Lifetime Mac User's Brother Looking to Build

C

chrissphinx

n00b
Joined
Apr 3, 2011
Messages
27
Hey everyone, I'm the user from this thread: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1598483

I'm back because my brother is insanely jealous and would like a gaming PC of his own. Since you guys were so awesome last time, I thought I'd ask again and see how good of a build you could make him.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming (Minecraft, Skyrim) and web browsing.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
He's aiming for under $1,000.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Kalamazoo, MI.
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.
Gonna need the full package: case, mobo, CPU, RAM, GFX card, PSU, HD, CD drive (maybe), speakers and keyboard & mouse.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
No reusable parts. :(
6) Will you be overclocking?
Nope.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I'm sure he's gonna want something that will run 1080p.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In the next couple of 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)? etc.
Preferably mATX as he's not going to need a bunch of PCIe or RAM slots.
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 need to get a copy of Win 7. I think I have this taken care of, though.

Here's what he's picked out so far, but he's definitely not attached to anything:

$55 - Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW
$75 - MSI 880GM-E41 AM3 AMD 880G mATX

We're still looking around for the rest, and some things like mouse & keyboard and speakers we could potentially buy locally so maybe don't worry about those. But I just wanted to throw this up to see if you guys knew about any really solid deals newegg is running for the end of the year.

As a side note, I'm also looking for a HSF for my PC if anyone has any good ideas. ;)
 
chrissphinx said:
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 need to get a copy of Win 7. I think I have this taken care of, though.
Click to expand...
Oh? And how will you be taking care of that?
chrissphinx said:
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I'm sure he's gonna want something that will run 1080p.
Click to expand...
So he doesn't have a monitor or what? If he's planning on buying a new monitor, when is he planning on doing so? Also, is that monitor part of the $1000 budget?

chrissphinx said:
But I just wanted to throw this up to see if you guys knew about any really solid deals newegg is running for the end of the year.
Click to expand...
Actually, today newegg has this PSU deal going on:
$60 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU

So if anything, buy that PSU today! As for the parts your bro has selected so far, scrap them. They're not that good for the money.
 
Danny Bui said:
Oh? And how will you be taking care of that?
Click to expand...
I was going to get the student discounted version here: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/productID.216644200

Danny Bui said:
So he doesn't have a monitor or what? If he's planning on buying a new monitor, when is he planning on doing so? Also, is that monitor part of the $1000 budget?
Click to expand...
He needs to buy a monitor with the build, yes it needs to be included in the price.

Danny Bui said:
Actually, today newegg has this PSU deal going on:
$60 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU

So if anything, buy that PSU today! As for the parts your bro has selected so far, scrap them. They're not that good for the money.
Click to expand...
I'll recommend he grab that PSU.
 
If you're ready, get the following now:

$167 - Intel Core i5 2300 (with 10% discount promo code used, expires 12/31)
$80 - Biostar TH67B
$35 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10666CL9D-8GBNT 2x4GB DDR3 1333
$230 - EVGA 01G-P3-1561-KR GTX 560 Ti 1GB
$17 - LG GH22NS90B SATA DVD burner
$105 - Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB SATA 6Gb/s HDD (with $20 discount promo code used, expires 1/2)
$60 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU
$40 - NZXT Source 210 Elite (with 20% discount promo code used, expires 12/29)
$21 - Logitech MK120 USB keyboard/mouse set
$16 - Logitech S120 2.0 speaker set
$140 - Acer G245HQABD 23.6" 1920x1080 monitor
=====
$911 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

I couldn't find any good combo deals, but I found three good promo codes to keep everything under $1000 before shipping and taxes. The kicker is that I chose parts with a greater emphasis on cost over my normal best-bang-per-buck strategy.

Case in point, the HDD: That isn't the best performance 1TB drive available today, but the promo code makes it a steal compared to other drives within its "price range." (Keep in mind that we have no clue when HDD prices will return to their pre-Thailand-floods levels -- and I heard that another storm may hit Thailand this weekend -- so you may want to grab it now while it's under $150. Regardless of its performance compared to other newer HDDs, it will still perform faster than your old non-Raptor HDDs.)

I went with the "generic" Logitech keyboard, mouse, and speakers (a 2.1 kit with a sub is only $10 more) to leave some wiggle room in your budget for other components. If you can't get a copy of Windows 7 using your .edu address, you'll bust your budget with an OEM copy of Windows 7 Home Premium.

If you have some room, even with the OS purchase, you may want to swap out the EVGA GTX 560 Ti for the newer version of the GTX 560 Ti with 448 shader cores. The performance level of the newer GTX 560 Ti is comparable to the GTX 570 for a fraction of the latter's cost. While you could save some money with an AMD card, Skyrim currently performs better with Nvidia cards.

Again, you need to buy everything by tomorrow to take advantage of most of the savings. In fact, one of the promo codes literally expires tomorrow!

(Oh, I haven't forgotten about your needs.... ;) )
 
Tiraiddes's build is pretty solid, and should keep your brother more than happy. Ask your brother though if he could raise the budget just that tad bit more (another $100 or 200 would be amazing), to get him to an i5 processor with a good MoBo plus the newer 560 Ti 448 shader. If so, that'd significantly improve the performance of the build, and probably keep him happy for years to come.
 
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