Guild Wars 2

I posted a little while back about buying a pre-built pc and was strongly urged to build my own. Well, life happened as it often does and my pc plans were put on hold. I know it isn’t for a couple months yet. but I’ve decided to use some of my income tax when I get it to build my own pc like many of you insisted.

AMD FX-4130 – $105
MSI Radeon 7750 2gb – $98
Cooler Master 460w – $35
Kingston Value 4gb RAM – $30
1 TB Hard Drive – $63
Intel Z77 Motherboard – $100
CM Storm Enforcer Case – $82
Top Case Fan – $13
Side Case Fan – $9
ASUS DVD Drive – $22
Windows 7 or 8 – $100
Total: $657

My budget in mind is $650, and I’m pretty keen on keeping it there. With a total of $657 I’m pretty comfortable with the price, but I’m not sure how it would perform. The main games I’m probably going to be playing are Guild Wars 2, Star Wars The Old Republic, and DayZ. I’m aiming for 40+ fps and I think this pc build should be able to get me there. I currently play on an old laptop with an fps of about 7 in cities, and 12-22 in PvE areas. My monitor is going to be my tv for a while which is a 42" lcd 3D tv, so the resolution will most likely ne 1080p, but I can change that in-game to reach my 40+ fps goal if need be.

Having mentioned my tv being used as a monitor I do have 1 question, aside from the obvious “Will this pc meet my goals?”, and that is whether or not the 2gb Radeon 7750 could run GW2 in 3D. I’m not only onboard this current 3D, I’m shoveling the coals into it hahaha. Uncharted 3 was mind blowing in 3D, as was Dynasty Warriors 7, Batman Arkham City, and Ghost Reacon Future Soldier, and I’d love to see how GW2 looks in 3D.

So there it is. So there you have it. I took the advice and decided to build my own. Should my 40+ fps not be a problem, and can I expect to play it in 3D?

You need to save up some more money. AMD is definitely NOT the way to go for this game or any other modern game.

I suggest you make your budget an additional 100-200 dollars. Get a CPU such as an i5-4670 and a GPU in the 7800 series.

You will be very very sorry when you put this build together and find out your performance is horrible. And no, you can not expect to play this game in 3D on a 7750.

Rethink this. Also, I don’t condone this but you can save 100 dollars by not “buying” the operating system.

That’s what I’ve heard about AMD, but friends of mine and some of my guild members hav the fx-4100 and run at a consistent fps in the mid 40’s, so I opted for the fx-4300 since it’s an improved version of the 4100. I was looking at the i5-3470 before though, and it’s $100 more. If it’s going to be that much better I’ll look in to it more, but like I said, I know numerous people running GW2 and other games like BF3, SWTOR, DayZ, etc , at 40+ fps with the fx 4100. Most of them recommended the 4100 or 4300 to me for a budget build.

Don’t fret EQuake, some DIYers here don’t believe in low cost systems. I was going to suggest the FX-4300 over the FX-4130 but you beat me to it.

- I hope that’s 2×2GB of memory and not one 4GB stick but I’m guessing it’s a single stick. This isn’t that much more and it’ll allow dual channel memory access and is probably faster than that Kingston memory.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

- You are on a budget yet you picked a relatively expensive case that you still need to add fans to. And it doesn’t have a side fan, just a spot for a top one (one 200mm or two 120mm). Not saying there’s anything better, it’s a nice case, but on a budget you don’t spend 15% of it on a case.

- Power supply. Something you shouldn’t under spend on, and I hate that Cooler Master does this but if the sticker on the side is to be believed, it’s not a 460 watt PSU but only 400 watts (the sticker says 3.3V + 5V + 12V can’t exceed 377.9 watts of output). At least Corsair CX-430 is honest about it’s continuous output.

- Video card. Please tell me that’s not the MSI HD 7750 with DDR3 memory. If your choice is between 2GB of DDR3 and 1GB of GDDR5 ALWAYS go with the faster memory. Always. The extra memory is never worth the 65% reduction in video memory bandwidth. You are tying boat anchors to a swimmer. You can get HD 7750 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory for about the same price.

- Lastly a Z77 motherboard doesn’t take AMD FX cpus. That’s a AMD 970a board.

I’ll be back later to comment more and maybe try to get a parts list together close to your budget.

Thanks for the reply Behllagh.

1.) I chose that particular case because of the door on the front covering the buttons. There’s a little one in the household, and that should help keep him out of it. That, along with the airflow the case has is why I chose it. I’m open to other cases with good airflow I just chose that one because of the little guy.

2.) I missed the DDR3 on that video card, I’m glad you caught that. I’ll choose the Sapphire Radeon 7750 1gb with DDR5 instead.

3.) Didn’t know that about that board, I’ll go with the AMD 970a instead. Will this work?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B9BDB14/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1378417173&sr=8-2&pi=SL75

4.) If the cooler master psu is 430w it might not work. I chose the 7750 because it’s a decent card and is a very low power consuming card. 430w may work, but I can try to stretch the budget to fit this in if need be.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0092ML0MY/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1378416881&sr=8-3&pi=SL75

5.) if 2 sticks of ram is that much better I can try something like this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0011A4UZE/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?qid=1378417065&sr=8-6&pi=SL75

1) It’s alright.

2) It’s alright but 430 watts is plenty IMO but lets go with 500 watts.

3) Those are DDR2 sticks (OOPS!) not DDR3 but you are getting the idea. :p

Here I threw together a rough draft over on NewEgg

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=22778652

There is currently a total of $58 of rebates, $30 HD 7770, $20 CX500 and $8 on the case fan. Brings the total down to $626. This is just an outline of parts we talked about here, any manufacturer difference is due solely to the part not being available at NewEgg. If you use PCPartPicker you could do a little bit better, just check to make sure the place with the best price actually has it in stock. I picked faster DDR3-1600 Cas 9 memory because it didn’t cost much more than DDR3-1333 Cas 9. If you choose to pick your own memory, make sure it’s 1.5 volt DDR3.

An alternative for the CPU is the slightly slower FX-6300. You trade two more cores for a loss of 300MHz of clock speed (7.9% slower) but for the same price (at least at NewEgg). No idea if that’s a net gain or loss with GW2 but in my opinion it would be a slight gain, maybe 15% but that’s a SWAG (scientific wild kitten guess) on my part.

Edit: I went looking and found the MSI HD 7770 was cheaper after rebate than Sapphire HD 7750 after it’s rebate. But be aware that sales and rebates at NewEgg are fleeting so YMMV (your mileage may vary).

Wow, I forgot Bout newegg (derp). With the rebates may I be able to bump the ram up to 6gb without going over my $650 budget? I’m open to cheaper cases as well.

I wouldn’t recommend 6GB, pairs of matching sizes are preferred. Same memory but two 4GB sticks is $70 at NewEgg.

Cases are part practical (good cooling, ease of assembly, has all the front ports you want) and part personal taste. You want the controls to be behind a door to keep the little one from pressing buttons to get your attention. I hate doors because I access the DVD drive all the time. I think a window on the side is silly and won’t pay extra for it. Some people like fans that light up. Different strokes.

NewEgg can filter the case selections down somewhat, narrow the list down to a few that meets your practical and esthetic tastes and then look for reviews of those to check on ease of assembly and native case cooling (to see if any extra fans are needed). For cable routing look at case width. Wider the case, the more room behind the motherboard tray to run fat power cables.

Remember rebates are fleeting at NewEgg, several end very soon. Their regular discounts and special offer codes change very frequently. So it’s best to have alternatives for the parts on sale and with rebates.

My only concern is the GPU. Something like a 7850 would give nice performance, and I believe is relatively cheap (around $200).

Budget $650 max Espionage for a rig with a copy of Windows. Feel free to figure out where to take $60 away to put toward an HD 7850 ($130 after rebate Vs $70 after rebate for the HD 7770).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202004

$90 if you want a 2GB model.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127727

I was looking at a lower end gpu Espionagw because I’m really only looking to run the game on medium settings, maybe medium/high if I can get it, and I watched videos on youtube of guys running GW2 on medium with a 7750, so I opted for that. Behellagh pointed out the rebate on the 7770, and if it’s available when I get the money I’ll go with that. I should mention a friend of mine has an fx-4100 and a radeon 6670 and runs the game in a consistent fps in the mid 40’s on medium.

As far as cases go, I can keep him from pushing the buttons when I’m on it, it was just more to keep him from turning it on when I don’t need it to be. I can put the pc up or in a different room no problem. I’m all for saving some money, and would be happy to get a cheaper case to do so.

Oh, and suggesting a cracked copy of Windows as a way to save money. Bad bad person, you know who I’m talking to.

I would never think of getting a cracked copy.

EQuake.3456:

I would never think of getting a cracked copy.

Do you go to school currently? Could probably pick up a free copy via DreamSpark or something.

Otherwise, Windows (at least up to 7) has a 30-day grace period, that can be re-armed as well to reset the time. Not piracy, but you should probably just buy the OS :p

I got Windows 8 for $15, but I’m pretty sure the Upgrade Offer Microsoft was doing is long gone.

Thought I heard somewhere that Windows 8 would be $45.

As for a case, this is what I used to use: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154094
Cheap, and efficient. Just note that it’ll only accept mATX motherboards.

I was going through Newegg and I did see a lot of cases I liked. narrowed it down to 5, but I don’t know which one would be better.

Someone PMed me about how to get Win 7 for “free” and I felt like responding here rather than PMing them back.

As someone who develops software for a living, any suggestion about pirating a product is anathema to me. I know people do it and it’s unfortunately very big in the DIY community as a way to use the funds for the Microsoft Tax on hardware to stay within budget.

I’m haven’t always been a goody two shoes, there was a time back as a poor college student where I facilitated “trades” of Atari 800 games and development tools, although my computer was back at home, but that was 30 or so years ago. Can’t believe that it cost over $2K for the Atari back then (with 2 drives, 48KB of memory, expansion port box, 300 baud modem and Epson 8 pin dot matrix printer with graphics chip, it was a college package deal that included a 20% discount).

No need to fret, as I am no thief.

TBH its not even a ‘cracked’ copy of windows you download.
Its simply a normal Windows installation that you install, that u then use program to remove the Authentication promt.

And the simple reason people do it is usualy 1 or 3 things.
1)They are just straight up pirating it for the sake of doing so.
2)They allready have 1 copy of windows bought for 1 rig in the house and dont feel they should have to buy another 2 or 3 copies for their other rigs.
3)They feel the Tax microsoft put on other parts of a system hardware and software side is mroe than enough without spending X amount more on the OS.

People who come under (1) i have a problem with, doing just for the sake of doing it is damaging.
People who do it for reason (2) i can understand completly. They have a legit copy, they use that legit copy for installation on all rigs , register one legit, and crack the others.
People who do it for reason (3) again i can undertsand, though its more of a grey area imo.

Anyway its NEVER a good idea to openly say one does this, or openly recommened it. Large corporations are sneaky buggers and you never know what will happen.
That said, using a web bassed proxy(if in the UK or using a ISP with torrent sites locked) and searching a torrent site is just as ‘informative’ as using google.

EDIT: The argument people form group (3) use is. Microsoft will get more money from som1 building a low budget rig if they get a non legit copy of windows becouse MS get money from other software and hardware tax’s etc that will be used on said rig. More than they would if said person cant afford to build said rig in the first place due to the price of an OS, in which case MS get zip.

$100 for Windows- Just buy it.

It is a good deal at that price!

It is the most important part of the system and it’s costs are comparable to other components.

Windows 7 or 8?

As a system, 8 is way better than 7. But, 8 has a few strange issues in the UI.

Personally, I would get 8, since 8.1 is free.

8.1 should resolve the problems when it is released in October.

I wouldn’t say 8 is “way better”. The major problem with 8 is it’s like you went on vacation and when you got back someone moved everything around in your house and you can’t find anything. Why is the silverware in the bedroom closet? Why is my chair in the shower?

If you are use to knowing where everything is in 7, you can feel very lost in 8. And if you are on a laptop with 8 using the track pad, weird stuff can happen because sometimes it’s input as if you are using a touch screen as oppose to a mouse and trigger it’s tablet like features. It can be quite frustrating.

8 does have a more informative task manager.

But 8 is the future, it’s not like they are going back. I haven’t seen what they “fixed” in 8.1 but if the upgrade is free then more power to them.

Buy these parts instead, it’s pretty much the same price for a way better more reliable build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1B1e1

With these specs you should be able to play GW2 on high with 60 FPS stable no problem.

Behellagh.1468:

I wouldn’t say 8 is “way better”. The major problem with 8 is it’s like you went on vacation and when you got back someone moved everything around in your house and you can’t find anything. Why is the silverware in the bedroom closet? Why is my chair in the shower?

If you are use to knowing where everything is in 7, you can feel very lost in 8. And if you are on a laptop with 8 using the track pad, weird stuff can happen because sometimes it’s input as if you are using a touch screen as oppose to a mouse and trigger it’s tablet like features. It can be quite frustrating.

8 does have a more informative task manager.

LOL – there is that!

That is a pretty good analogy.

Microsoft made a big mistake by hiding your silverware.:)

I still can’t believe they removed the Start Button and replaced shutdown etc with charms:).

It ’s even stranger in Windows Server 2012!

But technically the OS- (not the UI), has a lot of new features, yet is faster and uses less memory.

Ash.5034:

Behellagh.1468:

I wouldn’t say 8 is “way better”. The major problem with 8 is it’s like you went on vacation and when you got back someone moved everything around in your house and you can’t find anything. Why is the silverware in the bedroom closet? Why is my chair in the shower?

If you are use to knowing where everything is in 7, you can feel very lost in 8. And if you are on a laptop with 8 using the track pad, weird stuff can happen because sometimes it’s input as if you are using a touch screen as oppose to a mouse and trigger it’s tablet like features. It can be quite frustrating.

8 does have a more informative task manager.

LOL – there is that!

That is a pretty good analogy.

Microsoft made a big mistake by hiding your silverware.:)

I still can’t believe they removed the Start Button and replaced shutdown etc with charms:).

It ’s even stranger in Windows Server 2012!

But technically the OS- (not the UI), has a lot of new features, yet is faster and uses less memory.

And don’t get me on the “flat” look. Is it a button, is it just an icon that does nothing? Try it and find out, sure nothing bad will happen.

FrostyRulez.7052:

Buy these parts instead, it’s pretty much the same price for a way better more reliable build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1B1e1

With these specs you should be able to play GW2 on high with 60 FPS stable no problem.

Let’s see where to begin.

- Two generation old Intel quad core. Out of stock.
- Two generation old business class motherboard. Sub par audio, no USB 3 or SATA III.
- Cooler, not needed on a CPU you can’t overclock.
- Ram, too fast, you pay for that.
- Power Supply is an older design, not efficient, not even really a 500 watt according to the wattage break down (450 watts according to it’s limits on the label).
- GTX 650, the HD 7770 is faster.
- Case, no USB 3 (which is fine since there’re none on the MB), no filters and only one fan.

Granted, the i5 would be better for GW2 than an FX-4300 or FX-6300.

A better approach @FrostyRulz would have been a slower i5, Ivy Bridge or Haswell, 8GB of 1600 speed memory, ignore the cooler for now the Intel one is adequate when not OCing and an inexpensive Haswell motherboard. Still the making up the extra expense of the rig’s core by downgrading everything else to stay within the budget lines has it’s drawbacks. It’s annoying that it’s so tantalizingly close.

500W PSU is kind of overkill if the OP is not planning on doing xfire or getting a jucier GPU. Even then, you could probably get away with 400-450, depending on which GPU you choose.

This is my updated build. I changed the cpu, gpu, psu, case, and ram.
http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view

I’m going to give pcpartpicker a look over and see if I can get a build around $650 with an i5 quad core., but that build being $616 might be tough for me to beat.

That’s a secure link. We can’t see it. You can attach a screenshot maybe?

Intel rigs usualy start around the $800 area unless u really skimp on things that you really shouldn’t, like the motherboard, PSU and GPU. In otherwords ….stick with the AMD build unless u can save up to $800+ or can find some REALLY good deals

EQuake.3456:

This is my updated build. I changed the cpu, gpu, psu, case, and ram.
http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view

I’m going to give pcpartpicker a look over and see if I can get a build around $650 with an i5 quad core., but that build being $616 might be tough for me to beat.

Take the link I gave you and append your wishlist number at the end instead of mine, assuming you saved your wishlist. It takes 24 hours if you set the wishlist to be public and all you get in the end is what I described.

I fixed the link, made my own wishlist, I was trying to use the shopping cart.
https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?BundleExist=N&ID=20443411&ChangeQty=0

Almost right with the link, here.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=20443411

Unsure about the memory since it’s marked “server”. Try these, lower latency, same price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

Case is a microATX case, won’t fit the motherboard you picked (There are no uATX AMD 970 motherboards at NewEgg).

Tom’s Hardware reviewed 11 sub-$100 gaming cases over three articles.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/silverstone-ps06-nanoxia-ds2-lian-li-pc-9n-cougar-evolution,3483.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitfenix-shinobi-enermax-ostrog-gt-rosewill-r5-zalman-ms800,3501.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/antec-gx700-cooler-master-storm-scout-2-advanced-in-win-gt1,3512.html

Last one has the overall results. Just food for thought. Generally the cheaper you go, you get fewer fans, front panel ports and limited or no dust filters. The Corsair 200R and the Antec ONE are very basic, reasonably inexpensive gamer cases.

I would download a free 3 month trial of windows 7 enterprise. Then the OS money towards a better gpu, save up over 3 months and get OS after that. On the CPU you want a minimum of i5-2500k (I don’t recommend an amd CPU). I would also get a 2gb card unless gw2 is the only game you ever plan on playing

Posts like these really need to be made on an enthusiast forum, like hardforum or something.

Would a better cpu be necessary? I primarily do PvE with some PvP occasionally. I haven’t tried WvW yet as this laptop couldn’t hope to handle the slightest bit of it, but I’m not a keep sieging fellow, so I’d peobably stick to a small unit/gank squad.

Remade the build I listed earlier. This would definitely be better as well as it lands perfectly in your price range and you get a free game.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Bnjq

EQuake.3456:

Would a better cpu be necessary? I primarily do PvE with some PvP occasionally. I haven’t tried WvW yet as this laptop couldn’t hope to handle the slightest bit of it, but I’m not a keep sieging fellow, so I’d peobably stick to a small unit/gank squad.

This game is heavily CPU bound, you want the best CPU you can get (especially if you plan on wvw). The build above me looks fine. I would still drop the OS and get the free 3 month windows 7 trial and put that money towards a better CPU or gpu and get the OS after it expires. I would also really consider the fact that 1gb isn’t really enough for 1080p these days. Gw2 it works but what if you wanted to play the new final fantasy xiv (for example), that uses over 1gb vram at 1080p all day. Another rule of thumb is never blindly buy your parts from 1 site, there’s always a site with a better price. Use pcpartpicker when doing something like this (automatically tells you the site with lowest price)

I’ll keep that build and look into pc part picker. I didn’t know about that site until just now.

This is my recommendation on video card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202025

If you got the 3 month windows 7 trial

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1BpHg

That would give you MUCH better bang for your buck. Not to mention no worries about vram, and you get 2 free games instead of one. 7870 is twice as powerful than a 7770. That build will guarantee you 60 fps maxed out graphics basically everywhere but wvw

$650 and a 7770 and FX-4300+4 GB ram? Dear lord that’s awful. I did better 6 months ago. (i3-3220, 2 GB 7850 (and I bought a rather expensive model), and 8 GB ram).

AMD build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1BryJ

Intel build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1BrBY

The Intel build will be better for GW2, but the AMD one is potentially more futureproof and will be better for heavy multitasking. Also, the AMD CPU can be OC’d, but it’ll still fall behind Intel for GW2.

That intel build looks pretty good. Fermi, but is the 650 ti really necessary? Medium settings was my overall goal. Shouldn’t a 7770 get me medium just fine?

FrostyRulez.7052:

Remade the build I listed earlier. This would definitely be better as well as it lands perfectly in your price range and you get a free game.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Bnjq

Nice. And that’s how you play by the rules guys.

FrostyRulez.7052:

Remade the build I listed earlier. This would definitely be better as well as it lands perfectly in your price range and you get a free game.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Bnjq

I’m really likimg this build myself. Could I get a 3 month trial period on an OS to save some money?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh699156.aspx

I wouldn’t have said it, if it wasn’t true. 3 month trial

I don’t suggest cheaping out on the gpu if you don’t have to

EQuake.3456:

That intel build looks pretty good. Fermi, but is the 650 ti really necessary? Medium settings was my overall goal. Shouldn’t a 7770 get me medium just fine?

You should easily run on medium/high on a 7770. However, if you want to play other games, especially as time progresses, the 650ti will do much better. Also, for higher resolutions (ie 1080P) it’s good to have the 2 GB card as opposed to the 1 GB.

Personally, I’d just go for the 650ti, but you can grab the 7770 if you want.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1BsMZ

Edit: Grabbed some cheaper ram.

Behellagh.1468:

FrostyRulez.7052:

Remade the build I listed earlier. This would definitely be better as well as it lands perfectly in your price range and you get a free game.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Bnjq

Nice. And that’s how you play by the rules guys.

The PSU is excessive, an aftermarket heatsink is unnecessary, there’s no reason to buy Windows 7, and you can easily get by without a disk drive (although it can be convenient). Although, now that I double check, the CX430 isn’t $25 atm so no reason to drop that down. And if you really want the disk drive:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1BsV3

The one you quoted from frostyrulez is good with the 3 month trial. It’s a budget build but you don’t want to cheap out so much that you regret it later. Windows 8 has been received horribly OP (made for touch screens), you’ll want to look into whether you want 7 or 8 for yourself. You don’t have to buy the same thing other people do, get the best parts you can for the money your spending

Raijinn.9065:

Windows 8 has been received horribly OP (made for touch screens), you’ll want to look into whether you want 7 or 8 for yourself.

I hated Windows 8 until I actually installed and used it. It’s great- I can boot in 30 seconds (to the desktop, ready to go), the new task manager is great, and the only different from Windows 7 is the start screen instead of the menu, which is actually sort of nice. You can fit much, much more on there. If you really want the start menu back, you can always just get a 3rd party program for it.

Raijinn.9065:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh699156.aspx

I wouldn’t have said it, if it wasn’t true. 3 month trial

I don’t suggest cheaping out on the gpu if you don’t have to

“The Windows 8 Enterprise 90-day evaluation is intended for evaluation purposes only and cannot be used for productive business or personal purposes. In order to use this evaluation, the product must be activated online with Microsoft-hosted activation and validation services. Microsoft does not provide technical support for this software.”

“This is evaluation software designed for IT professionals interested in trying Windows 8 Enterprise on behalf of their organization. We do not recommend that you install this evaluation if you are not an IT professional or not professionally managing corporate networks.”

EQuake would still have to pay $100 90 days from now and likely need to reformat his drive.

@Fermi, yes the cooler isn’t necessary but there is little harm and no cost saving right now between the CX430 and the CX500. It’s not like he’s getting an 850 watt PSU that’s $50 more. So unless you are part of the shaft Microsoft totally or postpone getting Windows by misrepresenting yourself to Microsoft crowd then you still will have to pull $25-30 out of thin air for that GPU upgrade after getting rid of the cooler.

All of us technocrati could suggest better options with another $50-100 in the budget.

Behellagh.1468:

@Fermi, yes the cooler isn’t necessary but there is little harm and no cost saving right now between the CX430 and the CX500. It’s not like he’s getting an 850 watt PSU that’s $50 more. So unless you are part of the shaft Microsoft totally or postpone getting Windows by misrepresenting yourself to Microsoft crowd then you still will have to pull $25-30 out of thin air for that GPU upgrade after getting rid of the cooler.

The CX430 is actually being strange right now, I’ve been playing with a lot of builds and it sometimes shows up as $25 and sometimes kitten, not sure why.

But I did manage to get the 650ti in for $650, easily. Cheaper ram, no cooler, and no disk drive made it easily manageable, especially since the other guy had picked such an expensive 7770.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1BtOD

Edit: Although, the TC said that he only was only gunning for medium settings, so a good bit of change could probably be saved with an i3 build. I run the game on high/ultra and only really lag in world bosses/WvW zerg fights (I’m on SoR). The WvW zerg lag is decreased considerably (to a point where it’s pretty doable) by dropping to medium with shadows/reflections off and character models on lowest, with culling off. World bosses, I never lagged enough to care enough to drop the settings at all.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Bu7v

So the absence of a disk drive would be okay? I don’t see much reason to have them anymore.

EQuake.3456:

So the absence of a disk drive would be okay? I don’t see much reason to have them anymore.

I haven’t had one for months and don’t really miss it. I’ve only needed one 2 times since I built my desktop, and the issue was easily solved with my laptop. One of the times was to install Windows, the other to rip a CD that I borrowed from my cousin.

You’ll need a flash drive to install Windows without a disk drive, though. You rip the iso and use Universal USB Installer to install it to the flash drive, then plug that into the computer and boot off of it. It’ll act as a disk.

Then I’ll forget about the disk drive. Would the 650ti be able to play the game in 3d?