New Computer Build

I’ll try to make this short, (returning player) starting from scratch in terms of computer build. 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 $1800 preferably, 1500 even better) but again I’m new to building them. I understand that there are FPS drops in WoW and it’s CPU demanding, 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)
So, I’m looking for something that can run WoW at…
• Max/Ultra or High settings
• 1440p
• Sub $1500-$1800
• Support Twitch Streaming & Discord Without Dual-PC Setup

ANYTHING helps (awesome if it’s a list I can make on Newegg…kek), thank you in advance if you read this far and help!

So the thing about gaming and streaming is that you don’t necessarily want to run at max settings. While it may look pretty, the best settings are generally going to be somewhere in the middle of the road. Especially if you don’t have the budget for a top end rig. Finding the mix of settings that perform good vs. looking as good as possible is going to be your struggle, and it’s usually best to try to edge toward performance.

The reason for this is that no matter what hardware you have, streaming is a taxing thing for it to do. Assuming you’ll be streaming via software encoding, that will tax the CPU pretty heavily (vs. hardware encoding being more GPU intensive). Since wow is already CPU intensive, you can see where this is going and why that balance of performance vs. graphics is important.

Now, on to actual hardware stuff. The BIGGEST thing to remember when you’re creating a build list is that it’s super easy to get carried away. 20 bucks here, 50 bucks there, and next thing you know you’re way over budget and frustrated. Get the best you can within your budget, but be prepared to make sacrifices in some areas to make sure the important stuff is covered. At the end of the day, my wife streams wow on a R5 3600 with a GTX 1660, and it does it (albeit on lower gfx settings) adequately.

I should note that because of your budget, you’re more or less locked into last generation GPU’s. Both Nvidia’s 40 series and AMD’s 7000 series are still too new to have the “budget” cards of their product stacks released yet. There is nothing below $800 USD available in the new Gen yet… If you can even find one in that price range in reality. Intel Arc is an unknown. Based on reviews I’ve seen it seems alright, but personally I want to see how it goes for a couple years before I’d ever consider purchasing one.

It’s also worth noting that both Intel and AMD are both making killer CPU’s in this current generation, so it’s sort of a “go with whichever brand you prefer” situation. Which is great as a consumer. The biggest difference with intel right now is you can still choose to run DDR4 or DDR5 memory. Current gen AMD requires DDR5, which costs more money. I tend to lean toward DDR5 at this point though for future proofing reasons.

Important: If you go Intel, your RAM has to match what the motherboard says it uses. DDR5 sticks will not fit in DDR4 sockets.

Here’s a quick build list I put together that exemplifies the lesson of saving money in some places to ensure you stay in your budget, but still get a capable machine. Notable money saving choices include:

  • SATA SSD over NVMe
  • B series motherboard instead of X series. (This one in particular is also a “if you don’t know what the difference between B and X is, then B will work fine for you regardless” situation)
  • Fancy cases are a waste of money. You don’t need a $300 case when a $95 case will do the exact same thing. Just remember, when it comes to picking a case, the most important thing is AIRFLOW. Not how it looks. (Not to say there aren’t tons of good looking airflow focused cases as well, such as the one I chose here) Heck, in a pinch, screw your motherboard standoffs into a piece of plywood and hang it on your wall. You can call it “art”.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qFvXcb

This build comes out to a hair under $1400 before windows install. Leaving you room to even upgrade something if you want (7700x for an extra $50, beefier CPU cooler, extra/faster storage, etc…), or have money leftover for peripherals.

Hope this helped!

mmo-champion.com has monthly pc builds at variolous price points.