Looking to order new build tonight, under 700 total.

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[H]ard|Gawd
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Nov 11, 2008
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As title says, looking to order a new build tonight. This is for a friend, he told me to shoot for 600, but 600-700 is fine, the closer to the bottom the better.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
600-700, tax shipping included
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Shiocton, WI
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
cpu, gpu, mobo, psu, case, ram, hd
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
none
6) Will you be overclocking?
Eventually
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Tonight
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
No specific features needed.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 64 bit.

He was doing it himself at first, asked what I thought of the AMD FX-4170. I told him he should go intel right now, thinking the i5, heres what I put together. If anyone could help save some money that would be great.

i5-3450 Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz - 199
Biostar TZ77XE3 - 109.99
G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB - 46.99
Powercolor 7770 1GHz - 129.99
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W and 1TB HD combo - 169.98
Rosewill mid tower - 39.99

Total with free 3 day shipping 696.93.

I thought may as well try to make him an ivy bridge system to make it last longer, I'm not sure if it can really get much cheaper than this. Otherwise a sandy bridge system I hope would be able to shave some money off. Any input? Thanks in advance guys
 
Samson4EiT said:
6) Will you be overclocking?
Eventually
Click to expand...

Buy the 3570k if you intend to overclock some day. You can also receive a nice bundle discount with that motherboard no matter which CPU you choose:

$329 TZ77XE3 + 3570k comes with $15 gift card too

I dont have any knowledge of that case but the NZXT Source Elite is frequently recommended here and costs only $10 more. Comes in black or white

Other than that your pasts list looks solid. You may want to select a different ram that is slightly cheaper or has lower heat spreaders but that kit will work well if you stick with it.


edit: It is hard to evaluate the CPU and GPU choices since you did not state which games you intend to play. The 7770 may not be enough GPU for the games he wants to play. We may be able to better balance the system with better video and less CPU for the same budget.

If you are certain the 7770 is correct and you dont mind buying from other places, NCIX has a good price on the XFX Radeon HD 7770 $119 ( 109AR expires today)
 
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Alright, didn't think it could get any cheaper really. Would sandy bridge be any cheaper?

I haven't used rosewill before, but myself and friends have had bad experiences with NZXT cases and are staying away from them.
 
Get that mobo and CPU from this CPU + mobo combo deal to shave off $15:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.908584

However do note that the CPU you chose is only capable of a limited OC of around 3.6Ghz. So unless that small OC is worth the extra $22 to your friend, I recommend going with this CPU + mobo combo instead:
$272 - Intel Core i5 3450 CPU + BIOSTAR H77MU3 LGA 1155 Intel H77

Going with the above H77 combo would shave off a total of $37 over your current planned setup.

RAM wise, go with this similar performing RAM for $7 less:
$40 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10666CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

Honestly that Samsung + PSU combo is a good deal. If you can afford it, go for it. However the PSU is overkill for your friend's needs (unless he plans on doing a Crossfire setup) and your friend may not need a 1TB drive. As such I recommend this combo to shave off $26:
$64 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
$80 - Samsung by Seagate Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
---
Total: $144 shipped

Case wise, that case isn't good for the money considering the total lack of cable management. So I recommend spending the extra $10 for this easier to work with case:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case

Now if you did go with the above changes, you should save roughly $60 off your current build. Now if your friend is planning on playing games like BF3 and Skyrim, I'd spend that extra cash for the faster HD 6870:
$180 - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card

But if your friend is only playing Diablo 3, you should be fine with the HD 7770.
 
Thanks a lot you guys, he's actually gonna be running 1600x1200 for awhile until he has more money to buy a new monitor. Not sure how long that will be. He won't be playing BF3, Skyrim however he will be. Think the 7770 will hold out at 1600x1200?
 
Samson4EiT said:
He won't be playing BF3, Skyrim however he will be. Think the 7770 will hold out at 1600x1200?
Click to expand...

Probably. Though I'd still recommend the extra money for the HD 6870 just in case I'm wrong.
 
Samson4EiT said:
Thanks a lot you guys, he's actually gonna be running 1600x1200 for awhile until he has more money to buy a new monitor. Not sure how long that will be. He won't be playing BF3, Skyrim however he will be. Think the 7770 will hold out at 1600x1200?
Click to expand...
He should be fine for Skyrim based on the [H]ardOCP review of the 7770 OC. Review also shows 6870 and 560Ti for reference.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/02/14/xfx_r7770_black_edition_super_overclocked_review/5
 
We ended up changing the PSU and HD out to what Danny recommended, he really wanted it as close to 600 as possible. He didn't want to spring for the 6870 even though I tried explaining it to him also, the order came out to 635 shipped. If he did the 6870 there was a 30$ rebate card which would've put it at 655 total after that. Oh well I guess, I'll just have to say you should've spent that extra 20 when he gets a new monitor and complains haha.

Thanks a lot.

Edit: We are gonna try out NZXT again, that case both of you suggested. Every one we've got has been pretty poor quality honestly. Time will tell though I guess.
 
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