Building PC for mac user

[Corban227]

Pretty straight forward build for 1 purpose. Will be sharing this thread with him so he can take care of the leg work

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
For a friend. He is a mac user and wants to build a pc to play the New Civilization
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
500-600
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Denton Texas (I live in California next to a micro center to pick up parts for him if need be)
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.
Processor, Mobo, Videocard, Power supply, Case, Ram, Operating system, HDD/SDD, Mouse Keyboard, Monitor(outside of budget)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
26"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
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.
None
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No

 

[whateverer]

You are pushing the price of a Core i3 system with an RX 470 with Windows 10. Even with Microcenter involved, it's really tight, and you have to make all sorts of compromises like 8GB ram.

An extra $100 budget would make this way easier. Then you could afford a Core i5 and 16GB ram.

What is the resolution of that monitor? It's important, since at 1080p you might be able to get by with a GTX 1050 at $110.

 

[Corban227]

You are pushing the price of a Core i3 system with an RX 470 with Windows 10. Even with Microcenter involved, it's really tight, and you have to make all sorts of compromises like 8GB ram.

An extra $100 budget would make this way easier. Then you could afford a Core i5 and 16GB ram.

What is the resolution of that monitor? It's important, since at 1080p you might be able to get by with a GTX 1050 at $110.

I told him the same thing. I dont know the resolution off the top of my head, but i will find out. what would a build look like with 100 extra dollars in the budget. I might be able to convince him to push for it

 

[whateverer]

I told him the same thing. I dont know the resolution off the top of my head, but i will find out. what would a build look like with 100 extra dollars in the budget. I might be able to convince him to push for it

Okay, you'll need to go to Microcenter and pick up the Intel Core i5 6500 motherboard combo. The cheapest one with an H110 board starts at $210.


Then you need this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Memory: GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 470 4GB ARMOR OC Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($85.70 @ My Choice Software)
Total: $479.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-09 15:09 EST-0500

You might be able to find Windows cheaper if you abuse the Windows 10 upgrade path for blind people. There's a guy in the FSFT forum that regularly sells Windows 7 keys for a few bucks.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade

Assuming you don't want to fudge your way to Windows, The only way to get it down below $600 is to swap the i5 for and i3, and the ram down to 8GB.

 

[sinisterDei]

I want to warn that the system will likely 'feel' slow compared to his Mac if his Mac has a SSD and this new PC has only a mechanical drive. An inexpensive SSD will have lower capacity than the 1 TB, but the system will feel significantly faster in normal operation. For low end buyers, I'm a fan of Crucial's MX300 series since they're low cost and slightly higher capacity than my preferred brand (Samsung). The MX300 275 GB drive is $70 with Prime shipping on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-275GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B01IAGSD5O and it's available at similar prices elsewhere. That's a few bucks more than the 1 TB mechanical drive, and obviously only 25% of the size, but it'd be the difference between the perception of the machine as sluggish and snappy.

If his current Mac has only a mechanical drive, it may not be as big of a perception issue. It's a matter of meeting expectations, and folks who have used SSD based systems before expect that level of performance going forward.