I'm looking to buy a new desktop as my current one is like almost 5 years old and gaming on my laptop sucks and it's not that new either.

I'm looking for a cheap build that lets me play WoW on High-ish settings and I'm clueless about this. Does anyone have any suggestions?

wouldnt pretty much any computer @ this point run wow @ max settings

Not any of my compuders.

You could probably buy a used computer that is a year old and be fine, I bought low end hardware last year (motherboard, processor, ram and video card) and WoW has no issues.

I have the receipts for computer purchases in a folder so I checked them to give you a idea instead of just saying "low end hardware."

Bought December 2009

AMD Athlon II x4 620 $112
4GB ram $100 (I am still running XP so I only have 2.38GB of usable ram.)
Asus M4A785TD-M EVO $99.99

Purchased March 2010 (To play BF:BC2)

ATI Radeon HD 5570 1GB $99.99

Nice info, thanks. What kind of settings are you running at?

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That is in windowed mode taken a few minutes ago at the most congested spot in Org. I don't mind running things at slightly lower settings, some people can't stand it.

Props for playing Horde

How is it in 25m raids, ever drop below 24fps?

As it is now I'm running everything on low except Projected Textures on and Particle Density Good.

Fog/smoke and lots of spells going off (boss fights) really **** on my fps.

I don't raid now, I only raided once in a 10 man in Cata I had no problems, I have no problems in BGs with bosses being killed, at least that is a bunch of crap going on.

Overall I am not going to have the best performance, but after I upgraded I didn't have problems in 25 mans in LK.

It at least gives you a idea that you can play WoW with a computer that costs less than $400. You could probably get a used computer for $200 that will be fine.

Yeah, but now I'm thinking maybe I should get comp that can run Dragon Age 2 nicely. Or maybe I'll buy that for the PS3 even though the controller sucks. FML :<

Edit: Found a deal on a 'gaming' PC built by a webshop.


Case: Cooler Master Elite 310 Black/Silver Fans: 1x 120mm Back, ATX, mATX, 2x USB, 1x Audio, 17 dBA

PSU: Corsair CX 500W PSU ATX 12V V2.3, Standard. 2x 6+2pin PCIe, 5x SATA, 120mm Fan

Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-5260S DVDRW 24x, DL, SATA

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 Dual Core, 3.0Ghz, AM3, 2MB, 65W

MB: MSI 870A-G54, Socket-AM3 ATX, AMD870+SB850, DDR3, 2xPCIe(2.0)x16, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0

GFX: XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI-I, HDMI, DisplayPort, 850MHz

RAM: Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz 4GB CL9 Kit w/2x 2GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, for Core i5 and i7, 1.65V, Intel XMP

HDD: Western Digital Caviar® Blue 500GB 6Gb/s (SATA 3.0), 16MB, 7200RPM

+D-Link DWA-140 Wireless N USB adapter, 802.11n (draft 2.0)


Total ~$940

Keep in mind that electronics generally aren't as cheap as in the US And I don't like researching for parts and building it myself.
This should run DA:II somewhat alright too I think.

where do you live? you could buy from US and ship?

If you want a well built custom machine i recommend: CyberPower PC. - Custom Built Gaming PC and Gaming Laptops

Check out both AMD and intel builds as you can get something a bit more up to date for $950ish then what you listed imo.

I'm in Norway so I'm unsure what the shipping cost and possible toll on the electronics would be.

CyberPower looks interesting but who the hell wants such a nerdy and ugly case :/ I guess I can buy the parts individually nationally or something and see what the price lands on.

Man I hate shopping for a new computer and esp. being on a somewhat tight budget.

My comp still runs full ultra and it's 4 years old:

EVGA 8800GT

Q6600 OC 2.6

4 gigs Ram

Cost me $900 new in 2007 (came with case, HD, dvd burner, etc).

You can build your own comp; it is super easy to do.

Package deal, assemble yourself.

$610~

Think I'm buying this one.

* 485612 - Cooler Master Elite 310 Black/Silver Fans: 1x 120mm Rear, ATX, mATX, 2x USB, 1x Audio, 17 dBA
* 574788 - Chieftec Smart Series 550W PSU ATX 12V V2.3, Standard, 1x 6pin+1x 6+2pin PCIe, 6x SATA, 120mm Fan
* 488305 - AMD Athlon II X2 250, 3,0Ghz, AM3, 2MB, 65W, Boxed
* 363359 - Crucial DDR3 1333MHz 4GB KIT, CL9, Kit w/two matched DDR3 2GB, 240pin
* 499637 - ASUS M4A78LT-M LE, Socket-AM3 mATX, AMD760G+SB710, DDR3, 1xPCIe(2.0)x16, GbLAN, VGA, DVI
* 612421 - XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI-I, HDMI, DisplayPort, 850MHz, w/Aliens vs Predator
* 620189 - Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB, SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3.0), 16MB, 7200RPM
* Black DVD±RW burner
* Serial ATA cable



Thanks for all the suggestions.

Just wanted to say that I'm actually running on Ultra (except multisampling) 1650x1050 windowed and I'm sitting at 28fps~ in the most congested spot in Org.

Also tried the DA:II demo and I'm running it on High at 1440x990, no noticeable slowdowns when fighting a large amount of enemies.

100% pleased with the purchase

I want to buy a new rig too but I'm also planning a Hawaii trip :o

Look in Classifieds. Die Hard can probably build you a system on the cheap.

turn down shadows and watch your performance rise~

Yeah shadows are kind of superfluous.

Shadows are the only thing I turned down I think.. Maybe amount of **** on the ground too only because Blizz's idea of sprucing up half of Vanilla wow is just to spam the **** out of flowers and bushes until it looks 'lush' instead of just redoing the areas (we do not need new carpet, we will just keep gluing carpet shavings to the old carpet..voila!).

Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg


what i bought, WoW supports Xfire/sli in full screen
might be a little bit out of your budget but i built this for Bf3