Build for Friend: $900

C

Cmustang87

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 4, 2007
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1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, Maybe some programming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$900 for final
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Michigan, USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case with everything in it. CPU, RAM, PSU, HDD/SSD, GPU, Mobo, Case
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
N/A
6) Will you be overclocking?
Not that important
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1080p
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This weekend
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.
None of these features are that important. SATAIII and USB 3.0 are probably the only thing that matter to him
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes

He lives near a Microcenter, so that is a viable option. The only builds he has found so far, are with a GeForce 750ti and a 650ti. I told him those aren't that good of cards. He builds every 4-5 years so i was hoping to get him into an R9 270X.
 
This is what I have so far:

jdqbqYh.png


Get that equipment with the Microcenter 4670K + Asus Z87-A combo for $264.98.

Can this be improved at all?
 
motolube said:
Perhaps a smaller SSD + a spinner for DATA purposes?
This http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W01AZ5378 ... don't forget the promocode inside

This http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...14-Index-_-InternalHardDrives-_-22136941-L03B + this EMCPHHB26.
Click to expand...

Wrong spinner. It is not intended for PCs, but rather professional console-type media recorders, to begin with. Second, it is expensive for a drive that spins at only 5400 RPM (in fact, one can get the 7200 RPM WD Blue for the same price or less). And no spinner ever had continuously or even stepped variable spindle motors (such a feature in such a tiny motor would have increased the cost of the drive by several hundred dollars); instead, WD "IntelliPower" drives spin at a single, fixed speed that's significantly lower than 7200 RPM and then completely spin themselves down to a complete stop after a period of idle.

As for the OP's choice of SSD, it is not the best choice even at that price point since it is Sandforce-based - and Sandforce-based SSDs suffer from relatively poor write performance with incompressible data (which, unfortunately, happens to be a lot of files involved in general-purpose computing including OS operation).
 
Were they all that he purchased so far? Which model is the Rosewill PSU?
 
E4g1e said:
Wrong spinner. It is not intended for PCs, but rather professional console-type media recorders, to begin with. Second, it is expensive for a drive that spins at only 5400 RPM (in fact, one can get the 7200 RPM WD Blue for the same price or less). And no spinner ever had continuously or even stepped variable spindle motors (such a feature in such a tiny motor would have increased the cost of the drive by several hundred dollars); instead, WD "IntelliPower" drives spin at a single, fixed speed that's significantly lower than 7200 RPM and then completely spin themselves down to a complete stop after a period of idle.

As for the OP's choice of SSD, it is not the best choice even at that price point since it is Sandforce-based - and Sandforce-based SSDs suffer from relatively poor write performance with incompressible data (which, unfortunately, happens to be a lot of files involved in general-purpose computing including OS operation).
Click to expand...

I recently upgraded from the hdd to the kingston v300. I mainly use my sandforce ssd to run the os and other programs. It does just fine for my general purpose usage and i can see a world of difference.
 
Private_Ops said:
That 750ti is on par with an R7 260X and if that Rosewill PSU is a newer model they're not to bad.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that Rosewill Stallion 700W is one of Rosewill's older and very shitty models. The red voltage selector on the back is a dead-giveaway of that fact.
 
Your friend needs to return both the Rosewill Stallion 700W and the GTX 750 Ti.

For gaming, he needs to look at nothing less than a GTX 760. Fortunately, he doesn't need a 700-watt power supply for that GPU alone.

At the top of my head, he needs to look at:

Intel Core i5-4670K and MSI Z77-G41 PC Mate (Micro Center in-store bundle)
One of the SATA DVD burners under $20 from Micro Center
1x8GB or 2x4GB DDR3 1600 RAM (ideally, one 8GB stick for starters)
GTX 760
Samsung 840 EVO 120GB or 240GB SSD (I recommend the 240GB model)
1TB HDD (Micro Center has a few available for $60 or less)
A good (if not great) PSU of at least 430 watts (e.g. Corsair CX500)
Corsair 200R (or better ATX mid-tower case)
 
Private_Ops said:
That 750ti is on par with an R7 260X and if that Rosewill PSU is a newer model they're not to bad.

Whats the rest of the system?
Click to expand...

The link in my OP is a R9 270X, probably twice the card the 750ti is.

tiraides said:
Your friend needs to return both the Rosewill Stallion 700W and the GTX 750 Ti.

For gaming, he needs to look at nothing less than a GTX 760. Fortunately, he doesn't need a 700-watt power supply for that GPU alone.

At the top of my head, he needs to look at:

Intel Core i5-4670K and MSI Z77-G41 PC Mate (Micro Center in-store bundle)
One of the SATA DVD burners under $20 from Micro Center
1x8GB or 2x4GB DDR3 1600 RAM (ideally, one 8GB stick for starters)
GTX 760
Samsung 840 EVO 120GB or 240GB SSD (I recommend the 240GB model)
1TB HDD (Micro Center has a few available for $60 or less)
A good (if not great) PSU of at least 430 watts (e.g. Corsair CX500)
Corsair 200R (or better ATX mid-tower case)
Click to expand...

I already told him all of this, but he didn't listen to me. This is now twice someone had consulted me on building a computer and went completely against what I recommended. He could have had a Corsair 500R Case, with a CX600 PSU, R9 270X, 240GB SSD, FX-6300 CPU for about 950 shipped and everything.
 
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