Build question: Multitasking WoW machine

[midnitetoqr]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

I really don't need much from this PC, but I want it to do run all tasks at the same time: World of Warcraft, Ventrilo, Open Office, Opera/Firefox.

I don't plan on playing any other games, nor do any video encoding or TV watching on this computer.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$500-600

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

US

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

I'm more familiar with AMD's offerings, but I'm open to any of the major brands.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

2 monitors at 1280x1024
Antec P182 case
Enhance ENP-5150GH power supply
mouse, keyboard, and speakers

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

So far (after suggestions) I'm leaning toward:

WD 640GB AALS hard drive + Vista Home Premium 64-bit ($155)
LG 22X DVD burner ($25)
AMD PhII X3 720BE + Gigabyte MA790X ($218)
2x2GB A-data DDR2 800 ($45)

Subtotal (including tax and shipping) $460

GPU...still considering.


From what I understand, WoW is, unlike many popular games, more CPU intensive than GPU intensive. But I honestly don't know what that translates to in terms of the current selection of parts; like, what's the balance?

Sometime soon I might switch to one 1920x1080 monitor, if that impacts the video card recommendation.

I just saw Lunyone's recommendation on JEDIYoda's thread (PhII X4 945, 4 GB OCZ DDR3 1600, Asus M4A78T-E, HD 4890), but it's slightly above my price range, and my usage will be flipped from JEDIYoda's (90% gaming and 10% work for me). Plus I'm on a different game, so rather than hijack his thread...here I am.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.


I'd like to overclock, but I don't have the intestinal fortitude to aggressively overclock and I won't be too upset if I can't overclock.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Within the next two weeks...but since this will be a mostly leisure computer, I can delay.

 

[fffblackmage]

PhII x3 720 $145
HD4770 $100 or $90 AR
The PhII x3 720 should be pretty fast, but cheap.
And the 4770 is good bang for the buck.

I'm not all that familiar with the motherboards, so I can't really make a recommendation.

 

[Fedaykin311]

Your best overall performance boost for WoW will be an SSD drive.

An E8400 + 4GB of RAM + a GeForce 260 (core 216) or equiv GPU will be more than enough horse power to multi task with WoW
A similarly priced AMD would be fine too.

My previous rig was an E6750 + 2GB + 7800GT and I was able to do just about any multitasking I needed with max settings (including watching DVDs, Divx, web browsing, iTunes, etc.) until Lich King and even then I could have gotten away with just dumping a couple gigs more memory in the machine.

However, I built a new rig with an SSD, and the speed boost is incredible in loading instances, running around Dala and the like.

 

[heyheybooboo]

PhII 720BE/Gigabyye 790x: $ 219

 

[Lunyone]

So far (after suggestions) I'm leaning toward:

WD 640GB AALS hard drive + Vista Home Premium 64-bit ($155)
LG 22X DVD burner ($25)
AMD PhII X3 720BE + Gigabyte MA790X ($218)
2x2GB A-data DDR2 800 ($45)

Subtotal (including tax and shipping) $460

GPU...still considering.


From what I understand, WoW is, unlike many popular games, more CPU intensive than GPU intensive. But I honestly don't know what that translates to in terms of the current selection of parts; like, what's the balance?

Sometime soon I might switch to one 1920x1080 monitor, if that impacts the video card recommendation.

I just saw Lunyone's recommendation on JEDIYoda's thread (PhII X4 945, 4 GB OCZ DDR3 1600, Asus M4A78T-E, HD 4890), but it's slightly above my price range, and my usage will be flipped from JEDIYoda's (90% gaming and 10% work for me). Plus I'm on a different game, so rather than hijack his thread...here I am.

Yes my recommendation was a bit high for your build. He could also downgrade his GPU a bit and save some $ too.
I like your suggested build above, just add a decent GPU to the list. Here is how I see the GPU's that you might consider:
4670<4830<4770<4850
These are listed by performance and price. The 4770 looks pretty good at about 80 watts peak and the 4850 is about 150 watts peak for it. For your PSU I'd probably not go above a 4850. By the picture below, I believe that you have about 26-27A on the combined 12v rails, so much more than a 4850 might push things a bit too much.
Enhance PSU Picture