Build for friend

[Bags]

1. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?
$1,000ish
2. Where do you live?
Maryland
3. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?
Gaming, solitaire(lol :P)
4. What parts will you need for the computer? Please list what parts specifically.
Everything but the keyboard/mouse/monitor
5. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so please say what parts.
No
6. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?
1900 x 1080

7. Do you have a legit OS? If so what OS and is it 32-bit or 64-bit?
win 7 64 bit

8. What are you looking for the motherboard to have feature wise? Like SLI, Crossfire, Firewire, USB 3.0, Sata 6.0 Gb/s, and so on.
USB 3.0 sata 6.0gb/s I guess

9. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?
No

10. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?
ASAP

Thanks.

[Goku]

I have a semi build together right now with everything but the case that has a Core i5 2400 and GTX 560 Ti. Is your friend interested in a SSD at all? Looks like it can fit in the budget with no issues (larger capacity too). Is he near a microcenter like you were for the 2500K deal? I think its still going on.

[Bags]

He doesn't live near a microcenter, sadly, and he doesn't want to give up raw gaming performance for faster load times on programs / OS.

[Goku]

He doesn't live near a microcenter, sadly, and he doesn't want to give up raw gaming performance for faster load times on programs / OS.

You're saying he wants more GPU power then? If he doesn't want to overclock he might as well stay with the 2400 as I was looking at a 560 Ti for the video card. He can potentially get a 560 Ti with 448 cores or 570 I guess if he would rather do that.

[Bags]

Yeah. He doesnt do much other than game.

[Goku]

Hows this look?

SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner - $15.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151244)
COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II - $69.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216)
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB - $124.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840)
EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 - $339.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593)
Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 - $59.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371048)
G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 - $36.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424)
Intel BOXDH67BLB3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 - $89.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121506)
Intel Core i5-2400 - $189.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074)

Total = $927.92 not including shipping/tax/rebates

I bumped him up to a 1TB HDD and a GTX 570. That is about as much as I can do for this budget for gaming. If he is interested in spending more money on this build I suggest just spending a bit more money on the case. Maybe the Corsair 600T or Carbide 500R like you have. I just wasn't sure how much he wanted to spend on the case is all.

If he isn't interested in PS2 I would suggest to drop the HDD down to 500GB and get a AMD HD 7950 instead. When overclocked the 7950 screams by even a 7970 @ stock. Check this right here (http://hardocp.com/article/2012/01/30/amd_radeon_hd_7950_video_card_review/13).

Even if he wants to stick with Nvidia he can potentially trade up to one of their newer cards coming out by April. He can still get a boost at least thanks to being with EVGA.

[Bags]

He doesn't plan to overclock, so should he still get the 7950?

Also, can you recommend one off newegg? Idk anything about AMD's card brands.

also thanks


I don't think he's interested in planetside 2, but I think he's going to try it just in case he likes it since I like PS.

[Goku]

On average the 7950 is at least as fast as a GTX 580 while outdoing it by as much as 10% in certain games. It comes with 3GB of vram verse 1.5GB on the 580, consumes far less power to top it off for the same price. The vram will likely help him due to 1GB starting to be a limiting factor in many games even @ 1920x1080 in the long run as well. The 570 could potentially be bottlenecked by its 1.28 GB vram in future titles.

If he is interested I would check this card out (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102962). Then get this HDD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148767). Those two will put you at a $997.92 for a total.

As far as overclocking video cards. It is the most simplest thing you can do. Just tell him to put the slider to around 1000MHz and test that it is stable. That will take you at most an hour for like a 20% boost in FPS. Its a hell of a lot easier then overclocking the CPU and will likely net you larger gains depending on the game.

[Bags]

Alright. I talked to him earlier and he said that he'd like a more expensive case, and I recommended him the 500r I got. We should be good to go when he gets back on, thanks Goku.

[Goku]

Anytime. Even with the more expensive case I would probably still go for the 500R. The 7950 will last him a lot longer then that GTX 570 will is all. Just bump the budget up a bit if hes willing.