Computer Build for Warlords of Draenor

[beany]

Hi,

I've been looking to build a rig ever since an unfortunate accident with a shelf and my gaming laptop a few weeks ago.

I am unfortunately not an expert in any sense of the work regarding building computers - I'm hoping some of you pros will be able to help.

I have a budget of around the £1000 mark and I only play world of warcraft.

I am really keen to get the best system I can for my money to play the game at the highest settings I can.

I would like an i-7 processor and have been advised to get an SSD drive but other than that I am completely lost as to where to focus my budget.

I would like to order through pcspecialist as I've been advised by multiple gaming friends that they offer good value for money!

Can anybody help me!? I know this might be a big ask but it's a lot of money to fork out when you aren't in the know!

Any help would be hugely appreciated!! Thank you for your time!

 

[LFFPicard]

Have a look at the below, a few points:

- i7 is not required an i5 will be plenty.
- The case I chose has a multi card reader pre-installed so the one in the configurator was removed (If you change case you might want to add it back)
- You say you only play WoW so the SSD on it's own will be fine if that is the case.
- I have given you ample power on a modular PSU for neatness, if you want to save pennies and you will not be upgrading then you can drop it to as low as 550w


Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 550 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £998.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/LP630WbVbJ/

 

[beany]

I really appreciate such a quick reply.

A couple of questions if possible:

Would an i-7 processor not give me a noticeable difference in game?
For a few pounds extra would it be worth upgrading anything such as pushing to 16GB ram etc?

I would definitely like to have a system that is easily upgradeable in the future so I will certainly leave the power supply at 650W!

I appreciate that the options are endless with building a computer however can you give me some indication as to how well this system would likely run!? Am I underspending in order to get a really powerful system for WoW. I've been told by many people that WoW isn't particularly intensive but I wanted to play at the highest settings my limited budget will allow!!

Once again, huge thanks for helping me with this!!!

 

[beany]

One further question (sorry!!) - would this system have an HDMI input so I can plug and HDMI screen in?

 

[Rakk]

One further question (sorry!!) - would this system have an HDMI input so I can plug and HDMI screen in?

Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready

It has DVI, mHDMI (thats a mini-HDMI I think) and (3x)mDP (mini display port) ports, so to connect a normal sized HDMI you would need a convertor (mHDMI to HDMI should do it)

 

[keynes]

Would an i-7 processor not give me a noticeable difference in game?
For a few pounds extra would it be worth upgrading anything such as pushing to 16GB ram etc?

No noticeable difference between an i5 and an i7. No difference at all with more ram. I would go with a non-silent case for better cooling, hd3 gigabyte motherboard which is cheaper and a secondary hard drive to have more storage.

 

[LFFPicard]

I really appreciate such a quick reply.

A couple of questions if possible:

Would an i-7 processor not give me a noticeable difference in game?
For a few pounds extra would it be worth upgrading anything such as pushing to 16GB ram etc?

I would definitely like to have a system that is easily upgradeable in the future so I will certainly leave the power supply at 650W!

I appreciate that the options are endless with building a computer however can you give me some indication as to how well this system would likely run!? Am I underspending in order to get a really powerful system for WoW. I've been told by many people that WoW isn't particularly intensive but I wanted to play at the highest settings my limited budget will allow!!

Once again, huge thanks for helping me with this!!!

- The i7 would maybe give you a few % increase, but it certainly will not be a bottleneck for the GPU, by the time you need to upgrade the GPU you will be in the same boat as me and need a new motherboard as well so new CPU etc etc.

- I have 16gb of ram, but I use virtual machine and dedicate 4gb to a minecraft server etc, alot of min specs require 4gb now so 8gb should be plenty, but if you want to squeeze 16gb in by all means go for it. I am the worst person to speak to about this because I always want to get the most, hence why I have 16gb

- As for performance, I am on a GTX580 and last I played I had WoW on ultra. I currently run Star Wars: TOR on ultra with no issues. Although the new WoD (Yes I pre-ordered) has upped the bar on graphics again I would still expect to have it run on my machine at near ultra. So any 600 series or higher should be no sweat so a 970 will be more than enough.

As a comparison, WoW even though gets revamped often is 10years old next month. The brand new Assassins Creed has a minimum requirement of GTX680 so again 970 will be no problem.

 

[beany]

Thanks to all of you for your input - you've left me somewhat less confused and in a better position to make an informed decision!! I really appreciate it!

Any suggestions on the non-silent case?

 

[keynes]

Thanks to all of you for your input - you've left me somewhat less confused and in a better position to make an informed decision!! I really appreciate it!

Any suggestions on the non-silent case?

Coolermaster 690

 

[ricbai]

If it helps, I've just purchased a Core i7 Six Core 3.3Ghz 15Mb CPU/Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard, 16Gb Hyper-X RAM 2400Mhz, 4Gb Nvidia Geforce GTX 980, 500G Samsung SSD (few other bits and a 28" 4k monitor) for £3,019.20 all told - and that beasty gets well over 100FPS (I think I've seen 160 at one point) with the new models in Warcraft when running on Ultra (you have to "uncap" Warcraft from within the interface settings to get it to go over 60). Ridiclously overspecced in other words, but future proofed [plus now I have a "gaming rig", I can actually try and play higher spec games such as Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider etc: previously my HP laptop was just averaging around 8-15FPS in Warcraft - and actual start streaming along with running multiple VMs at the same time].

Only downside is that after a week, the Corsair AX1200i power supply has failed and I'm having to arrange an RMA with PCS: again, power supply is overspecced (less than 800W needed: but I'm going to be adding another graphics card next year with more storage and RAM etc]