Build advice for a friend.

[Gorilla]

So a friend of mine is building a rig for his family. His brother does some gaming, his mom does some video editing. He asked my advice about this setup.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
His brother will be doing some gaming. His mom wants to edit videos, photos, etc.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1,000.00 including tax and shipping.

3) Where do you live?
Pike Creek, Delaware

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word
Basically everything except for a keyboard and mouse. See the list of parts below.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Keyboard and mouse.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24" 1080P

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
He wants to place the order tonight or tomorrow.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI
support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
No special features. USB 3.0 is nice to have, but not super necessary.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No, he will be buying Windows 7. (Please let me know if there is a cheaper option than newegg).


This is the list he sent me. I'm pretty sure it can be improved on.
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817139005
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822145475
VGA: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814127510
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820231311
CASE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811129021
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16819115067
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813128425
Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16824236102
O/S: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16832116754
DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16827106335

A few things to consider.
His family will probably use this until it dies.

I told him that the antec 900 is outdated, but I don't know what else is out there. There must be something better than the antec 900 in terms of cable routing, noise, cooling, etc.

Should he consider a SSD with a hdd for storage?

I don't think he his beholden to Nvidia, so I'm guessing there is probably something better for less in the ATI category (like a 6870?).

Should he be looking at something like a 2500K instead of the i5 760?

Thanks. Like I said, he plans to order this ASAP, so rapid responses are appreciated.

 

[E4g1e]

If he needs the system right away, I would make several changes to that build:

1. That Antec Nine Hundred case is not worth the hassle of a rebate. In fact, the rebate would have to be at least $50 in order to be even worth purchasing at all. As it stands, it is way overpriced at $100 shipped, considering that it is really cramped on the inside (especially from rear to front).

2. The hard drive that you chose is only a 5900 rpm model with relatively slow seek/random access speeds. That kind of drive is not as well-suited to OS use as faster 7200+ rpm drives or SSDs.

3. The DVD drive he chose is also significantly overpriced compared to other bulk DVD drives: It costs a whopping $31 shipped. Many of the other DVD drives that you could have chosen cost much closer to $20 shipped.

4. The GTX 460 1GB he chose isn't bad for a card with better-than-reference cooling. But at $200 shipped, it is a bit overpriced for its performance given that you can get an HD 6850 that performs nearly as well for about $30 less or a better-performing HD 6870 for just a little bit more.

 

[Gorilla]

Yeah, I think I've steered him away from the antec 900, but towards what I'm not sure.

Good point about the hdd.

I think I've got him set on a 6870.

I've also directed him towards a 2500k and a sandy bridge build.

 

[Dangman]

Case wise, I recommend these cases over the Antec 900 any day of the week:
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$106 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$110 - NZXT Whisper WHI - 001BK ATX Full Tower Case
$120 - Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case

I recommend this PSU over the Corsair due to the lower price and slightly higher quality:
$80 - Antec Truepower New TP-650 650W PSU

Due to the budget, I don't think a SSD is gonna fit here. I recommend this hard drive:
$65 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Since there's no chance of overclocking, go for the Core i5 2500 and a H67 motherboard. If there's a chance for overclocking, then go for the Core i5 2500K and a P67 motherboard.

GPU wise, I recommend this card:
$210 - XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card

And finally, go with this DVD burner:
$18 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner