Upgrade project

[Dyloot]

OK, I'm a World of Warcraft junkie (I admit it, I'm addicted) looking for an upgrade. I'm currently running a 754 Asus mobo with an Athlon 3400, 1gb of Patriot memory and an AGP 7800 nvidia vid card. I'm also using a 22-inch Viewsonic LCD.

OK, here's the project. I have about $400-$450 and I'm looking for a faster system that will run WoW (and other games I try before running right back to WoW) at higher graphical settings. Where can I get the best bang for my buck?:

-Motherboard
-CPU
-RAM
-Video card

It's my hope that I'll be able to upgrade the CPU in a year or so when the really expensive ones drop below $100.

Any help would be very welcome. Thanks!

 

[Delta6Echo]

Originally posted by: Dyloot
OK, I'm a World of Warcraft junkie (I admit it, I'm addicted) looking for an upgrade. I'm currently running a 754 Asus mobo with an Athlon 3400, 1gb of Patriot memory and an AGP 7800 nvidia vid card. I'm also using a 22-inch Viewsonic LCD.

OK, here's the project. I have about $400-$450 and I'm looking for a faster system that will run WoW (and other games I try before running right back to WoW) at higher graphical settings. Where can I get the best bang for my buck?:

-Motherboard
-CPU
-RAM
-Video card

It's my hope that I'll be able to upgrade the CPU in a year or so when the really expensive ones drop below $100.

Any help would be very welcome. Thanks!

You don't really need to upgrade for WoW, but you already know that. What other kind of games are you looking to play?

 

[Dyloot]

Originally posted by: Delta6Echo

Originally posted by: Dyloot
OK, I'm a World of Warcraft junkie (I admit it, I'm addicted) looking for an upgrade. I'm currently running a 754 Asus mobo with an Athlon 3400, 1gb of Patriot memory and an AGP 7800 nvidia vid card. I'm also using a 22-inch Viewsonic LCD.

OK, here's the project. I have about $400-$450 and I'm looking for a faster system that will run WoW (and other games I try before running right back to WoW) at higher graphical settings. Where can I get the best bang for my buck?:

-Motherboard
-CPU
-RAM
-Video card

It's my hope that I'll be able to upgrade the CPU in a year or so when the really expensive ones drop below $100.

Any help would be very welcome. Thanks!

You don't really need to upgrade for WoW, but you already know that. What other kind of games are you looking to play?

Warhammer when it comes out. And yeah, I don't need to upgrade, but I'm looking to do so anyway. I haven't really done anything to this system in about three years, and that's just crazy. =)

 

[lyssword]

e2140cpu p35mobo 2gb ram ($50) 3850 512 mb ($200) or 8800gt 256mb ($210+)

 

[Dyloot]

Originally posted by: lyssword
e2140cpu p35mobo 2gb ram ($50) 3850 512 mb ($200) or 8800gt 256mb ($210+)

Awesome. Thanks man. The e2140 looks like exactly that I need and the p35 looks like a great board. Any advice on what memory to buy?

 

[Denithor]

Abit IP35 $95 after $25MIR
e2180 $82.50 (add under cpu options at Mwave)
Kingston 2x1GB DDR2-800 $40 after $10MIR
Antec Earthwatts 380W $30 after $30MIR
EVGA 8800GT 256MB $220

Total: ~$470 after MIR

OC to 3GHz (should be easy with this setup) and you are gold for the next year or so processor-wise. In 1-1.5 years pick up a Penryn Quad and you're set for another ~2 years after that (and resell the e2180 to offset the cost).

That PS puts it over your limit slightly but make sure your current model will provide enough power before you choose not to get a new one.

Note that many of the 8800GT 256MB cards are going to have slower clocked memory, this one doesn't and should OC just as well as the 512MB cards (not that you need to OC for WoW).

You could also drop down to the Radeon HD 3850 (about 20% lower performance, still overkill for WoW) and save about $35 off the price above.

 

[Kuiwai1]

Save up those extra $$ you could have a nice build ~


ABIT IP35-E ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813127031
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor - Retail $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115029
CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel ... - Retail ( only if your running vista 64bit) $139.00 After MIR $99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820145184
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Memory - Retail $72.99 After MIR $37.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227139
HIS Hightech H385F256NP Radeon HD 3850 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail $179 After MIR $169
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161211


$547 Includes shipping if you go with CORSAIR 4GB 2x and i recommend you do.
$486 if you choose to go with OCZ 2GB 1x