux.
4) Look at http://maximumpc.com for case reviews; that's what I do.
5) There is a plethora of motherboards. Stay away from the lowest-price mobos, and look for features like stable voltages, lots and lots of USB and SATA ports, and a good BIOS allowing you to overclock if that's what you want. MaximumPC is good for this, too.

6) TALK HER OUT OF WINDOWS! WOW plays very well indeed under wine, and look at the 800+ Steam for Linux games. Who needs the viruses?](*,) Bear in mind that the programmer who wrote Symantec's current anti-virus program refuses to run Windows on his own PC, and uses Linux instead. He knows what's out there, and he knows that no anti-virus program can possibly deal with all the threats which are constantly updated and released.

Amazon has some pretty good prices on parts as well, and they certainly have the selection. I've found things there that were out of stock on NewEgg.

I've Googled for confirmation on your comment, but didn't find anything. Could you please state your source, and provide a link? Thanks.

[mips]

Budget?

[Thee]

Windows 7 uses about 1GB of RAM when running and WoW uses about the same. I don't think more than 3GB will ever be used at once while playing WoW. If you really want to be on the safe side get 6GB, but 16GB is just wasted money.
Better invest in a better graphic card because WoW from expansion to expansion gets more demanding on the graphic card then anything else. (From my personal 4 year WoW experience on the same computer)

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

@Thee, you may as well get a 8gb kit, that way you get dual channel memory (tends to not work when you use 3 sticks)

[oldrocker99]

I've Googled for confirmation on your comment, but didn't find anything. Could you please state your source, and provide a link? Thanks.

I swear that I did see it last spring on closed some Linux news site,:oops: but I have been unable to find it at all. I should have considered the source.](*,)

The point I was trying to make is that Windows viruses are everywhere, with hundreds of new ones every day. Reverse engineering Windows, and finding the security holes everywhere (which some people do for fun even), makes it easy for a cracker to create something that takes advantage of the porosity and, therefore, vulnerability, of relying on closed-source code. The Stuxnet virus, which crippled the Iranian centrifuge project, was transmitted by a USB deive. This virus took over the Siemens program, a Windows program that controlled the centrifuges, and ramped up their speed until the machines broke from the out-of-specification high speed.

An in-law, who seems wedded at the hip to Windows, and for whom I had to install Start8 for him, so he'd at least have a familiar menu, got badly infected by his carelessly clicking on a link, and it was not detected by the virus checker he had installed. He went to a nephew, who at least was aware of the virus and was able to remove it.

Commercial games, which are 99% closed-source, are also attacked, usually "cracking," but also to interfere with, say, the integrity of a connection for online gamers.

The bottom line is that this is why FOSS software is better than closed-source programs, especially when OSes are concerned (as though I need to say that on this forum) for those kind of reasons. As Eric S. Raymond said, "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow."

[Thee]

@Thee, you may as well get a 8gb kit, that way you get dual channel memory (tends to not work when you use 3 sticks)

Yea that's a better idea :)

[OrangeCrate]

I swear that I did see it last spring on closed some Linux news site,:oops: but I have been unable to find it at all. I should have considered the source.](*,)


No problem, thanks for checking.

[Sef]

pqwoerituytrueiwoq
if you post a desired budget and max budget i can make a port list for you

Desired Budget: $500

Max Budget: $700

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

pqwoerituytrueiwoq

Desired Budget: $500

Max Budget: $700
that include a windows license? (assuming yes)
*sounds like you are a student and get get a discount
making you options now
i have attached each list