System for a friend :D
 

So im helping a friend build a system for a low budget (roughly $300 once a month) and am wondering your thoughts on what i have picked out so far.

Thermaltake Commander MS-I Snow Edition ATX Mid Tower USB3.0
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=046014

OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Power Supply
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=020479

MSI Z77A-G43 Socket 1155 Intel Z77 Chipset DDR3
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=047788

OR

Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP Socket 1155 Intel Z77 Chipset Dual Channel DDR3
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=050847

Intel Series 330 120GB 2.5" SATA3 6Gb/s Solid State Drive
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=047838

Asus HD7770-DC-1GD5-V2
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=050283

Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=041084

Intel Core i5-3450 Quad-Core Socket 1155
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=045428

We plan to assemble over 2 or 3 months when his $$$ allows. Thoughts on parts or alternatives for better or equal pricing is appreciated :D

anyone?

I would drop the SSD or get a bigger one. 120Gb isn't a lot of storage, unless you can fit a rotational media drive in that budget. Both mobos look good, I've used Gigabyte and it acted a little weird before a BIOS update. I've had zero issues with MSI motherboards though (none that weren't my own fault that is. ;) )

My advice;

Change the Intel SSD for this one; [same price/size after mir, and its faster]
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=039124

Change the Asus7770 for this one; [only cost 4usd more, but the performance is way ahead]
http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=038937

Yea we are looking at adding 1.5 to 2TB HDD in the future, the SSD is just to get him going. He only plans to play BF3, D3 and WoW for the foreseeable future.

@MasterInvader, He's an AMD guy so the 7770 is the best in the budget for him although we have discussed getting the 7770 for now and maybe adding a $200-250 card in the new year. I'lll def throw the SSD on the short list, though im not a big fan of mail-in rebates. I prefer to see the weekly deals at the store and just go by those discounts (thats how i got my LG IPS for $148 instead of $198). The 7770 is being bought 1st as the deal lasts till the 7th or th 9th of Sept, the rest will be decided by the deals that are available on the 31st.

I would consider 7850, its a good deal more powerful than 7770 and not too much more expensive in terms of price/perf depending on how the offer goes. You might also want to consider other 3xxx processors depending on prices.

I would go with the gigabyte board, I have had many issues with the lower end MSI boards.

Also instead of 7770 get a 6870?

Looks fine to me for a budget build.
Just add a large capacity mechanical drive later when has the need to download whatever.

this person is coming from HD4200 lappy so the GPU will be more than enough.

If you settle for the Radeon 7770 this could be a good deal - MSI Radeon HD 7770 for $99.99 after $25 savings & $15 rebate but it ends 8/31..
But I guess with price cuts across 7000 series you might find such prices common in the coming weeks..

so i went with this setup so far. Core i3 2120 3.3ghz ($134), Asus B75M-LE mobo ($85 good deal IMO), and 2 x 4GB Patriot Signature 1600mhz ($35 on sale). At the end of this month im going for a PSU, case, SSD and hopefully a GFX card (if not, he'll use the Intel HD 2000 for a month and get a better GFX card than a 7770).

$35 for those sticks is a steal man. IMO, I would had bumped down to the 2100 for the extra $20 and put it into a better board, that's just me though. I would look into seeing if you can get a 2nd hand 560Ti, these things are pretty good.

the 2120 was the only dual core in stock at the store, and the board is alright for entry lvl ( he doesn't plan to O/C). I also found it better to get that B75 and support for IB out of the box when he decides to go quad core.

Also, Canada Computers website was down all morning so i couldnt look for deals before hand, i just had to try and see all the deals on the price tags in store >_<

So, can anyone recommend a PSU, SSD, and GFX (case is already picked out @ $55 but include that into the overall total) for $340 taxes inc. ? Would like the SSD to be 120GB but brand is up to you guys.

Any Antec/Seasonic/Corsair 500w would be fine for this build, maybe look at tier 2 suppliers such as OCZ/ Coolermaster etc if you can get 600w+

OCZ Vertex3 are the best price/perf SSD drives right now

HD 7770 is a solid choice for light/medium gaming, if you can, stretch to an 7850 or equivalent but overall for a budget build I think the parts you already have and the ones I have set out above would make a rather nice budget gamer

ya the GFX is temporary, he intends to get something beefier around Dec/Jan.

I would personally take the Mushkin Chronos 120GB even without the Mail-in Rebate it's a good price: http://www.canadacomputers.com/produ...item_id=040421

Good find :D

Also, would a 550Ti be better than a 7750/70 ?

The 550 Ti is faster than the HD 7750 but slower than the HD 7770. Take a factory overclocked HD 7770.

why build now then?

If $$ is a problem, why waste it on an ssd? Theirs still 0 need to have one, its a luxury item.

+1

money isnt overly a problem, he only has a fixed amount each month to spend and HE wants the SSD now and to grab a 1TB the month after this. Gfx wise, that is what he stated, he may just be satisfied with a 7770 or 550Ti.

He's never had a desktop before and wants to build a good one that will last. The best way to do that is to buy a few pieces at a time each month until its working, he's using a laptop atm with HD4200 gfx so im sure any card will be an improvement anyhow.

Also, the lappy is somewhat beat up... missing some keys, etc. I could always salvage the SATA drives from that and put it in the new rig.

a 7770 or 550Ti wont "Last" and buying the ssd on a fixed income build still makes 0 sense... This is where you as the person he clearly believes knows more then he does about desktops tells him this stuff

not everyone needs the latest and greatest stuff. Why not get an SSD at current prices? prices are right atm and why reinstall Win 7 twice? he only plays D3 and is going to start playing BF3, he's not a HUGE gamer. So the choices i've made or am deciding on are great starting points that he can upgrade in the future. A 120GB SSD makes "sense" for the above reasons and the fact that my friend WANTS a SSD to start with. Im not giving him bad advice in any shape or form. A regular HDD can come in a month or so, its not like he's going to suffer in 30 days :p