Basic Computer buying/building information

WARNING:  VERY LONG

While doing some Google surfing I ran across a link that had the below information in it.  For a number of our regulars the majority of this will not be new or worthwhile to read but for quite a few who often come to these forums asking about computer hardware this is a very good, fairly up-to-date, guide.  

 

DISCLAIMER: The following information was not compiled by me and originated on the World of Warcraft "Games, Gaming and Hardware" Forums.

 

UPDATES: R9-290 nonreference coolers are coming out. Sadly they are 150 dollars over MSRP. They consistently, by my personal benchmarks best a GTX 780, at stock and OC'ed, especially at 1440p. However it's almost a wash due to the higher price. They do run hotter even under a better cooler. At stock my Windforce 3 Cooler does hit low 70's in BF4 and high 60's everywhere else. When Max OC'ed I hit nearly 85*C

The Top Tier Intel Overclocker (w/ an SSD), is the build you want to play wow on. It will max the game very well, but you will see dips while raiding. However, if you optimize your settings right (1x AA, 4x AS, good shadows, disable SSAO), you should get high FPS 95% of the time. Anything below this and especially on an AMD CPU will NOT sustain acceptable fps in raids on max settings, especially if you just set everything to ultra without optimizing. YOU WILL need to overclock the CPU to about 4.2GHz and maybe tweak the GPU to get the best performance.

This ENTIRE guide was just rewritten. Nearly 60% or more of it is changed!!!

Greetings all!

I constantly see posts asking about computer builds, what you need for XYZ what to upgrade, what's compatible what is good and what is not. Well, I went ahead and edited my ENTIRE guide to reflection my opinions and thoughts about those questions. Most of my opinions are shared with the majority of the community, but things like style and functionality might be subjective. Without further ado, here is the guide!!

Table of Contents:
CPU:
CPU Cooler:
Custom Water Loops:
Ram:
Motherboard:
Graphics Card:
Hard Drive:
SSD:
Case:
Power Supply:
Optical:
Operating System:
Example Builds

CPU (Processor)
When choosing a CPU a few things need to be factored in. First of all, your CPU and GPU should be the majority of your budget most of the time. Never skimp here or you will really regret it. Take a look at your overall budget to see where you stand with available funds. The other factors in choosing a CPU is, will you overclock? What games will you be playing? Is heat/power consumption an issue? Do you have a preference of AMD or Intel? Do you want the best performer or do you want better value?
So below will be a recommendation of processors at nearly every price point for both sides up to a point. Also I will give brief explanations of each level as needed to give what I believe it’s a good/bad buy. **Note, due to the architecture of CPU’s, only in the case of WoW does Intel pretty much walk away the winner. This is more of a WoW thing as AMD is pretty competitive in most other games in the higher levels.**

Entry Level (Recommend AMD Athlon II x4 750k)

~$75 Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual Core (LGA 1150):

For a really long time I was an advocate of this CPU and for the case of WoW I still am. Intel excels in single threaded performance over AMD (this might change with Kaveri) and for the case of WoW and Planetside 2, cores and ghz isn’t as important as architecture. It’s no secret that Intel’s single threaded performance and architecture is vastly more efficient than AMD. AMD throws cores and ghz as their products with great price/performance ratio, but now the market is demanding more cores. But if you’re building a WoW machine on a budget, you might want to grab this CPU.
I want to add though, as an office PC, I recommend an AMD APU because the CPU side does suffer slightly, the GPU side of an AMD APU really helps out with windows aero.

~$75 AMD A6-6400K 3.9GHz Dual Core(FM2/FM2+):

I really do not recommend this APU for gaming however it certain cases, it can offer a great value. It is a single module dual core with a high clock speed and much stronger than HD graphics built onto the CPU die. The problem is, for gaming you only have 2 cores and much of the CPU’s power is drawn from the GPU side. So for gaming, it is not a great idea but if you ONLY have 300 bucks for a build, it should be able to boot most games on lower settings at 720p with acceptable frame rate.

~$80 AMD Athlon II x4 750K 3.4GHz Quad Core (FM2/FM2+):

I have had the chance to use the 760K (slightly faster). It feels much like a fx-4300, offers great multithreaded capabilities on a budget. It is compatible with the new FM2+ platform. It offers 4 cores across 2 modules with a high clock speed and a fully unlocked multiplier. On paper the specs look great, but it has a few draw backs. No L3 cache, high TDP and high voltage. So you will need great cooling especially if you want to OC, but you do get a quad core, unlocked, high speed processor for about 80 bucks. With the exception of WoW and Planetside 2, this CPU is highly recommended for more budgetish builds.

Mid-Range (Recommend FX-6300 or A10-6800K for an APU Build)

~$120 AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6 Core [Turbo 4.0GHz] (AM3+):

There are many pros and cons to the current generation FX series processors especially in the current generation gaming world. The Piledriver architecture is vastly improved over the first generation FX series processors code name Bulldozer. This CPU offers 6 cores of power across 3 modules with high clock speeds and high amounts of cache. In current generation games (not WoW), this offers amazing performance for the price, absolutely destroying the I3. It actually can near an I5 in games like BF4 that can utilize the cores this CPU offers.

Sadly, what we basically know now is that the AM3+ socket is dead. AMD is moving to FM2+ and the AM3+ socket lacks PCI-E 3.0 and other features offered on FM2+ and most Intel setups. So while this CPU does offer a great price/performance ratio, the future of the socket looks gloom so upgrading might not be possible. Also note, it is a 6 core but the architecture is not as efficient as Intel, so even though it has 6 cores it nearly every scenario a current generation I5 will best it, but it is far more expensive.

~$130 Intel Core I3-4130 3.4GHz Dual Core + HT (LGA 1150):

Honestly, as time has moved on the I3 has become a worse and worse buy. It is simply a slightly faster clocked Pentium G3220 with a theoretical max of 25% performance gain in some applications. For WoW it might give you the ability to raid and multitask better, but only in a few scenarios can I recommend an I3 over a G3220 or an AMD platform. If you want Intel, grab a Pentium G3220 or an I5, the I3 offers subpar price/performance ratio.

~140 AMD A10-6800K 4.0GHz Quad Core [Turbo 4.4GHz] (FM2/FM2+):

AMD is shifting their attitude towards APU's in the future it seems. Right now APU's have a decent CPU component but a very strong GPU component. For games like World of Wacraft, an APU is a great cost effective way to go high level of graphical performance (with a few things turned down) for about $140 for the CPU+GPU. The tradeoff is, you need memory at least 1866MHz or faster and setup in dual channel.

The purpose of an APU is to build a cost effective machine. The CPU portion of the A10-6800K is not that amazing as it lacks L3 cache and using a module design. But for 140 dollars you get a CPU+GPU that can play current generation games at 720p and in some cases 1080p with playable FPS. Rumor has it; the new Kaveri APU can play BF4 @ 1080p medium settings with above 30 FPS.

Top Gaming Tier (Recommend I5-3570K)

~$145-190 AMD FX-8320/8350 3.5/4.0GHz Octacore [Turbo 4.0/4.2Ghz] (AM3+):

I lumped these together for a reason. Now that higher tier AM3+ CPU’s are out, pretty much any FX 8 core that can reach past 4.6GHz will NOT be one of these. The 8320 offers a better value, but I would not expect any stable OC past 4.2Ghz on an 8320 and 4.5GHz on an 8350. The original ones consistently hit 4.6GHz+ but now all the top tiered binned CPU’s are 9370 and 9590. 

In this case I recommend an 8320 as it offers an AMAZING price/performance ratio. The 8350 is consistently 180+ compared to 145-160 to that of the 8320 and 200MHz on the turbo is not really worth it.

**AMD3+ is a dead socket meaning no future expansion will be done on it. AM3+ lacks PCI-E 3.0 and often USB 3.0 as well. So while AM3+ offers a good value, if you want some future upgrading, FM2+ might be the route to go, although it offers less performance at this moment**

~$190 Intel Core I5-4430 3.0GHz Quad Core (LGA 1150):

Although more expensive than Ivy Bridge, for the non-overclocker this CPU offers competitive performance but the multiplier is locked, and it should not overheat since it’s designed to run at the stated speeds. It offers SATA 3 standard across the board, full blown PCI-E 3.0, improved single threaded and multithreaded performance.

I recommend this CPU for any person who has the capabilities of building a PC, plays WoW as their main game but will NOT want to overclock.

~$220 Intel Core I5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad Core [Turbo 3.8GHz] (LGA 1155):

If you’re looking to overclock, the Ivy Bridge processors are still looking good. They have been out for a long time now so you can expect what kind of performance on air and AIO you can get at different frequencies. The range of star overclockers and duds is MUCH smaller than Haswell.

~$240 Intel Core I5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad Core [Turbo 3.8GHz] (LGA 1150):

The newest CPU from Intel will offer the best single threaded performance. It does have about a 5-10% gain over the previous generation but there are several factors to consider. This CPU costs more as do the motherboards (but there are often GREAT combo sales). But the BIG thing is, this CPU overclocking is such a shot at the tree it’s not even funny. People sometimes get 4.6Ghz @ 1.25V @ 70*C on prime 95 with a Hyper 212. Whereas other people may overheat @ 4.2GHz with an H100I. There is such a LARGE spread of chips and chances of you getting a dud overclocker are actually decent.
**Note due to the uncertainty of I5-4670K chips the chance is quite high that you may not get the overclocking results that you’re looking for**

~$250+

In this category you have your I7’s, your FX-9370 and 9590 and Extreme Intel I7’s. Often times I see the FX-9370 for low 200’s and it is actually a decent buy, however only 3 motherboards support the 9370 and 9590 and they are $180+. Right now an I7 is an okay buy if you play newer games that utilize the extra threads, but you’re still paying 50% more over an I5 for maybe 25% more performance. I personally use an I7-2600K OC’ed to 4.5Ghz, but I multitask like crazy and it benefits me. If you play on spending this much on a gaming CPU, know that the price/performance ratios are often VERY bad from a gaming standpoint here.

~$290-340 I7-2600K/3770K/4770K [LGA 1155/1150]

So, I decided to lump these together for a reason. These are pretty much the BEST gaming CPU's on the market. In most scenario's in 2013, they do not offer a compelling value. However if you're a heavy tasker or player newer games that are very multithreaded, they can offer a value. 

The 2600K is the second generation I7 series CPU that is on the LGA 1155 platform code named Sandy Bridge. I personally own this CPU and they are amazing overclockers. I hit 5,133MHz on a Hyper 212 maxed fans and didn't quite hit the thermal limit. These CPU's often take more voltage than the other 2 chips but run the coolest. It is important to note that the 3770K and 4770K both have improved IPC's and features that the 2600K doesn't have such as PCI-E 3.0. Also you need a decent board like an ASrock Extreme 4 Z77 if you want a decent OC

The I7-3770K is a fantastic chip, however due to poor IHS under the metal plate on the CPU, overclocking can be limited. Although the Ivy Bridge architecture offers consistent overclocking (4.5Ghz on a good AIO), it does run hotter than Sandy Bridge. However they often need less voltage and offer newer features like PCI-E 3.0 and such. Like the 2600K it uses the same 1155 platform and you want a decent board to reach good overclocks.

The I7-4770K I personally recommend against for 1 main reason. Although it uses the LGA 1150 platform, the next series of CPU's code named Broadwell will require a new chipset and not be compatible with current Z87 boards. This is due to the VRM controller that plagues the Haswell chip (I7-4770K) is being taken off of the CPU die and placed back onto the motherboard (The the first 3 generations of I-series processors). However, there is a chance that Broadwell boards might have an option to disable the VRM controller on the board so Haswell chips may work. This is not confirmed.

**NOTE: Haswell overclocking is VERY hit or miss. I've seen people have trouble hitting 4.2Ghz on an H100I and I've seen people hit 4.8GHz on a Hyper 212. The consistency is not there and if you want a chip and plan to OC, make sure you plan to get a good AIO like an H220/H320 from Swiftech or the CM Glacer 240L if you're in the US.

CPU Cooling
After market coolers are not just needed because you want to overclock. Maybe your PC is too noisy, maybe you prefer lower temps or maybe you just want to overclock. Some of the best coolers on the market are very inexpensive, some are big and some even use a combination of air and water to keep things cool. This section will cover air cooling and AIO (All in one) liquid coolers that require not maintenance, no filling or worries about assembly.

**Note** Many air coolers are large and require wider cases. Make sure that your case can support the height and make sure your socket is supported. For AIO’s they are smaller and easier to work with, but you NEED to make sure the case supports the radiator sizes and has clearance for things like the attached fans.

Tier 1 Air Coolers (Recommend Hyper 212)

~$15-50

In this range you will find a large range of products. Anything below $20 bucks is generally going to be a replacement for a stock cooler with no OC. The king of the air coolers is the Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212. It generally runs between $25-35, however it offers quite operation, ability of push pulls and AMAZING cooling for the price. In the upper range, of tier 1 you will find entry level Noctua coolers, which are UGLY but are very quiet and efficient, and other coolers like the Dark Knight, Shadow Rock and many other reputable ones. Always check the reviews and there are MANY sites that do head to head comparisons.

Tier 2 Air and AIO 120/140mm Coolers (Recommend NH-D14)

~$50-90

In this range, you will find MASSIVE twin tower air coolers like the Noctua NH-D14, things from Phanteks and single 120/140mm AIO coolers. GENERALLY speaking, single 120/140’s often perform below that of an NH-D14 and many top tier air coolers. However, single 120/140’s are not anywhere NEAR as large or in the way as the larger air coolers. The only exception is double thick radiators or the NZXT X40. If your case cannot support an NH-D14, I would strongly recommend a Hyper Evo 212, or get a 240/280mm AIO.

Tier 3 AIO 240/280/360mm (Recommend Cooler Master Glacer 240L)

~$90+

On occasion, below $90 you may find dual 120mm (aka 240mm) AIO’s like the Seidon 240. But generally speaking there are only a few AIO’s recommended. The Corsair 100I is probably the most popular. It is a standard 240mm radiator with SP120 fans (without the colored rings). In this area as well, you will find the Water 2.0 and 3.0 Extreme from Thermaltake, NZXT X60 which is a 280mm radiator AIO as well. But we need to cover Swiftech here most importantly.

Swiftech not only makes AIO’s but they do a ton of custom water cooling as well. Their H220 and H320, 240mm and 360mm AIO’s were the best on the market. However, due to a patent infringement with Asetek, they are unable to sell in the US. So they partnered up with Cooler Master to design the Glacer 240L which is basically a slightly improved H220. This means, in the USA the 240L is the BEST you can buy AIO wise and they claim a 60,000 hour pump life, which means almost 7 years, but they only back it with a 2 year warranty so who knows.

Custom loops (water cooling)
A good place to start is here:http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1755-water-cooling-101-a-good-place-for-newbies-to-startAnd herehttp://linustechtips.com/main/topic/5435-watercooling-faq-some-basic-qa. These will pretty much cover anything you may want to know about building a custom water loop.

Ram
Ram is such a simple concept but things you want to look out for. If you’re running a big CPU air cooler, make sure your heat sinks are not high like the Corsair Vengeance ram or just buy bare ram w/o heatsinks. Unless you plan to overclock your ram pretty far, they are mostly for aesthetics.. Otherwise, make sure it matches the following:
Try to keep @ or below 1.58V
Try to keep it below 11 Cas (9 is preferred)
Always try and get a dual channel kit (2x2GB or 2x4GB)

8GB is all you need for gaming, however with innovations in windows 8 with amazing ram caching, if you’re a HEAVY tasker like me, you can see benefits from 16GB. Also to add, since windows 8 caches ram very well, it 16GB can add up to 50% longer life span on an SSD over 8GB in theory of course. But since the prices of ram are high atm, get 8GB unless you NEED more.

APU: If you plan on getting an APU (AMD A6-6400K or A10-6800K for example) memory speed actually matters. This is the ONLY time past 1600MHz is required for gamers. APU's use system memory for it's graphics chip which is located on the CPU die. The faster the memory for the system, the faster the memory for the graphics chip. Bare min is 1866, however A75 boards and above usually support 2133MHz or higher. MAKE SURE you get a dual channel kit, rather than a single ram stick, not running dual channel will reduce the bandwidth of the graphics chip by 50%


Motherboards: 
I apologize for ranting here but it must be done. Buy the motherboard that you need, do NOT go overkill here unless budget allows. If your budget is $800 USD on a PC, and you spend $200 on a motherboard you’re doing it wrong. Get the features you NEED and features you might utilize later such as SLI/Xfire, but don’t spend more than you HAVE to. The only thing to note is manufactures like Foxconn and ECS make lower quality products in their cheapest boards. Biostar has been known to make pretty good budget boards however.

Also figure out what you need. If you’re going for a standard mid tower or micro ATX tower, you may want to get a micro board. Most people actually do not NEED a full ATX board nor will they need SLI/Xfire. 

**NOTE** I am very partial to MSI boards. I’ve used Gigabyte, Asus, Biostar, Asrock in the past and have nothing bad to say about them. It’s just recently, the last 25 builds I’ve done have been strictly MSI and I have loved their design, know what to expect and just like them. I recommend MSI personally for the most part, but by no means are there no other options out there.

AMD (FM2/FM2+) A55/A75/A88 

~$45 A55 (FM2): You can grab just about anything.

The purpose of these motherboards are basic office builds that don’t need SATA 3, front USB 3.0 or any high end features. Don’t expect to overclock or do anything fancy here

~$55 MSI A75MA-P33/E35 (FM2):

I’ve used this board many times, it supports high speed ram, has your USB 3.0 front headers, SATA 3.0 but only has PCI-E 2.0 which the purpose of an APU is to not add a graphics card. If you’re looking to make an APU gamer on a smaller budget, this is the board to get

~$80 A88X (FM2+):

These are newer boards and MSI does not offer one so I cannot make any recommendations quite yet. I am currently using aGA-F2A88XM-HD3 and it is not bad at all. I still prefer MSI more the most part. However, I STRONGLY recommend if you can afford it to go FM2+ because Kaveri and the generation after that will be supported on this board. So this offers a bit of future proofing.

AMD (AM3+) 970/990x/fx

~$60 MSI 970A-G43 (AM3+):

This is your entry level AM3+ board that I recommend. It has front USB 3.0, SATA 3 ports, a little bit of overclocking as well. Only downside is, there are not VRM heatsinks so overclocking is very limited.

~$80 MSI-970A-G46 (AM3+):

This is basically the tier up from the G43. More importantly, it has more power phases and VRM heatsinks so expect some overclocking on this board.

~$140 ASUS 990X M5A99X EVO R2.0 (AM3+):

MSI really does not make many higher tier AM3+ boards so I went ahead with this Asus board. The 990FX Extreme 4 from Asrock is a great board as well so I can recommend that too! Basically if offers everything the lower tier boards do, just better overclocking, better VRM cooling and more power phases.

Intel LGA 1155/1150 Non-overclocking B75/H77/B85/H87

~$50-75 B75/H77/B85/H87: You can grab just about anything. 

Realistically, people buying these boards are not looking for feature rich or anything fancy. These boards do not overclock either. So I won’t make any direct recommendation, just make sure that you get either B75 or H77 for LGA 1155 and B85/H87 for LGA 1150. They do make B81, but often times they REALLY lack things such as USB 3.0 front headers.

Intel LGA 1155/1150 Overclocking Z77/Z87 

~$130

Asrock Extreme 4 Z77/Z87 (LGA 1155/1150): The Extreme 4 from the LGA 1155 received more awards than any motherboard in the last few years. It offers great VRM cooling, good stable overclocking due to enough power phases and plenty of features. For 98% of people, an Exteme 4 for the Z87 platform is all you need. Remember, LGA 1150 has the VRM controller built onto the CPU die, so overclocking is completely dependent on the chip and the chips cooling.

~$140-160 MSI Z77/Z87 GD45-65 Regular/Gaming (LGA 1155/1150):

I lumped all of these together for a reason. The regular versions of the GD series are blue/black design with a brown PCB, where the Gaming versions are black/red with a black PCB (GD45 is brown PCB). They are essentially the same board, except the Gaming series offers the Killer NIC and better sound. The GD65 has slightly better VRM and more power phases than the GD45, but this only matters on the LGA 1155 platform. So if color is important you many want the gaming series as well as the other features it offers. Personally, the GD65 Gaming board looks amazing!

~$200 MSI Mpower Z77/Z87 (LGA 1155/1150):

I have an Mpower Z77 board and I regret it. It is an amazing board but it is not designed for overclockers like myself. It has no voltage offset and is really designed for high end users that want to do extreme overclocking. They offer the big higher tiered version with 2 8 pin CPU connectors for better stability. But this board is really amazing and designed for very high end users.

Anything realistically past the GD65 series is pointless for almost anyone reading this guide. You really should buy the board with the features you need and buying a 300 dollar board unless you have a 3000 dollar budget is pointless.

Graphics Cards
I decided to condense this section to the basics rather than confuse everyone. I will go over the basics and explain what is generally important and give recommendations based on available funds.

What is there to compare? Well here is a list of important stats to compare
Stream Processors and Cuda Cores
Core Clock
Memory Clock
Bandwidth
Memory Interface
Vram
Architecture

Stream Processors/Cuda Cores:

In gaming these have become more important. We see the GTX 780TI is simply a GTX 780 with all of the Cuda Cores unlocked on the Gk110 chip and a faster memory speed. But we see a MASSIVE performance increase. In 2013, this is a pretty relevant stat to compare. The higher the number the better off the card is.

Core Clock:

This is the muscle behind the CPU and generally speaking the current generation cards are running 900mhz-1.2Ghz depending on the card. Now be careful on comparing because yes the R7-260x comes at nearly 1.2Ghz while the R9-290 comes in at about 950Mhz, but the R9-290 is VASTLY more powerful. This is only somewhat useful to compare with like cards.

Vram:

Video memory or Vram is essentially memory on the graphics card. It stores textures and other things while the video card renders the previous frame. Higher resolution, higher resolution textures, antialiasing, and anisotropic filtering all requires more memory on the graphics card as these things take up more space. The more pixels per inch, the larger the picture file is a good way to look at it. 

The more the better, but many low end cards have 2, 3 and 4GB of Vram and it’s extremely useless in these cases. For current generation 1080p gaming 2GB is ideal, but as resolution increases and games become more demanding, 3GB and even 4GB is recommended in some cases.

Memory Clock:

This is part of the bandwidth calculation. Think of the memory clock as the speed of traffic on a highway. The faster the speed the faster you get there. The faster the memory clock, the faster the graphics card can render textures store in the video memory. These are measured in a few ways. In the case of GDDR5, you have the actual speed say 1250MHz and times it by 4 to have an effect speed of 5000MHz or 5GHz. In the case of GDDR3, you only multiply that by 2. This is why GDDR3 is recommended AGAINST for gaming. The higher the better.

Memory Interface:

This is also part of the bandwidth calculation. Think of the memory interface as how wide the highway is. 4 lanes wide means you will not get into traffic jams, but 1 or 2 lanes wide you might, especially if the speed is slower. You generally will see 128, 256 384 and 512 bit interfaces on gaming graphics card. 192 has been popular as well. In this case, the higher the number the better off you are.

Bandwidth:

This section can be extremely important as it brings everything together. Think of usable or required Vram as traffic on a highway. Memory interface is how many lanes there are and memory clock is how fast traffic (can) move. At 1920x1080, you will be using about 2GB of Vram in top tier games. Ideally you want a MINIMUM of 256bit interface (think of this as 2 lanes wide on a highway). 4 or 512 bit is a bit overkill and 384 bit or 3 lanes is perfect usually. Bandwidth is a combination of memory interface and memory clock which is basically how much data can be rendered per second. 

Now as resolutions increase, AA increases or textures increase more Vram maybe required and 256bit won't cut it anymore. In these cases you want a wider memory interface and a faster memory clock. An R9-290 has a bandwidth of about 320, where as a GTX 780 TI is around 340. Even though the R9-290 has a wider interface 512 vs 384, the memory clock of the GTX 780 TI is 7GHz effective vs 5GHz effective. The theory is, if you have 3 lanes of traffic moving consistently at 70MPH, you will have more cars go from point A to point B than 4 lanes of traffic moving at 50MPH.

Memory bandwidth calculation is as such: Memory interface / 8 * memory clock * multiplier (2 for GDDR3 and 4 for GDDR5). So 512 / 8 * 1250 * 4 = 320gbps on the R9-290. The GTX 780 TI would be 384 / 8 * 1750 * 4 = 336gbps.

Architecture:

There is so much involved in the way the chips are built and things not shown on the spec sheet that is important. This is where research comes into play and although I cannot tell you why specific a GK110 chip (GTX Titan, 780 or 780TI) is better than a GK 104, other than the Chip is larger and the specs are higher somewhat, the fact of the matter it is. Strangely enough, order for NVidia goes as such GK 110>GK 104>GK106>GK107. Here is a list of the cards

GK 107: GTX 650 TI and below
GK 106L GTX 660 and 650 TI Boost
GK 104: GTX 770, 680, 760, 670, 660 TI

For AMD it’s even weirder, the R9-290 and 290x are called the Hawaii XT and Pro. But I won’t go there.

Now for the list everyone has been waiting for. What to buy for the money? This is my recommendation and if you green team or red team you may be biased. I am biased to NVidia slightly, but I recommend AMD more times than not. 

Most of these recommendations are based off of average overclockability of the card. Video cards are very easy to overclock and pretty safe. Just read up a few guides on how to do it and your set. They make it easier with the GTX 7xx series and R7/9 series to overclock. For the 7xx series all you do is set the power target to max (109-130% usually) and temperature target to 94*C (with NVidia their cards won’t hit that as their cooling even on reference designs are good) and it automatically boosts itself up. 

For the R7/9 series, it’s a 4 way overclocker where you just drag the point to the max temp/power target and it does the same. NOTE: The R9-290 and 290x run EXTREMELY hot. AMD claims they are designed to run at 95*C, but I would wait for a nonreference one before I mess with that.

~$80 AMD HD 7750 or R7-250 1GB GDDR5: (Recommend R7-250)

Both are LOW POWERED cards that can run only any power supply that lists at least 160w (13A) on the 12V rail, assuming your CPU is 75w or less. They are the same exact card except the R7-250 is newer. DO NOT get the 2GB GDDR3, yes it has more Vram but it’s half the speed and bandwidth and cannot use much more than 700mb of Vram.

~$100 AMD HD 7770GHz or GTX 650 1GB GDDR5: (Recommend HD 7770Ghz)

The HD 7770GHz outruns the GTX 650 in every scenario. Yes, the GTX 650 is faster clocked on both memory and core, but has 128 less Cuda Cores/Stream Processors. This is a case of architecture of the HD 7770 is better than the 650.

~$140 AMD HD R7-260x or GTX 650 TI Boost 2GB GDDR5: (Recommend R7-260x)

Right now the TI boost is the ahead by a slight margin, but the R7-260x just came out and drivers have not matured. The HD 7850 is also in this category and although the 260x replaced the HD 7790 in theory, I believe once drivers mature the R7-260x will outpace both. The drawback is, the R7-260x has a 128 bit bus, vs the 192 of the GTX 650 TI Boost and 256 bit of the HD 7850. However, the R7-260x has 1200Mhz Core and 7000Mhz Memory on some models, vs 1000/6000 of the TI boost and 850/4800 of the HD 7850.

~$180 AMD R9-270 or GTX 660: (Recommend R9-270)

The R9-270 in theory replaced the HD 7850 and the 270x replaced the 7870GHz. However, the R9-270 and 270x are the SAME card, same amount of stream processors just slightly slower. For 20 bucks less, you’re better off getting a 270, overclock it and be done with it. The R9-270 does outperform the GTX 660.

~$250 AMD R9-280 or GTX 760: (Recommend R9-280 once it launches)

The R9-280 non-x is not out yet, but it is the HD 7950 successor and should be priced in this category. The R9-280x just destroys the GTX 760 and since the 280 will only be slightly slower, I expect it to win too. You get 3GB of GDDR5 memory over 2GB, the architecture of the 280 is better than the 760, the 280 is just as fast and the 760 has only 60% of the Cuda Cores as the R9-280 will have Stream processors.

~$300 AMD R9-280x or GTX 770: (Recommend R9-280x)

I actually favor the GTX 770 in most situations. It is 10% more expensive, but the GK104 chip used is pretty damn fast. It has a faster memory speed, is often clocked up to 1100MHz + GPU Boost 2.0 and such. But anything past 1080p or high antialiasing, the R9-280x runs away due to wider bus and more Vram.

~$400 AMD R9-290

This card is a fricken beast as it offers 4GB of GDDR5 memory on a 512 bit bus. the only issue is there are no reference coolers out for it yet. AMD spent about 10 dollars of R&D to make plastic cooler to keep it cooled and it does a poor job. Because of this the card runs extremely hot and in cases like the 290x, it gets throttled back a lot. Usually cards in this range offer a bad price/performance ratio, but once nonreference designs come out this card is WORTH IT, especially above 1080p. The card should be able to achieve decent overclocks once cooling is not an issue

~$500 GTX 780

The card is pretty damn powerful, however recommending this card is going to depend on how well the R9-290 does with nonreference coolers. Tests have shown that a water cooled R9-290 runs about the same temp as water cooled GTX 780, but the R9-290 pulls 15-20% ahead. So if this holds true, it will be hard to recommend a slower card that costs more.

~$700 GTX 780 TI

This is a fully unlocked GK110 card with 2886 stream processors and a 7GHz effective memory speed. It posts about 30% ahead of any card out there but comes on a hefty price tag. It should be a nonreference R9-290x up to about 4K but at that point they would be close. Price/performance is bad on this card, but it is the dominant single GPU atm.

Hard Drives
This section is by far not my forte. Western Digital makes several different drives for example, Red, Blue, Green and black. I know that Black is for performance, Green is for eco (turns off often for power consumption), Red is for Nas (Up to 5 drives) and blue is in between green and black (Thanks to Foxhound590 from the LTT forums). But a hard drive is a hard drive to be honest. Seagate and WD are probably the top 2 brands. My theory though is to try to get the following:
 

7200RPM
32MB cache+
SATA III
A good warranty

Hard drives are meant for mass storage, I always recommend keeping an OS on an SSD because it’s much faster and makes reloading windows much easier. There are several companies on eBay that sell white label OEM drives for GREAT prices offer 30 day money back, free shipping and a 1 year warranty. I’ve personally bought 2 drives from them so far and have been very happy. Below is a quick reference to how much drivers should run.
 

500GB: $50-60
1TB: $60-75
1.5TB: $75-85
2TB: $85-100
3TB: $100-130
4TB: $150+

SSD (Solid State Drives)
When it comes to storage, I push SSD’s more than just about anyone. Solid State Drives are far more reliable, smaller, run cooler and MUCH MUCH faster than mechanical drives. The only issue is that the price per GB is very high. Right now larger drives run about $0.50-$0.60/GB which is not that feasible. But I think 99% of the country should be using SSD’s and I’ll explain why.

Many customers I work with have VERY old computers and only use 30 to 40GB including Windows XP of storage. A 120GB SSD on sales runs about $70-$80, but I usually use Samsung SSD’s exclusively which run about $90. The reason why is, almost every older computer I work with either has a failing hard drive or had a hard drive replaced once or twice in the computers history.

SSD’s have a limited life cycle, but even the Samsung 840 EVO that uses TLC flash will last a heavy user about 15-20 years and casual users up to 30 years before it’s life cycle ends. Otherwise, the controllers and firmware, especially on Samsung drives are so advanced that the chances of them failing prematurely are a FRACTION of that of a mechanical drive.

SSD’s can benefit everyone either as the only hard drive for office users or as a boot drives for editors and gamers. The advantage is, much of your work is done on the SSD, so if you have a mechanical drive for storage, it is accessed far less and chances of dying early on is much less.
 

There are a few things to look at when looking at SSD’s.
SLC MLC and TLC
Controller
Firmware
Size
Speeds (sequential and random 4k’s)

SLC is single level cell, MLC is multi-level cell, and TLC is triple level cell. In generally, SLC is the fastest in writing and TLC is the slowest. SLC is generally not in the consumer market and most drives are MLC. The only company that uses TLC is Samsung in their 840 and 840 Evo drives. SLC writes 1 bits per cell, MLC is generally 2 bits per cell and MLC is 3 bits per cell. TLC in theory has the shortest life span of the 3. However, the Samsung 840 Evo has built in firmware to allow it to act as a SLC SSD in some scenario in order to increase speeds.

Right now, there are 3 kinds of controllers. Sandforce, Marvell and Custom. Sandforce used to be extremely unreliable and would generally fail unless good firmware was used such as the one used in Intel’s SSD’s. Marvell is reliable but is often rather slow, but used to be priced very competitively. Then some companies like Samsung make their own controllers. Right now the BEST controller on the market is Samsungs.

Firmware is the software installed into the SSD that makes it work. Better firmware is always good and often companies have updates if they find issues in the firmware. Firmware is key especially in cases of the early Sandforce based drives like OCZ that had a higher than normal failure rate. Bad firmware couldn’t keep the fast speeds of the controller from failing.

Size and speeds are pretty important. How big do you need? Anything below 120GB suffers in performance as there are less chips to write too. Size also helps with longitivity. A 256GB drive has twice the amount of write cycles as a 128GB drive. But now days this is not that important unless you’re writing 40-50GB/day to the drive.

Speeds are often overinflated. Most Sandforce drives advertise very high speeds but they drop very quickly over time as that is the nature of Sandforce. Generally speaking if it’s MLC flash you’ll see 250mb/ps+ on read and write, sometimes TLC flash has lower write speeds. Random 4K reads/writes are pretty important as well to compare/

So what do I recommend?

Honestly, I personally have only used Samsung drives including the 840, 840 pro and 840 Evo. Currently the 840 Evo is where it is at. It is very cost effective, the new MEX controller helps the slower write speed of the TLC flash, uses ram for caching, and Samsung writes its own firmware and has plenty of migration and monitoring software that is 2nd to none.

Computer Cases
Cases are bought on 2 needs: functionality and looks. There are so many cases out there that it can be hard to choose. I cannot tell you which case to use, but I can tell you what to avoid. Cases are generally personal tastes and needs. Do you need a mid-tower, full tower or maybe a micro or ITX tower? Do you have a color scheme you want? Do you want silence or airflow optimized? Do you want a built in fan controller? Do you need 8 hard drive cages? 

So what do you recommend? Well I will give a few guide lines and outline my opinions on all the major brands. I numbered them from 1-17, 1 being my most recommended, 17 being least.
 

#11 Antec: Not a huge fan of Antec. Most cases aren’t painted on the inside, HD bays are not 90* and often very little cable management. However, their 4000 series is a nice budget case (I’ve used it once); otherwise I only like their high end stuff.

#8 Azza: Crazy designs and weird functionality. I like some of their designs, but they are a Japanese company which helps me understand the crazy colors. More so a niche company with crazy designs

#8 BitFenix: They offer a wide variety of cases from ITX and Micro-ATX to standard mix tower and full tower cases. I’ve never used one but they are very popular, especially the Phenom and Prodigy

#3 Cooler Master: I have built in the Enforce, HAF 932, N200 and Elite 430. They make solid cases, but I think their best cases fall in the $50-100 dollar range. I like my HAF 932, but it is dated. I would like to see more in the $50 dollar range from them that has good functionality.

#1 Corsair: I have used the 500R, 400R, 300R and now 200R. Corsair offers great building structure, very nice features, solid cable management, 200R is okay but for $50.00 I won’t complain. They have a wide variety of cases, the 350D is an AWESOME Micro-ATX case, the Air 540 is a unique design and the 750D is awesome! Corsair I recommend as pretty much my #1.

#14 Cougar: Decent brand, I hear good things about them. A lot of their cases include their hydraulic bearing fans which are quite and move air very well.

#17 EVGA: Not a lot of experience here, they recently made a Micro-ATX case with a 500W 80+ Bronze PSU built in it they got good reviews.

#2 Fractal Design: 1 word, impressed. I used a Fractal Design Arc Mini and its build quality and feature set impressed me. However, on a 100 dollar case (got mine for half off) cable management wasn’t great. However, I have a lot of friends that swear by the R4 and the Arc Midi, so I recommend them as well. 

#15 Lian-Li: Often pricey, very niche, not really recommended but if you buy one, you probably have a reason for it.

#4 NZXT: 1 word, plastic! They have great designs, awesome colors, great functionality, but plastic makes shipping a built system VERY difficult. I’ve built in a Phantom 630 and it was awesome. Built in 8 way fan controller is great. I did ship it and it did arrive in tact though. If you hate plastic avoid NZXT though.

#14 Raidmax: Unless you’re spending 60+ most of their cheaper cases, while looking cool are garbage. They are very thin, dent easily and no feature set. However, their higher end cases I’ve heard are fine.

#5 Rosewill: I’ve built in the Blackhawk and Challenger. Both fine cases and Rosewill is Newegg’s house brand. Their cheap cases are meh, but most sub 30 dollar cases are. I recommend them if they meet your needs. They mid range stuff honestly have decent quality and a good feature set.

#16 Sentey: Decent brand, nothing special though. Never used them but their budget cases seem to be functional.

#7 Silverstone: Many people swear by Silverstone but I don’t. Don’t get me wrong, they make great cases, but most of the cases like the TJ07 08 and 09 are VERY pricey. They are definitely catered towards the higher end builds. However they have great ITX cases I year.

#13 Thermaltake: Thermaltake to me is a mix of AZZA and NZXT. They have crazy designs on the high end; often have flash color schemes too. They are a solid brand with decent functionality, but kinda nichy too me as well.

#10 Xigmatek: I’ve built in the 381 and despite having to install my own fans, BEST 25 dollar case ever used. They offer pretty good budget and mid-range stuff and have my recommendation.

#9 Zalman: Never used but the upcoming ZM-T4 is game breaking in the budget case world. $20 case that has 2 preinstalled 120MM fans with mounts for 2 more, supports up to 11 inch graphics cards, has SSD mounts and a little cable management as well. They offer a wide variety of cases in the entry to mid-tier.

Power Supplies
Never skimp on a power supply, but don’t go overkill either. Power supplies are made to run at or over 50% and generally most efficient between 50-80%. There is one rule of thumb to follow, ALWAYS MAKE SURE IT’S AT LEAST 80+ Certified. Here is the reason why. A power supply that is 80% efficient means that the conversion from AC to DC is 80% efficient. 

If a 500W power supply needs 500W of power from the wall, at 80% efficient it’s pulling 625W from the wall and it loses 125W in the conversion. But a “standard” power supply that is 50% efficient would draw 1,000W from the wall. So a cheaply made power supply is taking in TWICE the max power it can convert in, you see how it can end poorly.

Unless you’re running SLI/Xfire the MAX power supply that most people need is 600W. A decent quality 600W PSU can handle an FX-8350 @ 5.0Ghz and an HD 7970GHz @ 1300/1800 all day. This tool here is actually pretty accurate: 
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
So now, the important part of this section, what do you recommend? I will break it down by budget, decent and best for each scenario. I do recommend Corsair CX series as budget builders, but do note, that they are on the lower tier in the 80+ world and would recommend something a little better for most builds.

The general rule is a 600 PSU will power just about any single GPU system even when overclocks are factored in. We’re talking about an FX-8350+R9-290x. But here is a quick guideline for you.
 

CPU 95W or less and a GPU with a single 6 pin PCI-E connector:
400W or higher 80+ Bronze

CPU 95W or less (at stock) and a GPU with 2 PCI-E connectors
500W or higher 80+ Bronze

If CPU is 125W or higher (at stock) and you’re running an R9-290x, you’d want a 600W PSU if you’re overclocking.

Here is a list of all the recommended PSU vendors, however I ONLY recommend them if the PSU is 80+ Bronze or higher, or if I recommend a specific Series. Here is a list of every PSU out there pretty much with which OEM’s they use: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-oem-manufacturer,2913-4.html

A general rule of thumb is, if it is a Seasonic OEM, buy it. Seasonic makes the best consumer grade PSU’s. I will give a personal rating out of 10 based on my opinion. However, go here to read a review by probably the most esteemed PSU reviewer out there: http://www.jonnyguru.com/
 

8/10 Antec: Many of their series are Seasonic OEM’s, but they often offer bad values on the lower tiers

9/10 Be Quiet: They are always quiet using their specialized silent optimized fans, and are pretty reliable.

8/10 Cooler Master: They are hit or miss. Some of their OEM’s some are kinda bleh. Their Channel Well and FSP’s are solid.

9/10 Corsair: BE CAREFUL. Their CX series isn’t that great. Their RM Series are not Seasonic based, they are channel well and chicony based. Their AX series though are amazing, and their TX series is great too. However, their CX430 is probably the best sub 40 dollar PSU on the market, otherwise get something a bit better.

7/10 Cougar: They are not bad but they are not that popular. Not a terrible brand if you find a good deal but otherwise go elsewhere.

8/10 EVGA: Recently they’ve made great strides in PSU, pretty solid no complaints.

7/10 Enermax: Most of their good PSU’s are in the more expensive range, their cheapest 80+ is roughly 70 dollars.

9/10 FSP Group: They make GREAT OEM’s but be careful, a lot of their stuff is specific to certain kinds of PC’s. I gave them the 9/10 because of their OEM’s for other companies.

8/10 Fractal Design: Not amazing but solid, pricing could be better, but they do match their cases well.

8/10 NZXT: Same thing as Fractal Design. Not amazing but solid.

6/10 OCZ: The reason being is, some of their stuff is pretty good but they have some REALLY horribly built ones too. Be cautious and read reviews on jonnyguru.

9/10 Power PC and Cooling : Very solid construction, they would have been given a 10 but once they sold themselves to OCZ they quality tanked.

8/10 Rosewill: They offer a good value and some good higher end stuff, but their cheapest 80+ Bronze is over 50 bucks. They are value oriented and one of the few non 80+ PSU’s I might use for a very low end up.

10/10 Seasonic: Does this surprise anyone? They make the best out there, but they are often pricey when their name is on the PSU.

9/10 Silverstone: Good build quality, solid reliability a little pricey.

7/10 Thermaltake: I view them the same way as Cougar.

10/10 XFX: Interesting fact, they use NOTHING but Seasonic OEM’s.

7/10 Zalman: Not really in the game much anymore, they aren’t too bad but are pricey.

Optical Drives
This section will be pretty short. Blue Ray players for TV’s are as cheap as 40 bucks now. Unless you have a NEED for blue ray just get a DVD-RW.
DVD-RW: $15-18
Blue-ray Reader: $30-40
Blue-ray Writer: $45-65
Yep that sums up optical drivers. Most people don’t even use them anymore and do everything through USB.

Operating Systems (Windows)
The million dollar question is, should you go windows 7 or windows 8? Windows 8 definitely has better optimizations for ram caching, core allocation and better coding. Downside is, it’s a completely new UI designed to benefit touch screens and there are a lot of features aimed towards the less educated crowd that is annoying. Below is a general pricing of Windows over the past few months

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit (Only up to 16GB of ram is usable): $90.00
Windows 8 Home Premium 64 Bit (Only up to 128GB of ram is usable): $90.00
Windows 7/8 Pro runs about: $130.00

Monitors

So people often ask what kind of monitor should they get? Well first you need to answer a few questions. Do you play mostly FPS games or play competitive? Do you need the high HZ SMOOTH FPS and colors/viewing angle doesn't matter? Do you need LOW response time and input lag? What kind of hardware do you have? There are 3 types of monitor's on the market at the moment. IPS, TN and PLS. Brand wise, Acer, Dell, Asus, Samsung, LG all make a decent monitor. However, I strongly recommend the Korean IPS and PLS Panels that are sold on the US eBay Market. Some of the popular brands are the Catleap, Xstar and Crossover. They use Samsung and LG Panels.

TN Monitors 

These are generally can offer higher refresh rate (alot of them are 60hz however), have lower response time and lower input lag. These kinds of monitors are generally for people who don't care about resolution, color depth, but rather high FPS such as 120-144hz/fps and lower response time. However the color depth, viewing angles are not great and these monitors generally cap out at 1920x1080

IPS Monitors

These are generally 60hz, but they offer amazing color depth, 178* viewing angles and are very affordable even above 1080p. A good IPS 1080p monitor will run somewhere between $120-170 without going overboard. There are SEVERAL Korean based company's on eBay that offer IPS panels that are 2560x1440 resolution wise for under $300.00. The downside is, if there is an issue, shipping back to Korea can be expensive and unless you shell out an extra $50 bucks, they guarantee 5 dead pixels or less with backlight bleeding. If you get a pixel perfect monitor, they guarantee less than 2 dead pixels with mild backlight bleeding.

These tradeoffs to me and most people are VERY mild in exchange for the resolution and image quality. Dead pixels can often work their way out over time or you can rub them out. Backlight bleeding is generally only noticeable in an ALL black screen. The other tradeoff is these monitors have a higher response time and above 6 m/s you might detect mild ghosting. But for $279.99 free shipping many people say it is worth it.

PLS Monitors

These are a subset of IPS monitors. They generally follow the same quality and characteristics except they usually have a 5-6m/s response time. These are VERY common in the Korean 1440p monitor's seen on eBay. These are a cheaper version of IPS and are often $20-50 dollars cheaper in the Korean Market.

Generally speaking, most gamers would be best suited with a standard 1920x1080 IPS monitor for about 120-150 dollars. Unless you are a seriously competitive FPS player, I feel that that a 300 dollar 1080p 144hz monitor is wasted. For that same price you can get a monitor with almost TWICE the pixels for the same price. However, you need pretty good hardware to keep up. If you're playing games like BF4 or Crysis 3, you want an R9-290 bare min if you want max settings. For most games you want atleast an R9-280x, or a card with at least 3GB of Vram. Due note, that the 4GB NVidia GTX 7xx series have lower bandwidth so the usable memory won't be the full 4GB. For the price, dream-seller on eBay has an X-star 2560x1440 Samsung PLS Panel for 279.99 and it is a fantastic deal. I am getting one myself for Xmas.

Genesect added an important note about IPS and PLS Korean Panels

For monitors - PLS is Samsung's version of e-IPS, which is a slightly lower grade of IPS panel. The Korean models using IPS panels are going to use A or A- panels that have been rejected by LG or Apple, and the Korean monitors using PLS panels are rejected by Samsung. An H-IPS panel is the best you can get if I'm remembering correctly. The A or A- rating is really irrelevant for most people, though, as it will mostly relate to light backlight bleeding or a few dead pixels.

Also, the Korean 2560x1440 PLS panels can be overclocked anywhere from 72-120hz. What kind of overclock you can get before getting errors depends on the panel but that is another thing those korean panels have going for them.

Laptops
I always recommend if you need a laptop for work or school buy a basic Intel I3/I5 one with 4GB of ram for 400-500 dollars and get a separate PC. Laptops run very warm, only last 18 to a maximum of 36 months, often only have a 1 year warranty and extremely pricey to fix if you cannot fix it yourself. However, if you travel ALOT and need to play on the road a laptop that can game or a gaming laptop might be a good choice.

AVOID!!! Intel HD Graphics for gaming. Sure the Intel HD 5200 Iris graphics are okay, but they are offered in extremely high end laptops where at those price points you can get sick graphics cards in.

Processors

You have 2 options here; Intel or AMD. 
AMD is definitely budget oriented as in laptops they offer a budget grade solution. These often start with A6, A8 or A10. For gaming I recommend an A8 quad core or better. However, many manufactures get OEM specialized processors that might say A8 but are dual cores. Most A8's are 1.6GHz or faster and A10's are generally above 2.0GHz. Example CPU's include:
A8-4500M
A10-4600M

In higher tier models you have I5's and I7's. BE CAREFUL!!! Laptops that are I7's that don't say QM are simply I5's. In a laptop, an I3 and I5 are BOTH dual core hyper threading, with the I5 always being faster and sometimes more cache. The I7 non-QM is the SAME as an I5 .Often, these CPU's are proceeded by a U rather than an M, this means low power, which also means lower clock speed. Try and avoid these, however if the turbo frequency is high enough they are okay IF AND ONLY IF they have a suitable graphics chip. Example processors:
I5-4200M (last generations are I5-2xxx and I5-3xxx)
I7-4700QM (last generations are I7-2xxx and I7-3xxx)

Graphics Card

You have 3 options here; NVidia, AMD or AMD APU
I will list them based on resolution what I recommend for WOW
1366x768: GT 630M+, GT 730M+, HD 7640G+, HD 7670M+
1600x900: GT 740M+, GT 740M+, HD 7660G w/ HD 7670M Dual Graphics HD 7730M+
1920x1080: GTX 650M+, GTX 750M+ HD7870m+

These will all offer decent frame rate and settings for WoW. Not maximum settings by any stretch, but if you're that picky you might end up spending several grand.

Hard Drives

Most laptop hard drives are 5400RPM, it is just the nature of laptops. Sometimes you might see a value oriented laptop with 7200RPM but mostly they are in laptops $600-700+. Ideally you want 7200RPM but if you're looking at entry level laptops don't hold your breathe. Also some laptops come with a small (16-40gb) SSD for caching, some come with dedicated SSD's and some come with both an SSD + HDD. These are usually only in ultrabooks and high end laptops.

Price/Performance
So how much you want to spend will dictate what kind of performance you will get. I will list rough prices and what you can find out there. Places like Xotic PC offer pretty good sub 1,000 dollar laptops, and Newegg often has gaming laptop sales on all prices.

~$400-450 A8-4500M+HD 7640G:

I have a laptop like this and 10 mans, dungeons and questing I get around 20-30 fps on good settings. I keep shadows and SSAO turned down with 1x multisampling and 4x AS. Chances are, if you only have about 400 to spend, and need a laptop/desktop, you're better off with a laptop because a monitor+windows costs 200 alone. It can support up to 1600Mhz ram, so upgrading the ram kit to 2x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz you will see a tangible performance upgrade because the graphics chip runs off the memory.

~$500-600 A10-4600M+HD7660G:

Basically this is a step up from the last one. Faster CPU, slightly faster GPU, slightly higher resolution but overall a little better experience. As recommended with the other laptop, upgrading the ram is easy and recommended to get dual channel memory and better performance

~$700-800 I5+GTX 650M/GT 740M+:

In this area you will find mostly I5's and a range of graphics chips. You want at least a 1600x900 resolution screen. If you see last generation 6xx cards, they perform well. A GTX 660M will beat a GTX 750M but not a GTX 760M. This is the case for every chip in the series. You will also see 2nd and 3rd gen I5's. It's not really important which you get, but get the best graphics chip you can. The higher the second number the better as long as it's a 6xx or 7xx series. Try for a GDDR5 card if you can.

~$900-1000 I7QM+GTX 670M/760M+:

In this price range you will find higher end GPU's and mostly I7's. Make sure you're looking at 1080p screens and get the most powerful card you can find. Some of these might come with an SSD, that's just a bonusThese will max out WoW about as well as you can for a laptop. More powerful laptops will do slightly better but it's not worth the extra $$$.

$1100+ I7QM/I7QM-E + HD 7970M CF/GTX 680 SLI/GTX 780M SLI+:

Depending on what you're going to spend there is alot in this area. Some manufactures even have 3k screens on these laptops. There are some extreme I7 Processors, some come overclocked, SSD's start to come into play here and you often see multiple GPU's and these things are usually HEAVY as well. Get the most powerful CPU and GPU you can. Remember, a GTX 770M is about equal to a GTX 680M. 2 cards beat 1 obviously, but these kinds of laptops are geared towards high end games not so much WoW.

Example Builds 
These are only for a GUIDE for what a build should about cost. I don’t not personally endorse or recommend any specific brand or model. If you have any questions feel free to message me or leave a post asking. 

CHEAPEST POSSIBLE:

AMD A6-6400K
Zalman CNPS5X Performa
MSI FM2-A75MA-P33
2x2GB DDR3 1866MHz (Ram speed effectives GPU performance for APU’s)
500GB HD
DVD-RW
Corsair CX 430W 80+ PSU
Fractal Design Core 1000
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Uk28
Total: 300-340 (Before Rebates) Operating System Not Included

The Budget:

Intel Pentium G3220
MSI H81M-P33
Any 2x4GB DDR3 1333MHz+ Ram you can find
Radeon HD 7770GHz
500GB HD
DVD-RW
Corsair CX 430W 80+ PSU
Cooler Master N200