New Computer for GW

Its time for me to get an upgrade but i have no idea on which parts to pick out for running guild wars in the highest resolution? I want to spend under $1,300 that runs guild wars smoothly. What do you guys recommend?

I should say, build it yourself
If you buy the same computer in the store your more then $1000
If you buy the parts, then it will cost you about 500$

Just find a good suplier on the internet ;-)
I cant help you with that, cause im dutch :P

i'd also recommending a self build, 2 great sites for parts would be http://www.tigerdirect.com and http://www.newegg.com

CPU: some mid-priced Intel Core 2 Duo, the most expensive ones are a waste of money for most games and quad core isn't really worth it right now with so few things supporting multiprocessing (and available memory bandwidth further limiting the gains from more cores).

RAM: two gigabytes of DDR2-800. Brand doesn't make much difference unless you plan on overclocking or something. Don't waste too much money on getting RAM with low latencies, either: it's been benchmarked over and over again and the performance benefit of expensive low-latency RAM is less than 2% in most cases.

If you can fit one in your budget, the GeForce 8800GTS is definitely the best video card available. Not only is it very fast for most games, but it's also priced low enough (around $299) that its price/performance ratio beats every other video card in its class, including its competitor from ATI.

As for the motherboard, I'd recommend something relatively expensive from either Abit or Asus. The cheaper stuff often lacks connectivity, has shitty chipsets that slow down the system's overall performance and/or is made from crappy parts that can't take the load of gaming for more than a few years.

Since you probably need a new PSU for this I'd recommend googling around a bit to find a good quality one - some of the cheaper junk may advertise "500 W" power but will probably explode when the load approaches 400 W, possibly taking out the rest of your hardware too.

I bought this a couple of weeks ago:

Quad Core Q6600
2048 MB RAM
Geforce 8500GTS
P5K Asus Motherboard
Running on 430W or so.

Really runs GW like a dream.

Woops forgot to say how much I paid for, IIRC it was €1000,- That includes the building of it, the harddisk and the case.

How much did you paid for it Scorpion_boy?

K, i've picked these parts i don't know if their good but here they are:
Video Card:Nividia GeForce 8800 GTS
CPU:Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Bundle
RAM:Crucial DDR2 2GB PC6400 Dual Memory
Mobo: ASUS P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP Socket 775
PSU: CoolerMaster eXtreame Power 600w ATX Power Supply

Think thats good enough?

you also need a case if you don't have one yet and don't forget some cooling.

The setup is pretty good. I'd swap the PSU for this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139001

The motherboard is nice, but costs a lot just for the extra features. Unless you really want/need them, one of the cheaper P5K's should do.

remember not to cheap out on the case!
I'm so glad i got my Antec P180B, insanely quiet and with the pull out compartments for Hard drives/Optical Drives it makes installing a breeze...not to mention sealing off the power supply in a separate area on the bottom for even cooler gaming ^_^

Wow I guess I've had my compy for almost a month and a half now. I ordered it all from newegg (they are the best):


-Q6600 2.4ghz Quad Core (future proof)

-Artic Cooling Freezer 7 pro (This is very important, an aftermarket cooler IS needed for any dual or quad core because the stock fans are junk)

-Apevia X-Discovery Case (it looks nice but I wish it had better cooling)

-OCZ 600w power supply (Has more than enough power and seems to be doing its job. Runs a little loud but I'll live. Doesn't have modular cabling but the cabling is easy to bend and it stays that way. Look at the Corsair 520w, it's pretty good too)

-Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (P35 chipset mobo supports 45nm processors and this board I picked out supports 4gb of ddr3 so I can upgrade in the future)

-Evga 8800gts 320mb (really a nice card, but I am wishing I had just gotten a 8800gtx. The increased memory and processing power is really noticeable)

-Patriot 2GB DDR2-800 ram (it works fine :P, and is relatively cheap)

-Seagate Barracuda 320gb HDD w/Perpindicular Recording Tech (serves its need, although I've found my load times aren't that hawt...but for only 70$ you can't complain. Think about raid-0 two of these )

Overall I paid less than 1200$ for all this. It's prolly more around 1100$ now with all the price cuts. My suggestion would be to look into a better case (air flow ftw!), two HDDs for raid-0, 4gb ram, or a 8800gtx. GW doesn't need much power to run on max though, so if you want to save money just buy some random crap and enjoy.

Hi there...am have a old computer for like 2yrs or so and i would like to get a new computer more like build my own...i looked at the two sites provided above but am afraid to pick out a mother board and all that.
and do both site's ship to canada.....

No one seems to have mentioned this. What sort of monitor are you running or will you be getting? And, what resolution will you, therefore, be running? This can make quite a difference in the amount of graphics power you need.
For example, if you are running a CRT or LCD at 1024x768, almost any (new) graphics card will do (I know people who run GW at 1024x768 on an ATI 9600 AGP). If you are running an LCD at 1280x1024, you would want something a bit more mid-range. If (like me) you are running a wide screen monitor at 1680x1050, then you'll need at least an nVidia 8600 based card, but an 8800 would be even better. (I'm using an ATI 2900XD, but I don't recommend it as it has the performance of an 8600, but the power consumption of an 8800)

And, of course, the more graphics power you want, the bigger power supply you'll need. Check that the power supply has connectors for the video card (if required) and SATA drives and 24/28-pin motherboard connector. 650w (or more) if you go for the 8800. Even more if you want SLI (which I don't recommend either)

I would recommend getting a new AMD64 X2 processor (the 6000+ if your budget will allow) - the most bang for the buck. (I know people will argue that Intel Core2 processors are faster, but not when you compare them price for price.) I wouldn't recommend getting a Quad Core either - there really is nothing out there (game-wise) that would require or use 4 cores - by the time there is, the current quads will be old news.

I run at 1280x1024 with a 7600 512mb.

(on vista)

Asus M2A-VM HDMI / socket AM2 93
AMD Athlon 64 4400 X2 / socket AMD2 109
DDR2 1024mb SuperTalent 49 x 2
XFX 8600GT XXX Edition 256M 180
Vitsuba Master 550w 114

All in U$S

Think the Antec Nine Hundred is good enough for cooling?

The 900 is plenty. Most cases today are more than enough anyways.

That system will laugh at you if Guild Wars is the most intensive software you ever run on it. Overkill. However, its an awesome system that will play much newer games easily. You'll likely be in the range of 200fps or so with Guild Wars.

Do you play any other games? Would you if you had a better system? If not, you could probably save some cash by lightening that up a bit.. but that's a pretty sweet machine.

http://ncix.com/

www.tigerdirect.ca - although I can't seem to connect atm. :/

Dont give into future proofing, something better will be out in 6 months. For case, I would suggest the Coolmaster CM690 , it can fit 7 fans in it + toolless design. 600W PSU is good for future upgrades. Do you plan to Overclock?

I don't know but for right now I think i decided what i want

self built is usually not cheaper, but you will know what is in your computer.

This is where I disagree...

...yeah self building is usually a lot cheaper when compared to the pre built ones that just look like a better deal with a monitor or something thrown in at the expense of quality.

Building a computer is better but if you have to get retail software to run it it cost alot, vista for instance. Plus you dont have to deal with defect parts and testing to make sure your computer works. Many people may think it is easy to build and test a computer but I have had stuff crap out on me a week into use. New build systems not being able to touch for month due to RMA and hassles. I am use to it so it is easy for me but it is annoying to deal with.

Anyhow I see many people are suggesting quad core cpu. Quad cores are not going to be utilized properly for almost 2 years. Crysis is the state of the art engine and it only can work well with 2 cores, additional cores dont receive any significant gains in performance. Even the 8800GTS isnt fully utilized and will take 1-2 years for programmers to fully unlock its potential. I have been using a 7800GT and it still works flawlessly for all games. Guildwars has 76FPS -100+ on top settings with standard rez.( no anti aliasing set because it runs hot.)

Anyhow when I use to build systems I use to go for bleeding edge but I learned my lesson. I now upgrade consistently into low end. If I spend 500 today and 500 6 months -1 year later I will have a better system than spend 1k today. That is my rule of thumb. GPU can be upgraded when needed but as of right now drivers just started to unlock its potential and will still have at least 1 year of life before moving to dx10.

As long as you can build for $2500 what Dell sells for $5000-6000, that will never be true.

Yeah, RMAs and defective parts are a pain in the ass, but that's what warrantees are for. If something were wrong with your Dell XPS, you'd have to send that in, too.

I don't think anyone is saying that Guild Wars/Crysis/Solitare/Whatever else is optimized to take full advantage of the Quad core's potential. Very few games take advantage of dual core or 64-bit processors for that matter. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't use an AMD 64 or Intel Core 2 Duo/Extreme. Its irrelevent, the Core 2 Quad is a faster processor whether its using its extra two CPU cores or not.

Video cards-$590X2=$1180
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...IN#detailspecs

Memory
----------have---------4G

Hard drive
-----------have---------2 400g I think i have 1-2 160g and I know I have a 160g umm I forget what it's call but it was new I just reverted back to the old dtyle becase it's EZer if my Power supply craps and I have to through a spare in there.

Case
-----------have---------Steel case with alot of stuff I don't even utalize it's really cool too looks like a sweet old fashion multi CD player if you don't know what your looking at

Sound card-$30
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...098&CatId=2771

Screen
----------have-------20.1in flate plasma

Power supply-$300
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...093&CatId=2036

Mother boards-$350
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...770&CatId=2051

Cpu-$1080
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=3285775

$2940
my wish list feel free to donat I will accept lol looks good on paper but probubly not worth buying tell sometime in the futur.

Um..why would i need a $3000 computer when a computer under $1500 runs perfect already? And as for the hard drive, I don't think anybody needs 800g unless your doing business. I have atm a 100gb and hardly used 23% of it. ( Had for 4-5 years now )

www.newegg.com

http://www.clubit.com/ this shop is awesome I consider better than newegg.