Upgrading my Desktop

[maliac]

Hey everyone. I have been planning to upgrade my PC for a while now and I have been looking at several different boards and processors. I'm building this from scratch because I really want this one to be fit for what I use it for, which is minecraft, world of Warcraft, and android development. I'm not exactly sure what would be best. If you guys could please give me some info on some good cpus and some decent boards, I'd really appreciate it.

[Ziel]

Well, before we suggest some stuff, we'll need to know an approximate budget.  You also made no mention of a video card at all. Do you have one from your current machine that you'll carry over? I ask mostly because, at least for games like Minecraft and WoW, this will make more difference on performance than the cpu/mobo.

[Avan]

WoW is an mmo, and they generally are designed with non-strenuous graphics so that more systems can run them. Doesn't minecraft use a software rendered?   In that case, video card doesn't really make that big of a difference. (You'll still want something above entry level to do any 3D gaming in general though, unless its really old stuff)

[Alsek]

Mists may verywell improve the graphics in wow,  and things can get choppy at max quality to begin with if you don't have a decent card.   Doesn't have to be amazing,  but you'll want a good gpu.

[Avan]

Really? well, you seem to know more about the matter. I don't play MMOs, just running off what I hear.

[Alsek]

It's kind of a playable vs. max settings kind of thing.

I can run wow on my 6 year old laptop but it'll look like hell.   Playable,  but ugly.  Doesn't take much.   At max settings in certian reigons i was getting a framerate of about 35-40 even with my computer. (8gb ram,  hexcore processor,  gtx570).  Decent graphics are important for a few bosses,   and good frame rates are important for all of them.

Also,  Wow is about to get another expansion before too long which means graphics updates to existing content and new zones built with improved graphics in mind.


So while you don't need a top notch graphics card?  a good one is quite useful.

[maliac]

I have about 600 bucks that can go into the system. I have a nvidia graphics card that I'm gonna use that worked well in my last system.

[maliac]

If it helps I'll be running windows xp sp3. My graphics card that I plan to use is a nvidea geforce gtx 580 with 1536 mb. I don't really want to buy a new card because I just recently purchased this one not to long ago.

[Ziel]

I have about 600 bucks that can go into the system. I have a nvidia graphics card that I'm gonna use that worked well in my last system.

How much more will you be carrying over? Can you use the same case? Power supply? What's the power supply rated? Hard drive? Do you need on-board sound? I would ask about memory as well, but it's so dirt-cheap, you might as well just buy a new 8GB kit and call it a day.

(If I weren't posting before work earlier, I'd probably have thought of all these before and wouldn't feel like I'm constantly quizzing you on stuff now >.<)

[maliac]

I have already bought a case and power supply off of tiger direct. The power supply is rated at 500 watts and I also have 2 4gb ddr3  ram modulesI will be using. I also have a 1 terabyte hdd and a 500gb hdd that I will be using as a slave
 

[Weisseman]

http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/minimum-system-requirements-for-world-of-warcraft

For reference.

[Ziel]

I have already bought a case and power supply off of tiger direct. The power supply is rated at 500 watts and I also have 2 4gb ddr3  ram modulesI will be using. I also have a 1 terabyte hdd and a 500gb hdd that I will be using as a slave
 

Ah, so you're looking at pretty much just the cpu/mobo combo then (like you originally said). The last thing I can think of is an optical drive, but that can carry over, or be had for $15, so not a bank-breaker either way.

What speed is the RAM? 1333, 1600, etc. It's unlikely that it would be incompatible with most common motherboards, but this would be good to know just to ensure mobo compatibility.

[maliac]

I'm not 100 percent sure of the ram speed but for some odd reason I'm thinking 1333.

[Ambroise]

Sorry if thread is dead.
But you can never have a computer to powerful.

I saw something about a $600 budget and it being used for WOW and Minecraft?

I would actually suggest something with at least a Phenom II x4 (older denebs are cheap and the 960T Thuban that can unlock to x6)
RAM I would say go for a decent 8gb kit, Samsung Lowprofile seems to be trending among gamers.
And a good GPU something like maybe a ATi HD6850 those are pretty cheap nowadays and are just as fast as a GTX550 (or maybe it was a 560)
and a good motherboard. if you plan on doing anything besides light use.. don't get a mATX board, spend the extra bits on a Mid-tower case and get a full size ATX board with proper VRM cooling. I personally love my Gigabyte GA-970a-UD3

As for the PSU 500watt in a mid-level system is just fine. SO LONG AS the PSU is from a reputable brand like Corsair or something.
My ThermalTake TR2 is doing just fine in my system

[maliac]

Lol thanks everyone. I got sick of messing around so I just bought a gaming laptop.      http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware- m14x-r2/pd.aspx.   Yay for payment plans!