$800 Build for Friend

[Starelementpoke]

Friend's going to high school next year and plans to take classes in Video Game design and other editing and rendering stuff. The school he's going to has you build your own computer to do the work so this is why I'm doing this. He also wants to play various games such as Battlefield Hardline(when it comes out) so the computer needs to be game worthy. Budget is $800 USD, and I'll probebly either use the Windows 10 demo thing or get a windows key off of reddit. This is what I came up with:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CjNgHx

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CjNgHx/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 V3 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($194.95 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($73.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.89 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($249.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $783.30

 

Chose the 16 gigs of ram cause of the editing and rendering stuff. Xeon's are I7's without igpus so there's that. One question though, amd is doing a thing where when you buy one of their gpu's you get free games codes with it. How do I tell the gpu I chose is part of that parade? Also, comments, suggestions?

 

[MeDownYou]

 

Friend's going to high school next year and plans to take classes in Video Game design and other editing and rendering stuff. The school he's going to has you build your own computer to do the work so this is why I'm doing this. He also wants to play various games such as Battlefield Hardline(when it comes out) so the computer needs to be game worthy. Budget is $800 USD, and I'll probebly either use the Windows 10 demo thing or get a windows key off of reddit. This is what I came up with:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CjNgHx

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CjNgHx/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 V3 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($194.95 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($73.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.89 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($249.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $783.30

 

Chose the 16 gigs of ram cause of the editing and rendering stuff. Xeon's are I7's without igpus so there's that. One question though, amd is doing a thing where when you buy one of their gpu's you get free games codes with it. How do I tell the gpu I chose is part of that parade? Also, comments, suggestions?

 

I like most of this...however... the case and power supply you choose quickly, and they are the life blood of the build in all honesty so, I'd try to find better ones.

 

Try this EVGA 500w they generally are more reliable. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100w10500kr

 

also...might as well go with the MSI card since it's the same price http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-912v308002

[Johannes_Lazor]

I wouldnt recommend a PSU smaller than 600 watts when using a R9 290, Id recommend these ones.

EVGA - Non-modular - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100b10600kr

Corsair - Semi-modular - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx600m

EVGA - Fully-modular - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-120g10650xr



When it comes to choose a R9 290/x it doesnt matter much unless there is heavy overclocking involved, Just dont get the ASUS DirectCUII, It has overheating issues if i remember correctly, Or some low quality brand.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Johannes_Lazor

[Starelementpoke]

I like most of this...however... the case and power supply you choose quickly, and they are the life blood of the build in all honesty so, I'd try to find better ones.

 

Try this EVGA 500w they generally are more reliable. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100w10500kr

 

also...might as well go with the MSI card since it's the same price http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-912v308002

 

I wouldnt recommend a PSU smaller than 600 watts when using a R9 290, Id recommend these ones.

EVGA - Non-modular - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100b10600kr

Corsair - Semi-modular - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx600m

EVGA - Fully-modular - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-120g10650xr

When it comes to choose a R9 290/x it doesnt matter much unless there is heavy overclocking involved, Just dont get the ASUS DirectCUII, It has overheating issues if i remember correctly, Or some low quality brand.

Thanks for the input, changed the psu but anyone know any good $32ish cases? Also, can someone answer my amd free game thing question?

[Johannes_Lazor]

Thanks for the input, changed the psu but anyone know any good $32ish cases? Also, can someone answer my amd free game thing question?

The "Never Settle" comes in a card with some numbers on it in the GPU box if im not mistaken.

These are some good cases for around 32 bucks.

ATX - BitFenix Neos(White) - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/bitfenix-case-bfcneo100wwxkwrp

                               (White-Red) - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/bitfenix-case-bfcneo100wwxkrrp

                               (White-Silver) - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/bitfenix-case-bfcneo100wwxksrp

M-ATX - Silverstone PS08B (Black) https://pcpartpicker.com/part/silverstone-case-ps08b

But that Thermaltake one is also pretty good.

[Starelementpoke]

The "Never Settle" comes in a card with some numbers on it in the GPU box if im not mistaken.

These are some good cases for around 32 bucks.

ATX - BitFenix Neos(White) - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/bitfenix-case-bfcneo100wwxkwrp

                               (White-Red) - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/bitfenix-case-bfcneo100wwxkrrp

                               (White-Silver) - https://pcpartpicker.com/part/bitfenix-case-bfcneo100wwxksrp

M-ATX - Silverstone PS08B (Black) https://pcpartpicker.com/part/silverstone-case-ps08b

But that Thermaltake one is also pretty good.

Thx, here's the updated list:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GYtKRB

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GYtKRB/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 V3 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($194.95 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($73.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.89 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($249.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: BitFenix Neos White ATX Mid Tower Case  ($33.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $784.30

[Johannes_Lazor]

 

Thx, here's the updated list:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GYtKRB

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GYtKRB/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 V3 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($194.95 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($73.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.89 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($249.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: BitFenix Neos White ATX Mid Tower Case  ($33.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $784.30

 

Looks good, What programs will he use, He may be better off with a 970 becouse of CUDA acceleration.

I think you should hear with him what programs he will use.

But having a 290 would not make him unable to use the programs.