Advice For Build For A Friend

[MDPS]

Hi,

 

Recently, my friend (who was another console peasant till now) got an interest in PC gaming and asked me to help him build a computer as he doesn't have a lot of experience or knowledge in the field. He said that he has a budget of $700 that he can stretch a little but not past, say, $725. Here's what I came up with for him and I wanted to know the LTT community's opinion on it and any changes I could make.

 

PC:

Case: Covered by another friend selling his old mid-tower to this friend for $20

 

Case Cooling: Covered by me giving him some of my old 120mms for free (maybe B) [jk])

 

Motherboard: GIGABYTE 970A DBIOS + HDAC AM3+ - $80

 

CPU: AMD FX-8350 (Yes I tried Intel first but not even a 4590 would fit in the budget) - $175

 

CPU Cooling: Hyper 212 EVO - $30

 

GPU: GTX750Ti Superclocked @1176MHz 2GB (Yes I tried a 960, but wouldn't fit. I don't have much experience with AMD GPUs though so maybe theres one better than this for about the same price) - $140

 

RAM: G.Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 - $46

 

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 3.5" 1TB - $51 (A 500GB is $45 so wouldn't be worth downgrading this)

 

PSU: Corsair CX600 Watt Semi-Modular - $70 (Same price as a non-modular so might as well)

 

OS: Covered by a friend for free

 

Peripherals/Accessories:

 

Network Card: Unsure at this moment but he'll probably need it as he doesn't have direct access to ethernet

 

Monitor: AOC LED 20" 1600 x 900 - $65 (Cheapest monitor I could find that can connect to the 750Ti)

 

Keyboard/Mouse: Unsure at this moment for keyboard. He can probably make do with some $10 office one but would like a gaming mouse. I have a spare Steelseries Rival I could give him so he's covered.

 

 

So those are my selections. Anything you can suggest to change or does it look good?

 

 

 

[CydiaDash]

How could you not fit intel in???

[spwath]

No, you dont want that CPU on that board.

 

I think you should be able to fit an i3.

 

But, if not, you need a 990FX motherboard

[shypin]

you should probably buy used if your budget is really that short

[asiancorruption]

the 950 just came out. If you wanted something closer to the 960s performance. 

[Bob Jim]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.88 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: MSI H81M-E34 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($53.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.78 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 390 8GB PCS+ Video Card ($314.98 @ Newegg)

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($40.00 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $734.60

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-28 17:04 EDT-0400

I5 4460 and an R9 390 for $9 over the $725, which if you are a good friend you would give him R9 390 is better than the GTX 970 btw.

[adams]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.88 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: MSI H81M-E34 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($53.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.78 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 390 8GB PCS+ Video Card ($314.98 @ Newegg)

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($40.00 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $734.60

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-28 17:04 EDT-0400

I5 4460 and an R9 390 for $9 over the $725, which if you are a good friend you would give him R9 390 is better than the GTX 970 btw.

This Build Is Good!

[Mew]

Here you go, with room to spare. 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($176.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($39.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($41.60 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply  ($27.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Acer G236HLBbd 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  ($26.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $610.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-28 17:13 EDT-0400

[PINKmonster325]

Go with one of the above parts lists for sure, but keep in mind that the peripherals can be more important than the computer itself; I'd rather play a game on low settings on a good monitor with a nice keyboard, good mouse, etc than be able to play crysis 3 on ultra but use a low resolution monitor and a crappy keyboard+mouse from the dollar store or whatever. SInce he is a former console gamer, you might want to offer a usb controller or adapter for his current controller. Also remember that since you built the computer, you'll probably have to fix it in the future, or at the very least do occasional maintenance in the case that he is not a techie. All of this being said, your build looks fine and so do all of the other builds posted here. As far as a mouse goes, most logitech mice are amazing, the g402 looks like a nice budget mouse. If you can fit it in your budget, you can usually get a razer mechanical keyboard for under $70. Cheers!

 

Edit: For that cheap of a build, an i3 should be good if you want intel; it won't bottleneck most low end graphics cards and has better single threaded performance than the amd afaik.

[MDPS]

KING OF DA SNIPPING!!!!

Ok Thanks. I think I'd go with this build but give/sell him my mouse instead of the combo as thats what I originally bought and the mouse was terrible. I just have the keyboard now. I think that'll work really well with his budget and maybe I could pick him out an SSD or a better CPU (i5-4590 probably) with his leftover budget.