PC Build.

[bpranney]

I am looking to start speccing out building a desktop PC. Mainly I will be using it to play one game, World of Warcraft, and the occasional websurfing and work.

Any suggestions on parts and places to get them will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Elmer]

Not a suggestion on parts or places, but I found this Link Removed - Invalid URL courtesy of Lambda-Tek. If you create an account (email address, password, that's it) it saves your designs. Handy to see if bits go together before doing some serious reading on them.

Parts and places also depends on where you are!

 

[Firecracker]

You should be starting with these specs and not lower

Processor: AMD Phenom II x4 series AM3 955, 960, 965, 970, 975 Processors or the intel eqivelents

Memory: 4GB of DDR3 1066 or faster (This depends on the Processor and the motherboard)

Motherboard: Gigabyte, Asus, J&W and MSI are great brands the CPU socket should be a Socket AM3 for AMD or Sockets for the intel Processors (Funny enough I dunno what sockets or Processor Intel has, there is a confusing amount of them because every Processor that is released there is a new socket) I have always used AMD just because a new socket comes every few years rather than 6 months and AMD CPU's don't change and they are cheaper. Gigabit ports, Firewire, USB 1.1/2.0, Esata, HD Audio, SATA Ports and raid controllers are pretty standard these days, also look for SATA 3 6Gbps and USB 3.0.

PSU: 500w or bigger (750w or larger for Dual/Tri/Quad SLI or Crossfire (Depends if it's a NVidia or AMD/ATI card)).

CD Drive: DVD Burner with Blu-ray reading capability SATA II Drive

Hard Drive: 1TB 7200RPM SATA II Drive

Case: your current one (if it has enough cooling otherwise Antec 900, 902 and 1200 are fantastic there are heaps of others like these)

Video Card: Depends if it is inbuilt on the motherboard you choose, Mid range cards like GT460 and GTX465 are good or any of the AMD/ATI 5000 series are good. (if you want to wait for the GTX 560 and the GTX 565 or the AMD/ATI 6950 to become cheaper) if you choose Add-on graphics card get one with PCI-E x16 2.0.

PCI cards like extra USB 3.0, Dedicated Sound Blaster, Wireless g/N, Extra USB2.0 ports and firewire and any others you may want, preferably PCI-E 2.0 if not use PCI

This is just some of what you can use, There are a lot of stuff to consider, lot of configurations to choose. Beware that AMD bulldozer is comming soon, so might wait awhile if you want. AMD again will have a new socket AMD3+ and need DDR4 Memory (First in like 3 years).

 

[bpranney]

I am looking to start speccing out building a desktop PC. Mainly I will be using it to play one game, World of Warcraft, and the occasional websurfing and work.

Any suggestions on parts and places to get them will be greatly appreciated.

I am in Northern VA, so finding parts will be pretty easy.

 

[bpranney]

You should be starting with these specs and not lower

Processor: AMD Phenom II x4 series AM3 955, 960, 965, 970, 975 Processors or the intel eqivelents

Memory: 4GB of DDR3 1066 or faster (This depends on the Processor and the motherboard)

Motherboard: Gigabyte, Asus, J&W and MSI are great brands the CPU socket should be a Socket AM3 for AMD or Sockets for the intel Processors (Funny enough I dunno what sockets or Processor Intel has, there is a confusing amount of them because every Processor that is released there is a new socket) I have always used AMD just because a new socket comes every few years rather than 6 months and AMD CPU's don't change and they are cheaper. Gigabit ports, Firewire, USB 1.1/2.0, Esata, HD Audio, SATA Ports and raid controllers are pretty standard these days, also look for SATA 3 6Gbps and USB 3.0.

PSU: 500w or bigger (750w or larger for Dual/Tri/Quad SLI or Crossfire (Depends if it's a NVidia or AMD/ATI card)).

CD Drive: DVD Burner with Blu-ray reading capability SATA II Drive

Hard Drive: 1TB 7200RPM SATA II Drive

Case: your current one (if it has enough cooling otherwise Antec 900, 902 and 1200 are fantastic there are heaps of others like these)

Video Card: Depends if it is inbuilt on the motherboard you choose, Mid range cards like GT460 and GTX465 are good or any of the AMD/ATI 5000 series are good. (if you want to wait for the GTX 560 and the GTX 565 or the AMD/ATI 6950 to become cheaper) if you choose Add-on graphics card get one with PCI-E x16 2.0.

PCI cards like extra USB 3.0, Dedicated Sound Blaster, Wireless g/N, Extra USB2.0 ports and firewire and any others you may want, preferably PCI-E 2.0 if not use PCI

This is just some of what you can use, There are a lot of stuff to consider, lot of configurations to choose. Beware that AMD bulldozer is comming soon, so might wait awhile if you want. AMD again will have a new socket AMD3+ and need DDR4 Memory (First in like 3 years).

Firecracker.

Thanks for the tips. I have always liked AMD processors as well. Currently I am working on a build on newegg, just to get an idea. I know for a fact I will be adding in a very nice video card. I want to be able to run WoW at t's peak performance and onboard video will not allow that to happen.