Patch 4.3: Dragon Soul Encounters
Start getting ready for the new raids now by brushing up with our encounter pages! All values are from Heroic 25 Man mode.
Statistics: Class Balance Follow Up
You asked for it, so here is the class balance at each of the different Valor Points achievement levels. Keep in mind that the higher we raise the bar, the smaller and nosier the sample becomes. The data from 50,000 Valor Points is unlikely to provide any statistically useful insight. Let me know if there are other things you would like to see in the future.
Sample Sizes
Poll: How many Valor Points have you earned?
Speaking of Valor Points, how many have you earned on your main character?
How many Valor Points have you earned?
Computers - Setup of the Month (by chaud)
Each month or every 2 months, depending on the hardware evolutions, the lovely chaud will work on a couple of hardware setups for those of you who are thinking of upgrading their computer!
Check back later this week for a list of Black Friday sales!
If you have been looking to purchase a new hard drive recently, you might have noticed that prices have tripled from what they were just a month or two ago. This is due to the recent floods in Thailand, which affected all of the major hard drive manufacturers and their suppliers. It is going to be 6-12 months before prices come back down closer to their previous levels, as some of the factories still have several feet of water inside.
Now is a good time to buy a SSD, as the next generation is a good while away and the current prices are fairly flat. AMD's Bulldozer arrived to universally negative reviews, citing excessive power usage and heat output and very poor single threaded performance. They are working on another stepping which may help the problem slightly, but don't expect any significantly improvements on the design until the middle of 2012 with the arrival of Piledriver. New AMD GPUs are rumored to be coming in Q1 2012 if you are thinking about upgrading.
Make sure to keep your AMD and Nvidia drivers up to date.
Don't hesitate to post any feedback in the comments of that news post, and don't forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions!
ComponentPuppy Dolphin
ComponentNarwhal Unicorn
ComponentPuppy Dolphin
ComponentNarwhal Unicorn
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Start getting ready for the new raids now by brushing up with our encounter pages! All values are from Heroic 25 Man mode.
Statistics: Class Balance Follow Up
You asked for it, so here is the class balance at each of the different Valor Points achievement levels. Keep in mind that the higher we raise the bar, the smaller and nosier the sample becomes. The data from 50,000 Valor Points is unlikely to provide any statistically useful insight. Let me know if there are other things you would like to see in the future.
Sample Sizes
- Any: 6,200,000
- 5k: 1,800,000
- 25k: 254,000
- 50k: 1,200
Poll: How many Valor Points have you earned?
Speaking of Valor Points, how many have you earned on your main character?
How many Valor Points have you earned?
Computers - Setup of the Month (by chaud)
Each month or every 2 months, depending on the hardware evolutions, the lovely chaud will work on a couple of hardware setups for those of you who are thinking of upgrading their computer!
Check back later this week for a list of Black Friday sales!
If you have been looking to purchase a new hard drive recently, you might have noticed that prices have tripled from what they were just a month or two ago. This is due to the recent floods in Thailand, which affected all of the major hard drive manufacturers and their suppliers. It is going to be 6-12 months before prices come back down closer to their previous levels, as some of the factories still have several feet of water inside.
Now is a good time to buy a SSD, as the next generation is a good while away and the current prices are fairly flat. AMD's Bulldozer arrived to universally negative reviews, citing excessive power usage and heat output and very poor single threaded performance. They are working on another stepping which may help the problem slightly, but don't expect any significantly improvements on the design until the middle of 2012 with the arrival of Piledriver. New AMD GPUs are rumored to be coming in Q1 2012 if you are thinking about upgrading.
Make sure to keep your AMD and Nvidia drivers up to date.
Don't hesitate to post any feedback in the comments of that news post, and don't forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions!
Peripherals/Monitors
| Monitor | ASUS VW224U 22-Inch Widescreen - $150 | ASUS VW246H 24-Inch Widescreen - $200 |
| Keyboard | Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard 3000 - $20 | Cyborg V.5 - $47 |
| Mouse | Logitech G400 - $35 | Logitech G500 - $61 |
| Speakers | Logitech S220 2.1 Speaker System - $23 | Logitech Z313 Speaker System - $40 |
| Monitor | ASUS VE276Q 27-Inch - $314 | HP ZR24w 24-inch (IPS Panel) - $398 |
| Keyboard | Logitech G110 - $73 | Razer BlackWidow (Backlit)- $72 ($123) |
| Mouse | Razer Deathadder - $45 | Razer Naga (Buttons on the Side) - $68 |
| Speakers | Creative Inspire T3130 2.1 Speaker System - $45 | Logitech Speaker System Z523 - $70 |
ComponentPuppy Dolphin
ComponentNarwhal Unicorn
Puppy and Dolphin
Overclocked Puppy will outperform Dolphin when multiple threads are in use (Not WoW) and come close in most other cases.
Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin. Mix and match anything between Dolphin and Narwhal.
Overclocked Puppy will outperform Dolphin when multiple threads are in use (Not WoW) and come close in most other cases.
Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin. Mix and match anything between Dolphin and Narwhal.
| Case | NZXT GAMMA Classic - $36 | NZXT GAMMA Classic - $36 |
| Power Supply | Corsair CX500 V2 - $48 | Corsair CX600 V2 - $60 |
| CPU | AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - $112 | Intel i3-2100 - $122 |
| Heatsink | Corsair Air Series A70 - $22 | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $26 |
| Motherboard | ASUS M5A97 AM3+ 970 - $100 | Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 - $114 |
| Memory | 4GB PNY Optima DDR3 10600 - $27 | 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws F3 4GB 12800 DDR3 - $47 |
| Graphics Card | XFX 6770 - $90 | MSI 6850 or EVGA GTX 560 - $168 / $195 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB - $125 | Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB - $125 |
| DVD | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $20 | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $20 |
| Total | $580 | $718 / $745 |
ComponentPuppy Dolphin
Narwhal and Unicorn
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
| Case | Cooler Master HAF 912 - $60 | Cooler Master HAF932 - $150 |
| Power Supply | Corsair 650TX V2 - $90 | Corsair 750HX (7 Year Warranty) - $134 |
| CPU | Intel i5-2500k - $225 | Intel i7-2600k - $315 |
| Heatsink | Thermaltake Frio - $60 | Noctua 6 NH-D14 - $85 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 - $160 | ASUS Z68 P8Z68-V PRO - $210 |
| Memory | 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws F3 4GB 12800 DDR3 - $47 | 8GB G.Skill DDR3 12800 - $69 |
| Graphics Card | XFX 6950 1GB OR EVGA GTX 560 Ti- $200 / $250 | XFX 6970 2GB OR EVGA GTX 570 - $330 / $370 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $162 | Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $162 |
| SSD | Crucial 128 GB m4 (Review) - $210 OR Corsair Force Series GT 120 GB - $195 | Intel 510 Series 120 GB (Review) - $280 OR OCZ 120 GB Vertex 3 (Review) - $190 |
| DVD | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $20 | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $20 |
| Total | $1024 - $1234 | $1665 - $1795 |
ComponentNarwhal Unicorn
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