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[General Article] General: Building the Perfect PC for Today's MMOs

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
in News & Features Discussion

To the MMO player, a PC is much more than a glorified games console or business workhorse. It’s a window onto scores of virtual worlds, a device that transforms us from mundane mortals into legendary heroes, and a communications interface that bring friends that are continents away into the room beside us.

Read more of Gareth Harmer's Building the Perfect PC for Today's MMOs.

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Comments

  • EladiEladi Member UncommonPosts: 1,145

    E8400 (duo core 3.0ghz) whit 8gb memory (ddr2 800)  1tb hdd (5400rpm) , i had this setup for over 5 years now.. might even be 7 :P  it came whit a 9600gt,  and i payed 100,- euro for it (2hands) i used a 3800hd for long time untill a month ago

    upgraded the video card to a gtx760 ..

    MMO's are not a issue at all for this old setup. 99% of all singleplayer games are not a issue either.  

  • TygranirTygranir Member Posts: 741
    I use the same keyboard as in the pic. Best keyboard I've ever owned. Logitech G15

    SWTOR Referral Bonus!
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  • JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321
    intel i5-3570 ($200) on  ASrock motherboard ($70), 8 gig memory($80), inexpensive WD hard drive($100) and a GTX 660 video card ($200) throw in a decent power supply ($125) , DVD r/w ( $(25)and a case ( $50) and you can run any game out at a decent frame rate  for less than $700

    I miss DAoC

  • JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321
    oh forgot the keyboard/mouse, my old G-15 bit the dust a while back and I went to the darkside with a a razor blackwidow and a naga

    I miss DAoC

  • GazimoffGazimoff Staff WriterMember UncommonPosts: 225
    Originally posted by Jackdog
    oh forgot the keyboard/mouse, my old G-15 bit the dust a while back and I went to the darkside with a a razor blackwidow and a naga

    Yeah, my G15 died after many years of faithful service. I'm now using a Gigabyte Aviyay or something for a mechanical keyboard, but it's ripe for replacing.

    Player of games, smither of words, former of opinions, and masher of keys. WildStar Columnist
    Currently playing: WildStar, Guild Wars 2, EVE Online, Vain Glory.
  • Loki64Loki64 Member UncommonPosts: 11
    I've gone Corsair crazy... so far my ASRock Fatal1ty Killer board w/ 4770k has the Corsair H80i cooler mounted in Corsair Graphite 600T case, powered by a Corsair RM750 PS.  I game with the Corsair K50 Raptor keyboard, and am considering some Dominator ram, and a Vengeance Mouse.  So far their build quality is superb... I wish they made Motherboards!
  • MpfiveMpfive Member UncommonPosts: 308

    I'm using the razer deathstalker (with out the silly screen on the keyboard) loads of features and only cost 77euro. Happy with it :)

    I'm also using the 2014 razer naga mmo mouse, takes a while to get used to the 12 buttons for your thumb though, but overall good mouse

    ....No I'm not a sales rep:D

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

    image

    Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
  • sumo0sumo0 Member UncommonPosts: 115
    I bought my comp 6 years ago, and still it can play any game.
    The only upgrade have been the GPU.
  • EndoRobotoEndoRoboto Member Posts: 275
    Useless.
  • Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,004
    I upgraded the G15 keyboard that died to a Razor and put in 2 TB hard drives cause they're so cheap.  I also learned a long time ago to mirror my hard drives, if they crash I can just dup the copies and pop them in. I've had gaming notebooks go bad because of heat issues, lucky me warranties replaced the burned out parts.  Now my notebook is always on a support that has a fan underneath.

    "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey

  • IGaveUpIGaveUp Member Posts: 273

    Missed one.  Don't forget the fibre optic to bank account.  RMT's at light speed :-)

     

  • AnirethAnireth Member UncommonPosts: 940

    You do not need any expensive mouse/keyboard, unless maybe you are doing (professional) e-sports. They will not make you a better player, they will at most allow you to do things a few ms faster, but only if you never have to think about what you are doing. And even than you may still be doing the wrong things, making that speed useless.

    I don't know the prices in the US and so, but here in Germany, if you buy a computer for €500 (custom built, only ordering individual components. It's a bit more if you order a prebuilt one) can easily last 5 years if you do not need to play a game that tries to break your computer (like every Crysis did for example) on ultra.

    I didn't have the chance to try an SSD myself yet (maybe with my next computer..), but what i hear from friends it's not a "minor" upgrade. Forget about getting a $400 graphics card or CPU,  get a $300 or even $200 and get an SSD instead.

    I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
    And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
    Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
    And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore

  • Dreamo84Dreamo84 Member UncommonPosts: 3,713
    Originally posted by Anireth

    You do not need any expensive mouse/keyboard, unless maybe you are doing (professional) e-sports. They will not make you a better player, they will at most allow you to do things a few ms faster, but only if you never have to think about what you are doing. And even than you may still be doing the wrong things, making that speed useless.

    I don't know the prices in the US and so, but here in Germany, if you buy a computer for €500 (custom built, only ordering individual components. It's a bit more if you order a prebuilt one) can easily last 5 years if you do not need to play a game that tries to break your computer (like every Crysis did for example) on ultra.

    I didn't have the chance to try an SSD myself yet (maybe with my next computer..), but what i hear from friends it's not a "minor" upgrade. Forget about getting a $400 graphics card or CPU,  get a $300 or even $200 and get an SSD instead.

    Once you go SSD you don't go back. It's such a game changer.

    image
  • Ludichris1Ludichris1 Member Posts: 41

    "At the very least you should be equipped with 8GB RAM and a Core i5 Sandybridge processor or equivalent, and an NVidia GTX460 Ti or similar graphics card. Anything lower and you might be looking at an upgrade."

     

    Oh please. Those specs are way beyond what one should be required with.

    I guess it depends on your wealth, conservative-ness, and ego XD

  • ArkangylGArkangylG Member UncommonPosts: 25

    Thanks for this article. Close to my heart right now as the time may have come for me (actually been thinking on it for the past year or so).

    A good place to look and feel out also: Hardware-Revolution

    Budget: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/budget-gaming-pc-computer-november-2013/

    Mainstream: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/best-gaming-pc-radeon-r9-geforce-gtx-780-ti-november-2013/

    High End: http://www.hardware-revolution.com/high-end-gaming-pc-january-2014-ivy-bridge-e-radeon-r9-290-crossfire-geforce-gtx780-ti-3-way-sli/

    Make sure to get the right PSU folks that has not just the Watts but the Amps on the rail(s): http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

    Best bang for your buck on CPUs and GPUs:

    http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

    http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

    There's also charts for RAM and HDDs since those can make or break it too. Might be worth really considering a SDD if you have not already or have one and just keep the one or two games you are currently playing a lot on there with your OS and swap.

     
  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,483
    Originally posted by Ludichris1

    "At the very least you should be equipped with 8GB RAM and a Core i5 Sandybridge processor or equivalent, and an NVidia GTX460 Ti or similar graphics card. Anything lower and you might be looking at an upgrade."

     

    Oh please. Those specs are way beyond what one should be required with.

    I guess it depends on your wealth, conservative-ness, and ego XD

    Actually, the video card listed doesn't exist.  Here's Nvidia's list of GeForce 400 series desktop cards that actually exist:

    http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-460

    It's in the "product family" box on the left side.

  • AkumawraithAkumawraith Member UncommonPosts: 370

    I run a AMD FX 6100 CPU (6 core), 16 GB  DDR3 Memory, with a ASus 7950 GFX card... I can say it played all of the released games currently. However within the next 2 years there will be 2 games that my system wont meet requirements for.

     

    Star Citizen and Citadel of Sorcery... These two games will demand more powerful systems for best performance.  I know that RSI states Star Citizen will require a GT460 GFX card, however by the times its released the tech will once again be leveled up and the game will require multi 460's or higher for even medium performance.

     

    Citadel of Sorcery will probably be the largest game ever designed if they get their way. With large group campaigns and player groups possibly numbering in the hundreds it is going to demand alot f resources....

     

    My only concern though at this time is the lack luster ISP bandwidth available in the US. To date server latency has proven a massive headache for long established games. These two new games will bury The US market in latency unless something changes.

     

    Played: UO, LotR, WoW, SWG, DDO, AoC, EVE, Warhammer, TF2, EQ2, SWTOR, TSW, CSS, KF, L4D, AoW, WoT

    Playing: The Secret World until Citadel of Sorcery goes into Alpha testing.

    Tired of: Linear quest games, dailies, and dumbed down games

    Anticipating:Citadel of Sorcery

  • DreycraftDreycraft Member UncommonPosts: 107

    It's ironic for me that this article just popped up on this site because I'm waiting for my new PC to get to my house. Got an Intel i7 4770K, 16 GB DDR3 memory, 1TB HDD, 600W Corsair PS, and a GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB, I can't friggin wait. Tax season FTW! And even better it's scheduled to arrive in time for ESO's beta this weekend. 

     
  • cylon8cylon8 Member UncommonPosts: 362
    I regret buying my mid range alien wear a51 its 2 yrs old and has issues with some games eh I dunno might upgrade this year and use the x51 ti replace my ps3 lol

    so say we all

  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726

    "Generally speaking though, MMOs tend to tax the CPU much more heavily than the graphics card."

    That quote from the article is pure nonsense.   Graphics card first, then the CPU always!  Anyone who understands hardware will tell you that.  I can watch my cpu meter when playing any MMO and it rarely gets above 50% while a graphics card upgrade I made a couple years ago made a huge difference and still runs almost everything on high.

    If you have the budget for it, a decent solid state drive (SSD) will enhance performance far more than a fast CPU, most MMO's are I/O bound.

    Generally when building a gaming computer, spend the most money on the graphics card first, make sure you have enough memory(the 8gb mentioned in the article is a good figure) and then select a cpu that is in your budget.

  • LucziferLuczifer Member UncommonPosts: 155

    Still running Intel i7-3770K, 16GB DDR3-2400 Corsair Dominator, Gigabyte G1.Sniper 2, Asus Radeon R9-280X 3GB CU II, 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD, ca 30TB HDDs?, Antec HCP Platinum 1000W PSU, Logitech G19s, Razerd DeathAdder G35 Black Edition.....

    Still gaming but soon need upgrade - 30" 2560x1600 resolution Dell eating graphic power.

    And when their 4K... Tested it, sweeeeet thing, but price...

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