Building a PC for a friend, suggestions welcome

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stephen0983

Gawd
Joined
Feb 3, 2010
Messages
677
) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Some gaming, like Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2, and everyday stuff
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1000 tops, yes
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Yes, Indiana, no decent stores around. Newegg, amazon are preferred
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, power supply, monitor... Pretty much everything but a keyboard, mouse, speakers.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
just input devices and speakers
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I would like to get a dell u2412 for this build, maybe the 23" version if the $$ is needed elsewhere in the budget
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
in about 2 weeks
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.
USB 3.0, sli/crossfire not needed
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 64 bit is needed
Other details: I would like to get a SSD for the PC as well, maybe just a 64GB one (I'm not sure if they make anything between a 64 and 128 that's good at it's pricepoint ) if it's within budget. as far as GPU I'm not looking for high-end, he'll be happy to play games on high settings as opposed to ultra-high. He does not need a huge hard drive, 1TB would be fine. Also, blu-ray is not wanted at all, so DVD-RW is good.
 
Is he planning on playing any other games besides the ones you've listed?

Also, any SSD below the 120GB size are generally crap values for the money. So you're better off starting off at 120GB if you want a good bang for the buck SSD.
 
Do you really need the Dell U2412M or an SSD? This is what $1000 can buy this weekend:

$272 - Intel Core i5-3470 and MSI H77MA-G43 combo
$50 - Crucial 8GB DDR3 1333 DIMM
$250 - EVGA 02G-P4-2763-KR GTX 760 2GB video card
$63 - WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB hard drive
$16 - Asus DRW-24F1ST SATA DVD burner (includes 20% discount promo code EMCXMVN35, expires 9/2)
$58 - Corsair CX500 500 watt power supply
$44 - NZXT Source 210 Elite ATX mid-tower case
$91 - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM DVD
$158 - Asus VS247H-P 23.6 inch 1920x1080 e-IPS monitor
=====
$1002 - Subtotal (not including taxes or rebates)

The Dell monitors each cost upwards of $190 and a good 120GB SSD (we don't recommend 64GB as that's too little space for most users) costs at least $100. You could make compromises on the processor, the video card, and the monitor to fit in an SSD, but could you live with the potential frame rate hit? (Remember that SSDs only load programs faster than HDDs. They don't improve frame rates as much as a good video card.)

The above prices are pretty much good for this weekend only. We'd have to essentially restart from scratch next week.
 
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No, the SSD is just a "nice to have" feature, thought I'd bring it up since adding one down the line is kind of a pain.

And yeah, he will play a game on the console if it's available there, otherwise he'll play on the PC. It's more a everyday use PC than strictly for gaming, and if he can spend $800 rather than $1000 he'd be all the happier

And damn that's a nice PC for $1002. I don't think he is going to need all the muscle of that GPU and i5, however. I was looking more at like a Radeon 7790 and an i3 3240; he did specifically say he doesn't want to spend too much on a graphics card, I guess since he plays the consoles more often. I really like the rest of the build and it's got me wondering if there are any cpu/mobo combos for the i3, then again like you mentioned maybe it's best to wait until he's ready to purchase.
 
Which games is your friend interested in playing on this PC? (Besides Diablo III or Starcraft 2.)

What "everyday stuff" will he do?
 
I went ahead and passed that build along to him, with the compromises you listed on the cpu and video card, which came out to like $872, and mentioned he can save another $70 if he wants more of a budget graphics card. Seeing as how he is coming from a 6 year old PC, this will be a huge step foward for him and will have room for improvement should he get more into PCs in general.

Thanks for the help
 
So you guys are buying this weekend? Or are you waiting until he has the funds to buy everything later?

And you never answered my earlier questions.
 
Your friend should also budget for an external USB 3 HDD to back up the PC.
 
Get one based off a 1 TB 2.5" HDD. I bought a couple of Samsung M3s and have been very pleased with them. They're fast and physically small, which means you can easily put one in a jacket pocket or a purse.
 
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tiraides said:
So you guys are buying this weekend? Or are you waiting until he has the funds to buy everything later?

And you never answered my earlier questions.
Click to expand...

Originally he said a couple weeks, now I guess he's ready to buy, it happens to us all lol. And I must have replied when you posted that, did not see it. Everyday stuff would be social media, Netflix, email, MS Office. It's kind of why I listed the gaming part first since that's the most resource heavy thing he'll be doing

On another note, seeing as how he's ready to order today, I need to find a new i3 combo deal if there is one, as the one you listed expired
 
Does he already have a license for Office, or does that need to be included in the budget? Because if the latter is the case, it will change everything.
 
Quartz-1 said:
Does he already have a license for Office, or does that need to be included in the budget? Because if the latter is the case, it will change everything.
Click to expand...

Yeah he's covered there.

Well the order was placed a few hours ago. He did choose the 7870, I think after doing a bit of research he was comfortable spending that on a graphics card. Ended up taking a combo deal on newegg for the CPU + dvd burner, and getting an ASRock ATX motherboard (the $85) one. With shoprunner free shipping and amazon prime the building will begin soon! Final damage = $880
 
Quartz-1 said:
Your friend should also budget for an external USB 3 HDD to back up the PC.
Click to expand...

Oh and I did bring this up, cause it's often overlooked. Though we didn't put it in the shopping cart quite yet, as it's not pertinent to the build
 
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