A good PC rig for WoW?

Off-Topic Games, Gaming and Hardware
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Hey. I’ve come back to WoW after a near 5 year hiatus. Loving it, I plan to stick around for a while however …

I’m currently playing it on my 2020 iMac. It plays well, I love my iMac, but I want to migrate to a PC specifically for WoW (gaming peripherals supported, better monitor, etc), and maybe another delve in PC gaming?

I’ve been out of the PC loop since left WoW back in 2017. I know it’s not resource heavy, and I don’t need a $1000 video card for it, but I’m looking for some ideas on where to start? I’d like to run it with high video settings and 0 to little framing. Ideas on a decent video card, a nice 27"+ monitor, any bare bones or PC companies to look at, etc.

Thanks, and much appreciated.

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sorry to ask the same ol’ question, but what is your budget?

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https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-omen-40l-gaming-desktop-intel-core-i5-12400f-hyperx-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-1tb-ssd-nightfall-black/6504335.p?skuId=6504335

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This will get the job done for 2560x1440 (most 27" is at this resolution).

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dCcB9r

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around $1500

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A lot of the sites (Best Buy, Amazon, Newegg, etc) will have Sales on pre-built systems over the next month for Black Friday/Cyber Monday–I know Best Buy has started Early and is offering like 2-400 off prebuilt systems–just depends on if building or wanting a prebuilt.

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If considering prebuilts, just be aware that a lot of prebuilts come in cases with almost zero airflow, which can seriously impair the components within — the components overheat due to lack of air circulation and then throttle themselves to a fraction of their peak performance to prevent further overheating and potential damage. This in effect means getting only a portion of the power you paid for, even when the machine is discounted, as well as shortening the machine’s lifespan from running hot all the time. Select for prebuilts that have cases with mesh fronts, not the much more common solid panel cases that smother their components.

The other thing to watch out for is that it’s common for prebuilt systems to have bad memory configurations (e.g. single stick when you need at least two for dual channel memory) and/or the memory not being set to the correct frequency in BIOS, which especially on machines with AMD CPUs (which are sensitive to memory speed) means leaving a lot of performance on the table.

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Good to know–not trying to hijack this thread but with setting memory frequency in BIOS, do you set it to max the RAM can allow–does it get set to 3200 if the sticks are 3200 with a dual channel setup and 2 sticks?

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Generally BIOS will present you with 2-3 options for XMP/DOCP/etc, and what you want to try first is the option that the RAM is rated for.

Whether or not you’ll actually be able to run at that frequency depends on several factors, including your motherboard, CPU, and even the quality of the flash chips on the RAM itself, but in most circumstances with quality components you should be able to run at the advertised speed.

Once you’ve set the frequency, reboot into Windows and go through a series of stress tests. If your system is stable, congrats, you’re done. If you get a crash or blue screen, go back to BIOS and try the next frequency down. Rinse and repeat until you find a stable frequency.

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coming from an iMac, i’m guessing you’ll need monitor and keyboard/mouse?

i would go with this https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hmbT3y
a bit less than max budget so plenty of room to play with

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Hey Chroesire, as a guy thats been living primarily in the Mac world since a good number of years ago, what are some good PC cases to consider that have good airflow?

Thanks.

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What’s your budget and what size of motherboard/case are you considering?

For reference, there’s three main sizes:

  • Mini-ITX, which is the smallest motherboard size available. Makes for compact PCs but is limited in terms of ports and number of PCI-E card slots
  • Micro-ATX, which is a step up in size, ports, and slots
  • ATX, which is the largest most consumer PC builds will use and has the best options for ports and card slots

Do note that Micro-ATX have fallen out of popularity, so the bulk of options are going to be Mini-ITX or ATX.

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I truly don’t know? Probably just a standard ATX case? My previous PC was in an ATX case.

edit: Definitely ATX.

Also I’m doing research into Radeon vs Nvidia. Seems the latter is usually more expensive, and I can get a better Radeon for the money? In years past I’ve used both brands of cards and never had a problem with either.

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From a mix of personal experience and recommendations of the YouTube channel Gamers Nexus (which does high quality thorough and scientific testing of PC cases among other things), here’s a few ATX airflow case recommendations:

There are higher end cases but I think they lay firmly beyond the point of diminishing returns for the average user.

For Nvidia vs. AMD, it’s tough. Especially this generation AMD looks like way better value for the money (though their Radeon 7000 series has just been announced and has yet to be tested properly), but historically AMD’s drivers haven’t been as good which has caused some users problems.

Personally speaking, I’ve had good luck with both, but if you want a more set it and forget it option Nvidia is probably better. I wouldn’t recommend buying a 4090 though because it looks to be plagued with issues with its new power connector.

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Thanks a bunch for those case recommendations.

I will go with Nvidia then. I don’t want to be dealing with any driver hiccups and problems.

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You have these as well

Asus AP201 (m-ATX)
Phanteks Eclipse P500A
Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2
Corsair 4000D or 4000X and higher

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This PC just went on sale, you’re not going to find a better value on your dollar:

EDIT: I removed the link because the link now directs towards a worse PC that is out of stock… What the heck, Newegg?

https://www.newegg.com/abs-ali633/p/N82E16883360298

That was the link, 633. It now redirects to this:

https://www.newegg.com/abs-ali614/p/N82E16883360279

  1. That’s some fishy business.

12400f
RTX 3060
16 GB RAM
1 TB SSD

$850.

It would cost around $150 more to build this yourself. Comes with a cheapo “gaming” mouse and keyboard as well as some free Warhammer game.

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I’ve been using AMD cards for a few years now. I always hear about the driver issues, but I’ve never personally have one.

I think AMD doesn’t update their drivers every other day like Nvidia because they don’t have to.

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19

Do you have a toaster lying around somewhere? If so you should be set

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lmao. I use it for my morning toast tho!!!

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