Build Advice for Friend

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r0b0t

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Oct 30, 2005
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Hello,
A friend wanted me to spec out a pc for her. She does some light gaming, but wants to be able to play Diablo 3 when it is released. Otherwise, she is not too picky about components. She was looking at a Dell with an E8400 and a 4350 512 MB for $1200 CDN and I thought I could do better. That being said, I know a bunch of people on this board can do way better than myself.

Newegg.ca or NCIX.com would be preferred vendors.

Any help would be appreciated!! Thanks in advance.


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
-Some gaming, some photoshop. Nothing too intensive.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
-$1200 CDN after tax and shipping, but cheaper is better. A suggested cheaper alternative would be great as well, since I think she thought she had to spend >$1000 CDN to upgrade.
3) Where do you live?
-Calgary, Canada
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
-Motherboard, CPU, RAM, Vid Card, 24" Monitor, PSU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
500GB SATA HDD, Case, Optical Drive, mouse, keyboard, Licensed copy of Vista
6) Will you be overclocking?
-No
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
-Would like a 24" monitor included in this budget
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
-The next week or so
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
-None
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
-Yes, Vista
 
enginurd said:
Quick question, what is she upgrading from?
Click to expand...

Good question.

She had an ASUS A8N-VM-CSM MB and just used the onboard video which is a GeForce 6150, 1GB RAM - not sure what CPU but you get the picture.
 
This would be a nice upgrade for the budget. This will certainly run Diablo 3 on a 24"

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8ghz + XFX Radeon HD 4770 512MB both for $244.98
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.280373

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 for $89.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 for $98.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

Antec Earthwatts EA650 for $89.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

ASUS VW246H 24" for $239.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Total: $763.94 before shipping and taxes
 
Oh, look, its that X3 build for ~$700. :p Thought it was under $700? oh, its CAN$ and she wants a 24". Nice.

r0b0, which model case and optical drives will she be re-using?
 
Wow, thanks a lot HardwareGuru! That would definitely be a nice upgrade at a nice price.

Enginurd, I will have to get back to you with that info. We are at work right now and I will have to wait until she gets home to find out which case and optical drive she has.

Thanks again for the help!
 
The board you listed is mATX, so she may have a mATX case (HG listed a full ATX board). If she doesn't know the model, just take a pic and post it -- she may or may not need a new case, also depends on its cooling capability (you typically want 2x 120mm fans). If the optical drive is PATA, you may want to upgrade it to SATA.
 
Ok, just saw she has an old, mid size Antec case. I just checked and there is room for an ATX MB in the case. There is also room for 2 x 120mm fans.

The current optical drives are indeed PATA. I think she will be ok re-using them, unless there is a signifigant reason to replace them.

I told her she would need to upgrade her PSU, assuming it was junk. I just found out is a Sparkle SPI ATX-400PN 400 Watts ATX12V 2.01. Any thoughts?
 
Yep. Junk PSU, replace it.

Lian Li, Antec, Coolermaster... look around and whatever she likes with at least one 120mm intake and one 120mm exhaust (more obviously being better), grab it.
 
FYI, front USB ports are the same for 1.1 and 2.0. ;) They connect to the controller, and thats what determines their speed -- no mechanical difference between the two versions. USB3.0 is another story, though.

She has two optical drives? There's probably no real reason to keep both, just one, and hopefully, its a DVD Burner. :p
 
HardwareGuru said:
Yup, the Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU will be more than enough for her needs.
Click to expand...

Right on, that should make things easy. Thanks HardwareGuru!


enginurd said:
FYI, front USB ports are the same for 1.1 and 2.0. ;) They connect to the controller, and thats what determines their speed -- no mechanical difference between the two versions. USB3.0 is another story, though.

She has two optical drives? There's probably no real reason to keep both, just one, and hopefully, its a DVD Burner. :p
Click to expand...

Good to know about the USB ports, I had no idea.

Yeah, Good point about the optical drives. I never have needed a 2nd.

Thanks again to everyone for the great advice. My friend is very excited about her new build! This is more than enough information for her to weigh her options and make an educated decision.
 
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