My fairly trusty and long-suffering PC failed last month right around the 3rd reset after release. It was his time. Just under 8 years since he came home. I looked at repairing and it just doesn’t make sense to drop more money on a system with an i5 4690 and a rtx750. It was pretty good setup in 2014, but I was below min spec for DF already.
Luckily I got some new years bonus money, and I can start building next week. I have a couple questions, i haven’t kept up with the details of new tech so I’m relearning a bunch of stuff. Hoping folks can help me navigate.
WoW is my main game, but I do play a little bit of other stuff. STO. SC2. But I’m most focused on having a great WoW experience.
First thing is CPU. I am thinking i5, at least 11600k but thinking about swinging for a 12600k or 13600k.
Issue I’m contemplating is the mobo socket and all the choices that branch off of that. 1200 socket and ddr4 vs 1700 socket and ddr5. Added expense vs added possible longevity…
Budget is hard to say, because of unusual factors. I have about 35000thb maybe a bit more if I need to stretch. Thing is tho, some stuff here is cheaper than in US, some stupidly more expensive, some just isn’t really available. 100% import tax makes ordering from outside a PITA.
On the other hand, pc part availability is generally good, and a lot of stuff is somewhat cheaper, as a lot of tech manufacturers are in ASEAN and can skip the import tax in wholesale deals.
If i had to build right now I would go 13600k on a cheap z690 motherboard and overclock but if you can wait a bit I would wait to see some benchmarks for the 7800x3D, AM5 should have much longevity than Intel’s planned dead sockets.
Don’t get anything less than 12th gen intel if you can the IPC boost from 11th to 12th gen is huge.
A bit morbid maybe, but it’s possible I may never build another PC. I’m 57 and in decent shape, but if I kept this new one for 14 years ill be 71 before the next one haha.
So yeah, really stretching with the CPU and using the 1700/am5 mobo makes a lot of sense to me.
I’m going to town to poke around the shops today. See what is in stock. Luckily, all the pc shops I like are all located inside one mall, and there is a good tech shop there too.
I might actually pay the tech shop guy to do the assembly, instead of doing it myself this time, my eyes and fingers aren’t what they used to be.
It’s a bit of a bummer you have to buy right now (or within the next few weeks), as there is some new stuff to be released just around the corner…
As others have mentioned, your main focus for wow should be on the fastest gaming CPU possible. Right now that is hands down the 5800X3D. For wow, it’s the fastest thing out there. The only downside is it is on the AM4 platform which has no further upgrade paths. As for Intel, their platform is also at the end of the line until 14th gen comes around. The only platform on the market right now that will be continually developed for the next 3 years or so is AM5 but none of the CURRENT AM5 CPUs are as good for wow as the 5800X3D. In February though, AMD is releasing X3D equivalents for the AM5 platform. We don’t know exactly what performance will look like but it should be at least as good as the 5800X3D for wow. If you can wait until then, I would wait. Otherwise I would build a B550 or X570 mobo with 16-32Gb RAM, a 5800X3D, SSD and a 3080-4070Ti GPU. This should fit your requirements and budget perfectly.
Looks like I’m going to go with a i5-12600 and a 2060. I looked at the ryzen CPU, but they just didn’t fit in the budget. Matching mobo availability / price here was an issue.
I also realized I really need a new monitor and UPS, decided to use nothing from the previous build. So that’s more THB not going to the CPU/GPU.
It’s not gonna be a top end monster, but its gonna be a massive improvement over what I had.
As Aquorius mentioned, if you could stretch the 2060 to a 3060 in your budget, you will end up with a full generation newer GPU which should see your proposed build last another 6 years without issue. Either way, yes, what you are proposing will be a massive upgrade from what you have. So if you have no choice because you need to factor in new display, UPS etc, then I’m sure you will not be at all disappointed.
I see 3060’s selling for under 350, and 2060’s are going for 280-300. If you shop around on the other parts you can easily make up the 50-60 dollar difference.
With such a small gap in pricing, don’t get the 2060. It’s not worth it.
I’ll second what this guy said about CPU. GPU is really nice when you turn the graphics up to max (which you might not want to always do, especially in difficult end game content), but the most return for your dollar for performance in wow is going to come from investing into your CPU. You can definitely settle with a “mid”-ish GPU, but IMO get the fanciest CPU you can get your hands on and that will be compatible with your MOBO’s CPU socket.
My motherboard is a bit older and only supports AM4, so I personally went with the 5800X3D. Not the best on the market, but one of the best for gaming, and is easily one of the strongest CPU for gaming still available to the AM4 socket.
Microcenter had some deals back in Nov. so I made the plunge into AM5.
Ryzen 7 7700x.
Asus TUF X670e. $50 off!
32gb (2x16) GSkill Flare X5. Free!
2TB Samsung Pro Pcie 4.0 NVME.
Powercolor Red Devil 6800 XT.
$1,900.00 USD or thereabouts.
Overkill.
Running vsync I stay at 170 fps while questing. Lowest I’ve seen is 44fps; raid fps is between 60-120 depending on spell effects. No lag, no stuttering.
CPU / GPU Temps rarely get to 70c. Using an AIO for CPU cooling.
Note: AMD GPU coil whine really is a thing.
Note: the MB required an immediate BIOS update and EXPO setting turned on to get the correct memory speed / timing, otherwise you would get memory errors (lockups, crashes to desktop).
Good news and bad news. Budget is up a little, purchase is pushed back to Feb. Yay RL stuff.
Current plan
i5 13400f + cooler
B760-P WIFI DDR4
RTX 3050 EAGLE OC 8GB
1TB M2
16gb/8x2 DDR4
Xigmatek Gaming X case
27 inch 1080p 75hz
PSU
UPS
I have the sata 2.5 SSD system drive and the 3.5 2tb media drive from the 4690 that I’ll stick in there too, thats the only thing coming from the old machine. The old tired UPS is running the wifi and charging phones now. The rest is going to the used electronics shop.
Wait till February when the Ryzen 7700X3D, 7900X3D and 7950X3D drop.
CPU intensive Games like wow drink up V cache like water in the desert. The more of it you have the better it is. CPU intensive PC games have a lot of randomness, which means that the CPU constantly needs to execute simple instructions. Without enough cache, your graphics card is forced to wait on your CPU as the instructions pile up and cause a bottleneck
Id advise staying away from intel considering this is the end of the line for their platform. With AM5 you have an upgrade path for at least 1-2 more generations of CPUs
