Where to find cheap PC to run WoW for my wife

M

Mtt83

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 2, 2002
Messages
419
Yes, you ready that correctly. I let my wife try the game a few weeks ago and I've had to pry her off since. As a result, I need to buy her a PC that will run the game so that I can actually play. Does anyone know where I may have luck finding a fairly cheap computer that will run WoW? I've checked best buy but most, if not all, of the cheaper PCs only come with onboard accelerator's. Thanks in advance for the help.
 
they still have a pci slot so you can add a video card. best buy or circuit city can install it for you im sure. if you dont want to do it. if i were you i would just shy away from sempron or celeron processors. thats as low as you can go for processors and a step up from there isent to much more.
 
Just build one man, its ALOT cheaper. www.newegg.com, if you are unsure how to build one pick up the latest copy of PC gamer , they have a step by step guide on how to do it.
 
You're really better off spending some time to put your own rig together - most of the big OEMs require you to get a really high-end system before a decent video card is even an option and putting a video card in a PCI slot is a waste of money, not to mention that they generally have power supplies that barely push enough juice to run the system as it comes - adding a high-end graphics card isn't really an option.

It doesn't take much to play WOW at high settings - the game is like 4 years old and was optimized for mid-range machines when it came out. Even though they've made the game a little more graphically intense, a system like this would slay the game. My A64-2800+/x800 system is starting to show its age, but still perfectly playable. You might consider getting some (or all) of the system out of the for-sale forums here - it's a good place to by last-gen's high-end hardware at decent prices.
 
I'd definitely build the computer for this case.

I only consider Dell or the comparative for people that are looking for Vista/XP/Office machines, even then I think it takes deal hunting.
 
It doesnt take much to run WoW, I was running at 1024x768 med/high settings on an athlonxp 2800+, 512 ram and a 9600XT. You could build a rig to just play WoW for around $400 with all new parts.
 
CmaN3 said:
It doesnt take much to run WoW, I was running at 1024x768 med/high settings on an athlonxp 2800+, 512 ram and a 9600XT. You could build a rig to just play WoW for around $400 with all new parts.
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What he said. You can have a very cheap inexpensive computer play WoW.

Word of advice, building a computer is cheaper and great, but it's easy for someone who knows how to do it suggest so. If you never ever built a computer before, it can be difficult just assembling it, let alone getting it to boot and run Windows without a problem(which almost always happens in my 8+ years of building my own computer). If you don't know anyone that can help you, just buy a decent dell with a decent graphics card and you'll be set. I wouldn't be surprised in there's even an option to have WoW pre-installed on it.
 
Grab the cheapest dell PC you can find with room for expansion and put in a 2nd hand card from ebay.
 
you could check the dell outlet if you dont mind a refurb or remanufactured system. I bought my laptop that way and its was fine, still runs great. You get a lesser warranty, but you get a lot more system for the price. I saved about $900 over the standard one when i bought that way. Not sure what they offer at the moment as the inventory changes.

You could also order a assembled bare bones system and add your video card and monitor keyboard etc from many of the online companies.

lesser systems play wow, but you might want 2 gigs of ram,


if your gonna build it, AMD is the only way to go for the price.
 
Grab the cheapest dell PC you can find with room for expansion and put in a 2nd hand card from ebay.
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Winner! Pick up whats the dirt cheap Dell flavor of the week is (check hot deal forums). You can usually get a Core 2 Duo + 2GB system for something like $400, then just drop in a video card and be done with it.

Contrary to popular belief, if you stick with the cheap PCs, you can usually get a new Dell for cheaper than you can make a PC for it you built one from parts.
 
WoW is not that demanding. I would try to find something very cheap, anything will do.
If you want I have an Athlon 2800+ KM4M mobo 512mb DDR266, 80BG HDD with onboard video, has an AGP 4x/8x slot. I would let it go for $75+ shipping. PM me if interested.

If not, check out Dell Vostro. Those are pretty dang cheap and a great bang for the buck.
 
You'll need atleast 1 gig of with WoW. Playing with 512 can still cause some huge stuttering in places like Ironforge, Stormwind, etc. You can take it easy on every other piece of hardware. The cheapest Core 2 & solid intel based board should serve you well. The only thing you wouldn't want to go cheap on is the PSU. Get a good one so you don't have any issues at all.

-DarkLegacy
 
Here you go!

Vostro 400 Mini Tower Desktop with Core 2 Duo CPU, 1GB, 160GB & 20-inch LCD Monitor
$529 with Free Shipping

System Specs:
2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Windows XP Home OR Vista Home Basic
20-inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor
1GB DDR2 Memory
160GB SATA Hard Drive
16x DVD Burner
128MB NVidia GeForce 8300GS Video Card
Expires: 2/6/2008

Even if you do not need the monitor, you can just sell it for a quick $125 and get the system cost around $400. And the 8300GS is plenty for casual WoW playing. For $50 more you can get a 8600GT which is an awesome card for playing WoW with all the bells and whistles.

From: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=735021
 
Thank you for all of the suggestions. Ideally, I was hoping to spend around 400 since the game isn't very demanding, and I saw some good suggestions for that price range. I'll do some more research.
 
Frosteh said:
Grab the cheapest dell PC you can find with room for expansion and put in a 2nd hand card from ebay.
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Issue with that is most of the lower end Dells (Or any builder for that matter) don't have PCIe16x slots. Not that the motherboard can't handle it, it just the slot isn't soldered on.

Gotta read that fine print.
 
lol you dont know what you got yourself into, my girlfriend plays wow more than I do and im in a top raiding guild. She is always begging me to tank heroics for her and stuff now it is very annoying lol
 
Thank you for all of the suggestions. Ideally, I was hoping to spend around 400 since the game isn't very demanding, and I saw some good suggestions for that price range. I'll do some more research.
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$400 with or without monitor? You are going to have an extremely hard time beating that Dell I posted at $530 with 20 inch LCD and a discreet video card.

There is a certain point where if you just keep trying to go cheaper you end up with a bad value.
 
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