I’ll try to make this short, (returning player) starting from scratch in terms of computer build. I’ve only ever played on computers I bought from friends so I know nothing about them, I’ve used YouTube, PCPartPicker, NewEgg, etc; call it slower comprehension but I’m having trouble and needing guidance as I’m still learning. I keep finding myself frustrated when breaking the budget (sub $1900 preferably) but again I’m new to building them. I understand that there are FPS drops in WoW, outside of that I don’t even know how my resolution correlates with MHz / GHz and my build itself. (Forgive me for not being tech savvy)
What I do know is that I plan on playing at 1080p so I’m looking for guidance/something that can run WoW at…
• Best Monitors? (2)
• High / Max Settings
• Can Handle Streaming (Dual Setup Hence Double Monitor Abovementioned) I’m also familiar with apparently needing a capture card so I’ll be purchasing one because I was told it’ll put extra work on GPU without and I don’t need to break the bank just for GPU to handle Stream/Gameplay simultaneously
• Anything That Helps (Tips/Advice, Guidance, Etc)
If someone put this in list format and simplified it for an “all brawn, no brain” individual I would greatly appreciate you.
if you ask ten people to build you a gaming desktop PC, you will get ten different answers and a lengthy argument of people going scorched earth on each other’s part selections. Your best bet is to first decide your monitor(s) and its refresh rate and go from there . You may like 1080p but you may decide to go with a bigger monitor and want 1440p or you find 75fps is fine for you as opposed to 144, etc., etc.,
My advise, rather than ask people to build you a gaming PC on parts that they like and fit their needs, find the parts yourself for your personal needs.
Harware Numb3rs on youtube has a lot of dedicated videos to running WoW at 1080p, check it out although some of the parts are slightly dated. You can compare those parts to modern parts on Tom’s Hardware best CPUs and GPUs for gaming. They also have hierarchy charts to aid in comparing parts. Logical Increments also has a dedicated page to WoW builds with more modern parts. You don’t need to follow any of their builds but they are good at giving you ideas.
Displayninja and rtings have excellent review sites, I would start looking their on the different type of monitors that are out there and their recommendations.
Good luck, take all advice with a grain of salt (some more than a grain) and remember the whole point of the build is for you to have fun. If you are not having fun, what’s the point?
You don’t need a capture card unless you plan to stream console gaming, most modern GPUs have very good video encoders so the hit to the GPU is minimal also if you get an Intel K CPU with an iGPU the Intel Quick Sync encoder is also pretty good.,
OBVIOUSLY but for some reason you have a Corsair case sticker when everyone knows a Noctua case sticker adds like .2 additional FPS to your .1% lows when raiding on Tuesdays.
I’m somewhat in the same boat as you are. I haven’t built a PC in over 10 years, but I want a gaming “rig” so I can stop playing WoW on my 2019 iMac.
You have a budget, mission #1. In terms of a monitor, I realized I wanted to play it at 1440, so that is the direction I went. If you are happy with 1080, then determine desired size and start researching reviews. The biggest catch to this entire process is deciding what you want the new pc to be able to do? For example for playing WoW you don’t need the most expensive, powerful parts. But what about other games you might also play, or how much do you want to “future-proof” your pc? That was the biggest question I had to answer.
I strongly believe you buy the best you can with the budget you have. The biggest parts questions are going to be the CPU and the GPU. I decided this time to go full Team Red. I went with a strong but not cutting edge CPU (AMD 5800x3D), and a similar level with the GPU (AMD Radeon 6800). But I also had an equivalent Intel and Nividia build created too. The former won out for me.
So in summary figure out your monitor, CPU, and GPU, then after that it’s all downhill and easier questions to answer.
i realized that my first answer is pretty bare so i’m going to expand:
get the bigger monitor for the main. i’d say get an ultrawide. it gives you a wider view in game. get a smaller monitor for the secondary stuff.
download OBS. it’s basically a software version of a capture card, and it is also free. it does a window capture of the game and, if you’re using a camera, it can also capture that and put the game and camera in the same stream. it can do software encoding, which needs a strong CPU, or hardware encoding, which needs a strong GPU.
as for the PC itself, just max out your budget. need a strong PC to do everything in one box. if you pick an nvidia gpu, they have nvidia NVENC, which is considered the best hardware encoder. also the more you spend, usually the longer the rig will last
