Computer choise problem

[Skaleth]

Well i am willing to buy a new pc to take away any lagg problems that I get when playing wow on my current pc.

The problem is that im not good at choosing and will end up buying one with even more problems.

Would anyone be able to tell me what the computer would need to have to run smoothly and with no problems?

And if possible to you find an example of an ideal pc advertised somewhere on the net (dell etc)

Thx

[Gameliel]

Depends on how much you're willing to spend. There are many good computers out there and many good hardware configurations but some are quite expensive. I will tell you now, do NOT buy Alienware, whatever you do. Their computers are full of problems.

Here are some sites you may wanna check out:

NewEgg.com
WidowPC
Falcon Northwest
VoodooPC
Monarch Computers

There are others, but that's what comes to mind off the top of my head. WARNING: All of these sites have a big emphasis on trying to "wow" you with the designs and product advertisements. You may want to compare price tags for similar computers between them and also check out their customer satisfaction ratings on ResellerRatings.com or another site.

[Skaleth]

Thanks.

How much would a computer cost that runs wow well? (roughly)

[Imrei]

Originally Posted by Gameliel

You may want to compare price tags for similar computers between them and also check out their customer satisfaction ratings on ResellerRatings.com or another site.

VERY good advice... don't just buy the first thing you see.. double check and look around...

BUT... here are my spec's for TWO of my computers.. and both play WoW with no lag...

1. (mine)
AMD 64 x2 4400 cpu
4gb RAM
Dual nvidia 7900GTX vid cards in SLI
Dual SATA-2 250gb HD/Raid 0

2. (my son's)
AMD 64 3200
2gb RAM
ATI Radeon X850
Ultra DMA-133 160gb HD

Both systems play the game very well... no lag and good framerates....

On a side note, I can honestly recommend DELL XPS systems from personal experiance... I built my comptuer and my son's, but I got a Dell XPS for my daughter, and my laptop is a Dell XPS.... I was pleased with my purchaces both times.

[Skaleth]

Looking around the dell site could you point out any that would be ideal?

Sorry, bt im really bad at all this computer stuff

[One Swordsman]

1. (mine)
AMD 64 x2 4400 cpu
4gb RAM
Dual nvidia 7900GTX vid cards in SLI
Dual SATA-2 250gb HD/Raid 0

Highly, highly unnecessary if you're only going to play WoW.



I don't know about where to buy from, as I live in the UK, but if you just want to play WoW go for a setup similar to this:

Graphics card: Nvidia 7600GT
Processor: AMD 64 3800+ (single core)
RAM: 1 gig minimum, although I would stretch to 2gigs if possible.

If you want to future proof yourself a little, and play other more intensive games on high settings go for: a 7900GT with an AMD X2 4400+ and 2 gigs of RAM.

Whatever you do, dont go for any stupidly expensive SLI system like the one I quoted from that other guy, yes it is a very nice system, but the new Direct X 10 capable cards are being released soon, so I would save my Money for that if you want to buy cutting edge.

In short, if you just play WoW, go for the first option, if you play other games, and intend to play new releases, go for the 7900GT with a 4400+ X2


If you need anymore help, a great site to check out is http://www.tech-forums.net, I usually hang around there and the guys really know their stuff, they'll also be able to tell you where to get the best price on things because lots of them live in the US. If you really want to get the best value for money i'd reccommend building a PC, it's pretty simple and fun, I built my own and saved a bundle

EDIT: I just noticed this:

On a side note, I can honestly recommend DELL XPS systems from personal experiance... I built my comptuer and my son's, but I got a Dell XPS for my daughter, and my laptop is a Dell XPS.... I was pleased with my purchaces both times.

I'm sure they are very good computers my friend, and with the system you have it's clear you have very deep pockets =D, but Dell are very expensive in comparison to other companies or building your own, I wouldn't reccommend Dell as a first choice.

[Imrei]

Originally Posted by Skaleth

Looking around the dell site could you point out any that would be ideal?

Sorry, bt im really bad at all this computer stuff

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...XPS400G1&s=dhs

that one looks pretty good, but I would upgrade the RAM to 2gb....

[Imrei]

Originally Posted by One Swordsman

Highly, highly unnecessary if you're only going to play WoW

LOL, oh my yes :) SLi is not really needed for WoW :) Unfortunatly, I am an addict.. I play more than WoW... If I could find a way play games for a living and make money, It would be like i was in heaven :)

[Toper]

If you want to save money, but have a really good WoW machine, I'd say go for

CPU:
- Pentium 4 3.0GHz or or above
or
- Athlon 64 2800+ or above
or (cheaper, and is absolutely fine for WoW)
- Sempron 64 2800+ or above

Memory:
- 1GB RAM, definitely get at least this

Graphics card:
- Nvidia GeForce 6200 or better
or
- ATI Radeon X1600 or better

Things to avoid, in order of suckiness ffor WoW:

- less than 1GB RAM
- Intel or VIA integrated graphics chips
- Celeron CPUs
- Nvidia TurboCache or ATI HyperMemory graphics cards - these have very little onboard memory and use system RAM instead
- AGP graphics cards
- ATI X300, X600 or X1300 graphics cards

Things which are total overkill for this game, in order of silliness:

- SLI or Crossfire graphics (2 graphics cards in 1 PC)
- more than 2GB RAM
- dual-core processors (Athlon 64 X2 or Pentium D)

Dell PCs are pretty good, but the cheaper ones are not good for gaming- because they want you to pay extra for one of their hardcore gaming machines.

I've a friend who plays WoW on his Mac, and it runs really smoothly - so if you're feeling brave you could do a lot worse than one of the Intel iMacs...

HTH

[undercat]

Glaring noob question: What's wrong with AGP cards? Not any worse than PCI cards... right?

*shielding head with hands*