New Build for Friend

[Ripbrood]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Pc gaming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
700 total

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
USA. Arvada, CO. Microcenter is not far from me

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, Cpu, Ram, Mobo, Video,Power supply, Hdd, Cd drive, Monitor, Mouse and Keyboard

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Fresh build no parts

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
None

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within 3 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.
Possible sli in future, sata 6gb

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit

Now going to be honest with you guys he would like amd as his choice but if price is right I may be able to convince him to do intel. Only reason he has ran both and is fond of amd over his intel. So this is what I have to work with.

 

[tiraides]

What games does your friend want to play?

Forget about the level of eye candy for now. We won't be able to get a high-end video card without compromising in other areas.

Why do you "need" SLI/CrossFire support?

 

[Ripbrood]

BF4, Far Cry series, WoW, Path of exile, Those types of games. He wants sli/crossfire to upgrade to eventually to run more monitors but wants a starter package I guess you call it.

 

[tiraides]

Here's your starter package:

$80 - AMD FX 4130 Black Edition Socket AM3+ processor
$80 - MSI 970A-G46 Socket AM3+ ATX motherboard
$64 - Crucial Ballistix Sport VLP 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$200 - MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB PCI-E video card
$60 - Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB SATA 6Gb/s HDD
$16 - LG GH24NSB0 SATA DVD burner
$50 - Corsair CX500 500 watt power supply
$30 - MSI S-8810 ATX mid-tower case
$18 - Logitech Desktop MK120 USB keyboard/mouse set
$100 - AOC e2252Swdn 22 inch 1920x1080 LED monitor
=====
$698 - Total before shipping and taxes

I had to make some compromises to fit in everything you needed. If I had to identify future upgrades, I'd choose:

-- Video card: Either upgrade the GTX 660 to a newer, better card or find a second GTX 660 for SLI. If you go with the latter, you'll also need a new power supply of at least 650 watts.

-- SSD: This is more of an add-on than an upgrade; you should keep your HDD regardless. A good 120GB-to-256GB SSD (e.g., Samsung 840 EVO) serving as your primary drive will load games and programs faster than the SSD, but it won't improve frame rates (that depends on your GPU) or download speeds (your ISP controls that).

-- Monitor: I simply chose the cheapest 1080p monitor I could find. You may want to find one with a larger screen (or resolution, if not both, but you'll pay for the experience) and a faster refresh rate (the AOC monitor is rated at 5ms, though you may want one with 2ms for gaming).

-- Case: Sooner or later, you may want some more space to work with. The Corsair Carbide series cases (200R, 300R, 400R) are better yet more expensive alternatives to the MSI case.

If you want to improve overall performance, you need to increase your budget, go with an Intel-based quad-core, and grab the newer GTX 760 instead of the GTX 660. (I'm not recommending AMD video cards because the Litecoin trend has screwed up their pricing and availability.) If you're serious about future SLI use, then you should also go with a good 650-to-750 watt power supply now.

 

[Ripbrood]

Thanks I will let him know but do appreciate your input on this.