The Glade 4.0

So I feel that my current computer (yes, it's pretty much a toaster) may be starting to hinder my raid performance.

As such, I'm considering upgrading, especially with a new expansion coming up.

I've been playing around on cyberpowerpc, but I'm way behind on what the current dos and don'ts are in builds. I'm still working in the core 2 duo range.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Zeus_Mini-I_200/

Was one option I came up with, seems like it would be a capable little computer for a while.

I don't really play any FPS's these days, just WoW and streaming video.

Suggestions, thoughts, opinions?

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Given your parts list, I would at least upgrade your GPU to the Radeon R9 270 for +$30

I would also consider upgrading to an i5 over an i3 for 4 CPU cores instead of 2.

Personally I would get rid of the optical drive as well.

Use CPUBoss and GPUBoss for direct comparisons between any two products.

Huh, that's strange- it doesn't look like it saved any of the upgrades I chose, even after saving it and giving me a link.

I'd upgraded to the i5 4690, and had also put in an SSD/HDD combo drive.

My understanding was that GPU's didn't have as much bearing on performance for WoW- but I have no idea what the hierarchy is either. I know I can compare things from Tom's Hardware, but I have no practical idea how it will improve.

I'm playing on a 2010 Mac Mini with a 320m graphics card atm, and outside of 25m raids am perfectly happy with the performance, if that tells you anything.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Are you never planning on playing anything more graphically demanding than WoW 25 mans for the lifetime of this computer? Either way, the performance upgrade you'd get for an extra $30 is money well spent.

That said, depending on how much streaming is a concern to you, Nvidia now has ShadowPlay which captures video directly from the GPU and streams it. That may be worth getting the GTX.

Pretty much. I haven't played any other computer games in the last two years- it's either WoW or no time to play.

I do 3D modeling and such, but I've got clusters and a supercomputer connection at work for that.

I just have no idea what kind of practical performance increases we're talking about here. If it's worthwhile, the extra $30 isn't a big deal.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

It looks like wow will be doing some graphical upgrades in the next couple expansions, so it's probably worth the extra 30 bucks.

Then just get the GTX. It's already like 13x better than your current card (which I assume limits you to low settings/resolution in WoW).

Internet reports say the GTX 750 is good, will be able to run 1080p/Ultra, but might need to be turned down during raids to maintain.

I've used Shadowplay, I can confirm it's easy as dirt to set up to stream or record locally, and does a great job with an unnoticeable hit to framerate, even when recording to a different resolution than you're displaying.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I would build and not give my money to cyberpower, if it were me. I would also move up to the 4690k, since it's only a few more bucks and is OC'able. Put it on a z97 board, or if you really need to save cash, get an ASUS board and update the bios to allow for OC'ing. You can either water cool or get a decent, cheap air cooler for OC'ing. Cooler Master makes some decent air cooler/heatsinks for around $25.

Get at least a 750 ti for a gpu, as that is considered lower mid tier at this point. I'd stick with nvidia if possible. Cost more than amd, but seems to work better in WoW with less stutter. Usually cooler and uses less power, as well. If you can afford more, then move up to a 760, 770, or 780. The 750 ti is probably the best bang for your buck atm.

Choose a case that has nice air flow, and try to get one with intake air filters for less dust collection. You'll be happy you did. Get a decent PSU (at least bronze 80+), that is modular or semi modular for ease. Corsair is usually reliable, especially above the low end CX psu's. EVGA makes a decent psu as well. XFX and Seasonic are also considered good product lines for psu. Price is usually my determining factor on that.

If you need to look up parts and prices, use pcpartpicker. It makes choosing your stuff very easy. If you need help putting it together, there are good tutorials on YT. Look up channels NCIX, and newegg. They should help.

My 2 cents.

Thanks Sam.

TBH, the hardware part of putting it together doesn't bother me, but finding and installing all the drivers has always been more of a frustration that I was looking to avoid.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Fortunately, these days drivers are a bit easier. All the mainboard drivers are generally bundled, so one set for the mainboard, one for the GPU, and then any add-in cards (like wireless, if it's not on your mainboard), if you have any. That's about it.

Windows built in drivers and windows update handle most of your drivers. Aside from that you're only looking at some separate downloads for mobo and gpu if you don't want to use the CD's they came with, and you're pretty much done.

Nice. I'm still used to the XP days, I guess- I haven't done anything with Vista, 7 or 8.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

If I can do it, anyone with a half working brain can!

I had to load a driver off the mobo disk to get my dsl to work, but other than that it was easy. Windows 8.1 even put in my nvidia driver, although I went to the site and got the newer package to replace it. And as someone who had been an XP user since it came out, Windows 8.1 is really a decent OS imho.

Anyway......I figure building my own saved me a few hundred bucks, and was worth it. I won't be buying pre-built again, unless there is a steal that I can't pass up. Building one now appears to be idiot proof (i.e. Me).

Sam, you cranky old badger, if you can say that Windows 8.1 isn't so bad it gives me hope that more people will come around

I remember learning some basic on trs-80s. Learning to use an old word program in dos, before windows existed. Learning windows 3.1, 95, and 98 on my home computers. And XP stayed with me for a decade before I had to move on. I didn't have Windows vista, or 7, or plain old 8. But 8.1 was not hard to get use to or learn the basics. And there are some features that I really like about it, tbh.

I think the only thing that I have a gripe about so far, is the lack of a proper windows player, to play dvds. I tried VLC from the app store, but it didn't do the job either. Perhaps downloading it from the actual site will get it done, but I haven't tried yet.

I never tried Vista or W7, so maybe that's why I am not biased like some. /shrug

Regarding the GPU I have not been thrilled with AMD. My 6970 has been good in terms of performance, but suffers from a lot of driver crashes, and the automatic fanspeed control never worked right. I'm hoping to replace it next year and I think it will be NVidia next time.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

So I played around a bit with PCpartpicker, and came up with he following. This seems to be a long the lines you guys were suggesting, yes?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($236.94 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Black Edition Video Card ($145.38 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 Advanced ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master GXII 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)
Total: $1032.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-06 15:56 EDT-0400

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Ok, so played around a bit more on CyberPowerPC, and seems I can get more for less there?

Hopefully the custom build comes up his time, but other than the RAM differences, it seems about the same build, or better.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1G9EDV

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Pretty good build you've got there. Go for it.

Haha, which?

Still need to convince the wife that it's a good idea.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

If the cyberpowerpc link is accurate for $699 that seems more than adequate.

I see this build when I click it:

Intel i5 4690
MSI Z97I Mini ITX
8gb ADATA XPG V2 RAM
Geforce GTX 750-Ti 2GB
650w PSU (way more than you need)
1TB HDD

All in all seems very similar to the hackintosh build I just did for about $800. My build has run everything I've tried at 1080p pretty easily, Landmark, Divinity, Dark Souls 2, etc.

My processor is a 4670K, gpu is a GTX 660, and I am only using a 430w PSU.

Build is accurate, price is more like $917.

Still not sure why it's coming out so much cheaper than the PCpartpicker list, I would have assumed holding it myself would be cheaper.

Yeah, I'd been thinking about dropping the PSU, seems like e build should only use ~300 or so. Maybe a 450?

Also, if I don't plan on OCing, I assume I'd be OK dropping the CPU cooler?

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

You could definitely save some money on things like the power supply if you wanted to order everything and build yourself.

Here's my exact list, priced at $700 without the keyboard and maybe slightly more powerful: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/jdewitt/saved/9YNgXL

If you don't plan to OC then the stock CPU cooler is fine. That's all I'm using.

Hmmm. That list shows up at just under $800 without the KB for me. Wonder why the price difference.

TBH, I should look and see what I can scavenge from my old PC. I had a Dell XPS. From 2006 that was rock solid, at least the HD should be fine from it, and might be able to use the ram.

I assume it would be better to not reuse the case/PSU? I recall the old Dell's having some unusual size/placement issues. Was around a 450 Watt PSU if I recall, though.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.