![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
Dad's turning 60 soon, and I want to build him a PC.
His current PC he has had for 10 years. It's a Sony PC that he bought opened box at Circuit City, lol, it even has a built in Sony mini disc player! I want something that he can play games on. Now I'm not an advocate for Sony especially in the desktop arena but it has lasted him for 10 years, with the only thing going out on it was the power supply. I think it has a P4 2.4ghz. He still uses it today for internet, word processing, editing videos, etc. So while I'd never buy a Sony PC, it's definitely time for an upgrade. He uses an xbox 360 on the side for racing games. New F1 game is coming out soon so now is the perfect time to build him one. He has stated that he wanted a quad.
I'm familiar with building pcs, but am not sure what exactly will last him for quite that long as I am the type to upgrade frequently. This computer he will probably have for a very long time, so it needs to be "bullet proof" in a sense. I want to use components that will last but also give fast performance like any gaming machine. Should I go with an i7 quad and XFX 5770 build? The 5770 seems like it runs cooler and theoretically would last longer than the higher up 5850 and 5870. Or should I go with a 5850 and buy an aftermarket heat sink? I know the 5850 runs cool at idle any how, but perhaps the 5770 is a better long term GPU? I'm definitely going with ATI regardless.
As for which i7 quad I'm not sure which one to go with. Budget I am trying to keep at $700 total for the system. I'm staying away from enthusiast motherboards, fancy cases, etc. and keeping the majority of the dough going towards the cpu and gpu. If you know of a good reliable i7 motherboard less than $120 let me know. Keeping things basic but wouldn't mind if OC options were available just in case he would need it 3 years down the road. PC I'm building would need to be quiet, but I got that covered. Usually it's the power supply fan that creates most of the noise. So need a psu that is quiet.
His current PC he has had for 10 years. It's a Sony PC that he bought opened box at Circuit City, lol, it even has a built in Sony mini disc player! I want something that he can play games on. Now I'm not an advocate for Sony especially in the desktop arena but it has lasted him for 10 years, with the only thing going out on it was the power supply. I think it has a P4 2.4ghz. He still uses it today for internet, word processing, editing videos, etc. So while I'd never buy a Sony PC, it's definitely time for an upgrade. He uses an xbox 360 on the side for racing games. New F1 game is coming out soon so now is the perfect time to build him one. He has stated that he wanted a quad.
I'm familiar with building pcs, but am not sure what exactly will last him for quite that long as I am the type to upgrade frequently. This computer he will probably have for a very long time, so it needs to be "bullet proof" in a sense. I want to use components that will last but also give fast performance like any gaming machine. Should I go with an i7 quad and XFX 5770 build? The 5770 seems like it runs cooler and theoretically would last longer than the higher up 5850 and 5870. Or should I go with a 5850 and buy an aftermarket heat sink? I know the 5850 runs cool at idle any how, but perhaps the 5770 is a better long term GPU? I'm definitely going with ATI regardless.
As for which i7 quad I'm not sure which one to go with. Budget I am trying to keep at $700 total for the system. I'm staying away from enthusiast motherboards, fancy cases, etc. and keeping the majority of the dough going towards the cpu and gpu. If you know of a good reliable i7 motherboard less than $120 let me know. Keeping things basic but wouldn't mind if OC options were available just in case he would need it 3 years down the road. PC I'm building would need to be quiet, but I got that covered. Usually it's the power supply fan that creates most of the noise. So need a psu that is quiet.
