Newish build advice please.

Smititty

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My buddy is looking to get another desktop pc. He will mainly use it for web browsing although we do game sometimes. Games would pretty much be free MMO's and maybe some Source engine games.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mainly web browsing with some gaming tossed in there.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$500
3) Where do you live?
NW Indiana
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, MoBo, RAM Video Card, PSU, OS HDD
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Case, DVD burner, maybe a storage HDD
6) Will you be overclocking?
Nope
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I'm pretty sure he has an old LG 19" LCD. Fullscreen, not wide. He may upgrade his screen in the future, but it wouldn't be any crazy jump is resolution.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next week or two.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
nothing fancy
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Pretty sure he has a 32-bit copy of Windows XP.


I've been pretty out of the loop as the last system I built was my Core 2 Duo rig when those first came out. I do have some parts picked out but I'm never certain what is current/last gen or what is an obsolete socket. So steer me on the right path if I'm straying.

We aren't limiting ourselves to AMD/Intel or Nvidia/ATi. We'll go with whatever is the best bang for the buck.

CPU
MoBo
Video Card - should we go with a 57xx series card?
RAM
OS HDD
No idea about the power supply.

All that takes us to $417. So add in a power supply and tweak the CPU/mobo/video card to take us to $500.
 
$190 - AMD Phenom II X4 925 CPU + BIOSTAR A770E3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD MotherboardCombo
$50 - Patriot 2GB PSD32G13332 DDR3 1333 RAM
$160 - XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$55 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
----
Total: $505 plus tax and shipping

Yes $5 over but you get a significantly faster CPU and GPU. Yes the Corsair 400W PSU will be enough for the above setup.
 
CPU/MoBo

Would this mobo combo be a little more trustworthy?
I know newegg reviews aren't the end all be all in determining a mobo's stability, but the Gigabyte one is much better reviewed for a minimal price increase.
Plus, it has onboard video which could come in hand if we ever have to RMA the video card.
 
Performance wise, the build that Danny listed earlier is fast for the budget. Here's another alternative. It's a cheaper build under $500. It will be slower than the build that Danny listed but, you should still be ok with this setup

AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9ghz + GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 both for $164.98 ($15 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.335013

XFX Radeon HD 4770 + Antec NEO ECO 520C both for $154.98 ($15 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.339702

Patriot Gaming Series 4Gb DDR3 1333 for $96.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220468

Seagate Barracuda 500GB for $54.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

Total: $471.94 + $11.87(shipping) = $483.81

You won't need the 4GB of RAM for WinXp. But, I figured I throw that in just in case you move to Win 7 64bit later on.
 
I'm thinking we may go with the setup Danny Bui linked up except for the CPU/MoBo combo.

CPU/MoBo

Thinking about leaving out the video card for now, as the onboard video should be able to play the one game we play all the time (Atlantica Online). Then when we find a new game or Diablo 3 comes out we can toss a video card in there.

Plus, he can't find his copy of XP so we have to figure in $100 for Windows 7 now.
 
eeewww onboard.... glwt

throw win 7 rc on there, you can get 3 months of use ( I think)
 
I wish, the RC is ending March 1st. I actually need to put Vista back on my main computer because of that. :(
 
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