Image Credit: Blizzard Inc.

World of Warcraft is one of the best MMORPG games of all time. It was released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment and currently, it is at its 7th extension Battle for Azeroth.

The system requirements from Vanilla to Battle for Azeroth expansion has changed a lot. Especially in 2018 when DirectX 12 support came into play. Blizzard constantly improves graphic elements such as textures, lighting, 3D models, particle effects, and so on. It demands a gaming PC with processor and graphics card powerful enough to run the game smoothly so the gameplay is the most enjoyable.

I compiled a list of 5 gaming desktop PCs to help you playing WoW without any stuttering and lagging. And also to make you “future proof” for at least a few expansions that are yet to come.

First, of course, it depends on the budget you are willing to spend on a new gaming machine. Second, a good starting point would be meeting at least the recommended system requirements. Why recommended and not minimum? Because minimum requirements are based on what developers define that games are playable at the lowest graphic settings values. Whereas the recommended requirements are what is needed to run a game with decent or highest graphical settings with a high enough frame rate for the best gaming experience.

 

ENTRY LEVEL

1. Skytech Archangel

MID-RANGE

2. CyberpowerPC Gamer Master

Recommended

ENTHUSIAST

3. CyberpowerPC Gamer Supreme

HIGH-END

4. iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming

Skytech Archangel Gaming Computer PC Desktop – Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz, GTX 1660 Super 6G,...
CyberpowerPC Gamer Master Gaming PC, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060...
CyberpowerPC Gamer Supreme Liquid Cool Gaming PC, Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6GHz, NVIDIA...
iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming PC Computer Desktop MCT3900V2 (Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8GHz, NVIDIA RTX 2080...
Processor
Ryzen 5 3600
Ryzen 7 3700X
i7-9700K
Ryzen 9 3900X
GPU
GTX 1660 SUPER
RTX 2060 SUPER
RTX 2070 SUPER
RTX 2080 SUPER
RAM
16GB DDR4
16GB DDR4
16GB DDR4
32GB DDR4
Storage
512GB SSD
240GB SSD + 2TB HDD
1TB NVMe SSD
1TB SSD
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-
-
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2,481 Reviews
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$1,098.00
Price not available
$2,049.00
Price not available

ENTRY LEVEL

1. Skytech Archangel

Skytech Archangel Gaming Computer PC Desktop – Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz, GTX 1660 Super 6G,...
Processor
Ryzen 5 3600
GPU
GTX 1660 SUPER
RAM
16GB DDR4
Storage
512GB SSD
-
-
$1,098.00

MID-RANGE

2. CyberpowerPC Gamer Master

CyberpowerPC Gamer Master Gaming PC, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060...
Processor
Ryzen 7 3700X
GPU
RTX 2060 SUPER
RAM
16GB DDR4
Storage
240GB SSD + 2TB HDD
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-
Price not available
Recommended

ENTHUSIAST

3. CyberpowerPC Gamer Supreme

CyberpowerPC Gamer Supreme Liquid Cool Gaming PC, Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6GHz, NVIDIA...
Processor
i7-9700K
GPU
RTX 2070 SUPER
RAM
16GB DDR4
Storage
1TB NVMe SSD
2,481 Reviews
$2,049.00

HIGH-END

4. iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming

iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming PC Computer Desktop MCT3900V2 (Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8GHz, NVIDIA RTX 2080...
Processor
Ryzen 9 3900X
GPU
RTX 2080 SUPER
RAM
32GB DDR4
Storage
1TB SSD
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-
Price not available

Last update on 2023-09-29.

World of Warcraft – Battle for Azeroth System Requirements

Minimum

  • OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows® 7 64-bit
  • PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i5-760 or AMD FX™-8100 or better
  • GRAPHICS: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 2GB or AMD™ Radeon™ HD 7850 2GB or Intel® HD Graphics 530 (45W TDP)
  • MEMORY: 4 GB
  • STORAGE: 70 GB available space

Recommended

  • OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows® 10 64-bit
  • PROCESSOR: AMD FX-9370/Ryzen 5 1600X or Intel Core i7-4770
  • GRAPHICS: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB (Current available GPU RTX2060) or AMD equivalent
  • MEMORY: 16GB
  • STORAGE: 40 GB available space

Source: https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/76459

What computer parts are the most important for running World of Warcraft – BfA smoothly?

Graphics Card

A graphics card (or GPU, short of “Graphics Processing Unit”) is undoubtedly one of the most important hardware parts of a gaming PC. It handles all the processing and rendering of what you see on the display and directly affects the quality of the textures, anti-aliasing, frame rate, and such…

The more powerful it is, the more smoothly and realistically the game runs.

CPU

A processor or CPU (short for “Central Processing Unit”) also significantly impacts the overall gaming performance. It handles all the gameplay, instructions, loading different assets of the game, etc.

It basically calculates all the logic behind the scene.

Memory

Computer memory or RAM (short for “Random Access Memory”) stores all the short-term bits of information that are being accessed and used by the CPU constantly. It is a kind of temporary storage for all the calculated results coming from the CPU.

The more RAM you have the more information the processor can store in it simultaneously.

Storage

This is a piece of computer hardware that contains all the data that the PC can access and operate with. It includes everything, from the operating system to the games installed.

The most common consumer class types of SDDs are SATA SSD or NVMe. Although using different bus interfaces and having different connections, the main difference between them is read/write speed. Here’s a little speed comparison about average read/write speed of all the disk drives types mentioned:

    • SATA 3 – up to 550MB/second 
    • NVMe – up to 3500MB/second

Traditional HDDs can be used for secondary storage drive only. They are just obsolete.

What is the Best Gaming Desktop PC for World of Warcraft Battle for Azeroth?

There is no “the best one”. Each one of the machines listed here would run the game just fine, smoothly without any stuttering. But as mentioned previously, it also depends on how much you willing to go spend. You cannot expect the same performance form the lowest budget PC to the highest one. Obviously. 🙂

Regarding performance, it’s mainly all about how much frames per second a gaming pc can output to the monitor.

About FRAMES PER SECOND (FPS):

What is FPS? It is the number of consecutive images produced onto the monitor each second. (Note: In gaming FPS also stands for First Person Shooter but this is not the case here.)

How many FPS is needed? – It is not yet known for sure how many FPS the human eye and brain can process. But they predict it could be around 200. The number of frames per second that is acceptable for gaming though is far lower. From bare minimum 25 FPS up to the limit of your screen*. If the FPS drop below 25, you are likely to notice considerable stuttering.

*By screen limit I mean its refresh rate. Nowadays there are even 240Hz (frames per second) monitors in the gaming scene. That “high refresh” rate monitors give a feeling of a more responsive overall experience. The game type can also be a factor. If you play online competitive games you get an advantage over your opponents who have regular 60Hz displays. Basically, more frames, earlier and more you see than. 🙂

A great explanation here on this video from Nvidia:

Of course, a CPU & GPU must be able to maintain enough frames per second (possibly up to screen limit) to make it a difference.

How to compile a list of desktop gaming PCs, being able to run WoW?

All gaming PCs can be categorized into 4 types:

ENTRY LEVEL, MID-RANGE, ENHUSIAST, HIGH-END and SPECIAL.

  • Within a price range of each type, I create a larger list of PCs, all meeting the game requirements.

Even if requirements seem relatively low, I always look for machines that have the latest hardware. Hell, when you’re buying new, go for new. This also means it would serve you for quite a few years. Or maybe you want to try some new game, that requires a more powerful machine.

  • Check user reviews and gameplay videos.

I find this to be an invaluable piece of information, as it comes directly from actual owners of specific gaming PCs or similar, running the game.

  • Check the benchmarks and price/performance ratio.

There’s one hell of a service called UserBenchmark. Those guys compute and analyze millions of benchmarks coming directly from gamers around the globe. At the type of writing, they are more than 120 million benchmarks with more than a million different components. This database is damn huge and it gives a rough estimate of how much FPS can a PC render the specific game, running at specific resolution and graphic quality.

Also, I check the benchmarks on the forums and other benchmarking websites.

  • Handpick 5 of them.

I handpick the machines in each price range. With price/performance factor taking into consideration. No one wants to pay more than he gets.

ENTRY LEVEL

Key Components: CPU: i5-9400F, i7-9700F or Ryzen 5 3600  GPU: GTX 1660 Ti or Radeon RX 590  RAM: at least 16GB  STORAGE: NVMe or SATA SSD

Gets you up and running with decent components.

Skytech Archangel Gaming Computer

Technical Details:

Ryzen 5 3600
GTX 1660 SUPER
16GB DDR4
512GB SSD

Gameplay Example:

As long as you run it on 1080p and keep the Garphics Quality on “recommended” it runs just fine.


ENTHUSIAST

Key Components: CPU: i9-9700K, i9-9900K or Ryzen 7 3700X GPU: RTX 2070 Super or Radeon RX 5700 XT RAM: at least 16GB STORAGE: SATA or NVMe SSD

High-end components, focus on price/performance factor.

CyberpowerPC Gamer Supreme

Technical Details:


i7-9700K
RTX 2070 SUPER
16GB DDR4
1TB PCI-E NVMe SSD

 

HIGH-END

Key Components: CPU: i7-9900K or Ryzen 9 3900X  GPU: RTX 2080 SUPER  RAM: at least 32GB STORAGE: SATA or NVMe SSD

High-end components for a maximum performance.

iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming

Technical Details:

Ryzen 9 3900X
RTX 2080 SUPER
32GB DDR4
1TB SSD Drive

Gameplay Example:

25 man raid on an RTX 2080 and i9-9900K. Handles the job even on 4K, ultra settings, and MSAA 8x anti-aliasing mode.


ULTRA

Key Components: CPU: Ryzen 9 3900XT or Ryzen 9 3950X  GPU: RTX 2080 Ti (or 2x) RAM: 64GB+  STORAGE: NVMe SSD

Core components the fastest available, possibly fancy RGB lightning, water cooling, and all that jazz.

CUK Mantis Gaming PC

No products found.

Technical Details:

Ryzen 9 3900XT
RTX 2080 Ti
64GB DDR4
1TB NVMe SSD + 2TB HDD

Conclusion

How the gaming PC will perform it depends also on the situation. There is quite a difference whether you are in some crowded zone or city, full of other players. Or when you run 5 man dungeons, raids or PvP arenas.

You can realistically expect a lower frame rate in crowded zones as the computer must render more graphical elements at the same time. And a higher frame rate lets say indoors, where there are not that many 3D elements to be shown on display.

To sum up: all these gaming PCs would run World for Warcraft – Battle for Azeroth just fine. Staying within the reasonable game settings for specific GPU you can enjoy playing the game smoothly. If you have a large budget to spend then go for HIGH-END (or even ULTRA) and crank the graphics settings up to the roof. Otherwise, the RECOMMENDED machine is a great deal and a compensation between price and performance.

Have fun playing the game!

Take care! 🙂