$600-700 build for a friend

M

mschind0

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Oct 22, 2009
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18
Hi.

Several months ago I put up a post for a build for a friend of mine, but unfortunately he had to put off getting a new PC for reasons beyond his control. But now he has to put one together, and quickly, so I'm going to repost a slightly modified version.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
General browsing/computing, heavy Excel. He would like to have a computer build such that he could put in a decent (not super 5870-type) video card later on for light gaming if he wants to and can spare the coin.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$600-700. (I'm chipping in a few hundred for him.)

3) Where do you live?
I live in northern New Jersey; my friend lives in South Jersey. We can get parts from either area. I live 5 miles from a Microcenter.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
motherboard, CPU, power supply, HDD (I think 1 TB), DVD burner, heat sink, RAM, case

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I have an extra Intel X-25M 80 GB SSD that I ordered by accident that I will give to him for OS and apps. If I don't give it to him, I'll just put it in my own rig so that I can install WoW on it and start playing again with the new expansion, something I'm trying to resist.
He has a 24” monitor he will be using. He also has a keyboard and mouse already.
I have some left over Arctic Silver from when I put my PC together.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24” monitor

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
If we can put a build together and order tonight or tomorrow, hopefully this weekend.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Nothing out of the ordinary.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
We're going to get the OEM Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

I'm pretty good with putting the system together - I'm working on the system I built off my own post here from a year ago and have had no problems - but to be honest I do not keep up with PC components at all and most of the similar builds I looked at had deals that expired even though they were only a couple of weeks old. So I'm hoping the hive mind can help me and my friend out. Thanks in advance.
 
$205 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition + Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 996781 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$80 - MSI 880GM-E43 AMD 880G mATX Motherboard
$20 - LG GH22NS40 DVD Burner
$145 - Corsair 650TX 650W PSU + Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive Combo
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
----------
Total: $530 plus tax and shipping.
 
Thank so much for the build, Danny. It looks great. One problem. The PSU/HDD combo deal is no longer good. :( Can you or someone else suggest and alternative PSU and HDD? Also, my friend just informed me he had a 1 TB external drive and therefore only needs a 500 GB hard drive. Thanks again.
 
Damn that link expired quick.
Well I recommend the same PSU and different drive:
$55 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$90 - Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
 
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Thanks again, Danny. I was also surprised at how fast the deal went. I clicked on it at one point tonight and not even 90 minutes later it was gone. But hopefully the build will only end being $5 more anyway. I figured I would check out the prices of the components at Microcenter to see if any were cheaper since I can drive there in about 15 minutes.

It turns out that those hard drives are a lot cheaper at Microcenter. I can get the 1 TB Samsung Spinpoint for only $5 more than the 500 GB at Newegg. The HDD was also cheaper at Microcenter when i built my own PC almost exactly a year ago. The only parts that were cheaper at Microcenter than Newegg were the HDD (I got a 1 TB WD1001FALS) and the i7-920, which was a loss leader and in-store pickup only.

So the final build is:
$100 - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
$205 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition + Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 996781 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$80 - MSI 880GM-E43 AMD 880G mATX Motherboard
$90 - Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
$60 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
$20 - LG GH22NS40 DVD Burner

Total: $635

Now I just have to send the list to him. He's going to order it tomorrow (for delivery to me).

P.S. Bore_u2_death: I let Amazon Prime lapse. That was probably a mistake, but oh well. As you can see, I found a good alternative for the HDD, and he might expand his computer at some point so I'll go with the more robust PSU, even if it is more expensive.
 
bore_u2_death said:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/03/26/nvidia_fermi_gtx_470_480_sli_review/7

500 watts is enough to support a single card config up to a GTX 470 or a HD 5870, which is all the motherboard supports. But if he reuses the PSU a few years down then... you've struck gold!
Click to expand...

500W is enough for a short period of time. The problem is that you don't want to load a PSU to that high of load for long periods of time. That 435W is 87% load of a 500W PSU.

Not to mention that another HardOCP review actually recommended a 650W PSU for a GTX 470:
http://hardocp.com/article/2010/04/27/gtx_480_470_power_supply_unit_buying_guide/
 
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