Building a computer for a friend

[RCoon]

I think he just needs to start all over with his build post

Yep, but it actually looks pretty promising as a possible build suggestion IMO, 1TB instead of 2TB and its within budget!

 

[Vario]

Yep, but it actually looks pretty promising as a possible build suggestion IMO, 1TB instead of 2TB and its within budget!

Yeah I am lost without coffee in the morning. Thanks for the instant critic. I think its a good build, hell I'd build it. Throw in COUGAR CF-V12H Vortex Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid... for the second hsf and your right at $1500.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Yep, but it actually looks pretty promising as a possible build suggestion IMO, 1TB instead of 2TB and its within budget!

true, don't give up amp, you'll get it eventually

 

[Vario]

true, don't give up amp, you'll get it eventually

bahaha

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Yeah I am lost without coffee in the morning.

so so so very true. good thing I'm on my 4th cup



opps, nothing personal, but I didn't mean to hit the thanks button on that post.

 

[Vario]

so so so very true. good thing I'm on my 4th cup

I've had 2 but it isnt working maybe somethings wrong with me

edit: he needs a keyboard, well thats maybe something he should get. we can budget the keyboard in by the rebates that I didnt include price reductions on. Could also cut $30 off the case but that nzxt phantom is the flashiest case you can get for the money IMHO.

 

[RCoon]

I've had 2 but it isnt working maybe somethings wrong with me

Which GPU did you choose, as it shows up as a PSU link to a Corsair?

 

[Vario]

Which GPU did you choose, as it shows up as a PSU link to a Corsair?

Im such a nice guy to make this picture for you guys LOL

use the $50 in rebate savings to buy whatever keyboard he likes

He could save $60 by getting 8gb of ram but I think 16gb is really the best move. its just so damn expensive. when I bought ram 6 months ago it was only $70 for 16gb.

 

[RCoon]

http://i.imgur.com/v8dGdpU.jpg

Im such a nice guy to make this picture for you guys LOL

use the rebate savings to buy whatever keyboard he likes

+1, my seal of approval!
Extra fan is entirely optional though, could be put towards peripherals.

 

[Vario]

+1, my seal of approval!
Extra fan is entirely optional though, could be put towards peripherals.

true because you get 3 fans with the case already, and if its not overclocked that 3470 should run cool. I think the 3470s can be "overclocked" off the turbo feature so you can get a good clock speed out of it without paying more.

edit: removed my extra posts from the thread

 

[RCoon]

true because you get 3 fans with the case already, and if its not overclocked that 3470 should run cool.

I dont see a processor?
EDIT: SORRY I'm blind

 

[BarbaricSoul]

I dont see a processor?

it's listed at the bottom of the image.

 

[Norton]

This build isn't too bad (fairly quick, reliable, and around $1,000 before monitors):

Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl w/ USB 3.0 AT...

AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket A...

Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK 120mm PWM CPU Cooler - Neweg...

Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB...

GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 ATX AMD Motherboard - Newegg....

SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold ((SS-650KM Active PFC ...

Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver ...

G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SD...

SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III...

SAPPHIRE 100354OC-2L Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2G...

AMD Gift FARCRY3 Blood Dragon BIOSHOCK TOMB RAIDER

AMD GIFT Crysis 3

Total (before adding monitors)- $1017.90

If he wants a flashier case go with a HAF 922 (same price as the Fractal)

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN3-GP Black Steel ...

My $0.02

FYI- you could probably drop this price to around $900 with combo deals and a little price shopping

 

[Norton]

^What cooler and processor?

Fixed- Thanks!

FX-6300 and Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK Dual 120mm PWM*

* Incredible cooler/great mounting solution/2 PWM fans... worth the $$$ imo

 

[Vario]

Fixed- Thanks!

FX-6300 and Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK Dual 120mm PWM*

* Incredible cooler/great mounting solution/2 PWM fans... worth the $$$ imo

Never seen that cooler before but that looks amazing That would be a nice $1000 setup for sure, though its more like $1300 with the monitors . If the OP's friend desires more gfx power, $50 more and a 7870xt would be a good buy.

 

[Norton]

Never seen that cooler before but that looks amazing That would be a nice $1000 setup for sure, though its more like $1300 with the monitors . If the OP's friend desires more gfx power, $50 more and a 7870xt would be a good buy.

Personally I'm not a fan of the 7870XT's or 7950's, prefer all of the GPU intact if possible, but I would not fault anyone for choosing them as they both do real well for users here. I like my 7870 Ghz Edition since it runs anything I've tried extremely well, overclocks nicely, and runs cooler with less power consumption than the 7900 series of cards.

 

[drdeathx]

Kevin, convince your friend to spend a few more $ and get a 3770K. He will not be sorry in the long run. Have him get 1 monitor for now and add another in the future. Just my humble opinion...

 

[Vario]

Kevin, convince your friend to spend a few more $ and get a 3770K. He will not be sorry in the long run. Have him get 1 monitor for now and add another in the future. Just my humble opinion...

Doc,

what do you think about a locked xeon instead? http://www.microcenter.com/product/400271/Xeon_E3_1230V2_33GHz_LGA_1155_Boxed_Processor

At $200, so its only $20 more than a unlocked i5 and $40 more than a locked i5.

Core Sandy Bridge
Processor Xeon E3-1230
Operating Frequency 3.3GHz
Turbo Speed 3.7GHz
Number of Cores 4
Number of Threads 8 Processing Threads
Smart Cache 8MB
Bus/Core Ratio 33
Socket Type Socket 1155

OP has stated overclocking is not a goal. This also lets him save more money by buying a h77 instead of a z77. Same as sandy i7 but no onboard GPU and uses less power.

 

[drdeathx]

Doc,

what do you think about a locked xeon instead? http://www.microcenter.com/product/400271/Xeon_E3_1230V2_33GHz_LGA_1155_Boxed_Processor

At $200, so its only $20 more than a unlocked i5 and $40 more than a locked i5.



OP has stated overclocking is not a goal. This also lets him save more money by buying a h77 instead of a z77. Same as sandy i7 but no onboard GPU and uses less power.

I say 3570 or 3770K but NewTekie would be the one to ask that question. He is better versed on server chips......... IvyBridge 3770K is faster than SandyBridge but as for Xeon Sandy vs 3770K, Newtekie would know. I would not go H77(but thats me).... Go Z77 and you could lower the board to lets say a gigabyte Z77 UD3 or Asrock Z77 extreme 3 or 4 or MSI Z77 GD45. and save $.

 

[Kevin117007]

Whoa! This thread blew up while I was gone. I'll take a look at it when I get off of work and make some comments. Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[Kevin117007]

Whether the OP goes AMD or Intel, I have to agree with the others in regards to your motherboard choice. The OP simply does not need a $200 board. A $125 ASUS P8Z77-V, $120 GIGABYTE GA-Z77MX-D3H, or $120 MSI Z77A-G45 would be more appropriate IMHO.




That's not a bad option either. There is a 2600k/ASUS P67 combo for sale in the buy/sell/trade forums now for $285. http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184218

Just as a note, we're trying to get this PC built ASAP because my friend wants me to be there to help build it before I leave town in a week. So we'll sacrifice some price for the sake of getting it ordered and shipped. I think picking up from forums would take too long.

I've had 2 but it isnt working maybe somethings wrong with me

edit: he needs a keyboard, well thats maybe something he should get. we can budget the keyboard in by the rebates that I didnt include price reductions on. Could also cut $30 off the case but that nzxt phantom is the flashiest case you can get for the money IMHO.

I want to stay away from that case. We'll probably just budget ourselves to $150 for the case and just go shopping for them on our own, but I have a friend who has the nzxt phantom it's not quite the "style" we're looking for.

Get more RAM, you'll be running two full HD monitors so it'll eat through almost twice as much memory. Plus RAM is at it's cheapest and your budget more than accommodates it.

I agree with BarbaricSoul and RCoon below me as far as the CPU goes. You'll save money which can be put into a better GPU. Plus you'll have an upgrade path.

I definitely agree with both of you. As long as the CPU is upgradable in the future(if need be), I think most processors would work for what he'll be using. Better to buy a lower end MOBO/CPU and then spend that extra money on a nicer GPU for gaming. I'll look more into the suggestions you guys have, and see what works best.

Not weird at all, i despise mechanical keyboards, I use the Roccat Isku , custom illumination, phenominal macros and connectivity with other Roccat products.

That keyboard actually looks pretty nice, I'll look into it. He wants to cheap out on some $10-20 keyboard but I won't let him ;D

I ran WoW at 119 FPS on an 8350 @ 4.6ghz and two 7950's in 1080p windowed fullscreen. I dont think the CPU is much of a limiting factor for 60fps screens, but it does run better on Intel, albeit on 120hz monitors or 1200p

In that respect, what is the benefit of having a 120hz refresh rate? I doubt we'd really need that for any reason.

Monitor1: Asus VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight L...
Monitor2: Asus VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight L...

I have these monitors right now, and the base is kinda bulky and in the way. I'm hoping the one's I recommended Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight L...
have a smaller base(my friend's desk isn't that large), so for the same price, I'll probably go with the smaller ones.

PSU: CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2...

Is there really a benefit of having a 750 watt power supply versus the 620 one I recommended? SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 1...
It's $40 cheaper. Although I might go with a higher-end graphics card (7950) so maybe it will be necessary....

Kevin, convince your friend to spend a few more $ and get a 3770K. He will not be sorry in the long run. Have him get 1 monitor for now and add another in the future. Just my humble opinion...

Having 2 monitors is invaluable when you're doing work, and like others said, the 3770K is probably overkill.

 

[Vario]

Just as a note, we're trying to get this PC built ASAP because my friend wants me to be there to help build it before I leave town in a week. So we'll sacrifice some price for the sake of getting it ordered and shipped. I think picking up from forums would take too long.



I want to stay away from that case. We'll probably just budget ourselves to $150 for the case and just go shopping for them on our own, but I have a friend who has the nzxt phantom it's not quite the "style" we're looking for.



I definitely agree with both of you. As long as the CPU is upgradable in the future(if need be), I think most processors would work for what he'll be using. Better to buy a lower end MOBO/CPU and then spend that extra money on a nicer GPU for gaming. I'll look more into the suggestions you guys have, and see what works best.



That keyboard actually looks pretty nice, I'll look into it. He wants to cheap out on some $10-20 keyboard but I won't let him ;D



In that respect, what is the benefit of having a 120hz refresh rate? I doubt we'd really need that for any reason.



I have these monitors right now, and the base is kinda bulky and in the way. I'm hoping the one's I recommended Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight L...
have a smaller base(my friend's desk isn't that large), so for the same price, I'll probably go with the smaller ones.



Is there really a benefit of having a 750 watt power supply versus the 620 one I recommended? SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 1...
It's $40 cheaper. Although I might go with a higher-end graphics card (7950) so maybe it will be necessary....



Having 2 monitors is invaluable when you're doing work, and like others said, the 3770K is probably overkill.

Acers don't have a great reputation from what I've heard. I am really happy with the Asus monitors relative to their cost, I have in total 3 of the older vh236h and they work perfectly for the past 4 years. One option is to mount the asus monitors on a VESA stand and remove the base. A lot of people also like Dell monitors due to low cost to decent quality ratio.

As always, monitor, keyboard, and case are all personal preference. Do you like the other suggestions I made? A 750 watt gold 80+ is better than a 620 watt bronze. You could probably get away with a 620 watt but the extra power headroom is always good and 80+ gold certification indicates higher quality components/design evidenced by the greater power efficiency. The Sapphire 7950 Vapor X would be a great video card, especially at its current price. Its the best value for high end cards right now. I wouldn't buy anything less than a 660ti/7950. No need to buy a k series processor if you dont overclock. For that matter, no need to buy a Z77 when an H is essentially the same without the overclocking, so the non-k plus h series should save you $50-75 combined. More savings can be had switching from 16GB of ram to 8GB RAM. Running a $75 case will save you $25 as well. If the designs appeal to you, a few options include the Antec 300, Coolermaster Haf 912, CM Haf XB, the NZXT Source, Corsair Carbides etc.


As far as processor, I'd get a locked i5. I think that it will be fine for the next 3 years. Then 3 years from now you can upgrade to the next mid range processor and have a better setup than if you went with an i7 now.

The other option might be a E3 Xeon. The microcenter ones appear to be mislabeled because the E3-1230 V2 should be a 22nm process and an ivy bridge. These are $200 at microcenter and are an i7 without overclocking and no onboard gpu. This would be good for future proofing.

 

[RCoon]

Just as a note, we're trying to get this PC built ASAP because my friend wants me to be there to help build it before I leave town in a week. So we'll sacrifice some price for the sake of getting it ordered and shipped. I think picking up from forums would take too long.



I want to stay away from that case. We'll probably just budget ourselves to $150 for the case and just go shopping for them on our own, but I have a friend who has the nzxt phantom it's not quite the "style" we're looking for.



I definitely agree with both of you. As long as the CPU is upgradable in the future(if need be), I think most processors would work for what he'll be using. Better to buy a lower end MOBO/CPU and then spend that extra money on a nicer GPU for gaming. I'll look more into the suggestions you guys have, and see what works best.



That keyboard actually looks pretty nice, I'll look into it. He wants to cheap out on some $10-20 keyboard but I won't let him ;D



In that respect, what is the benefit of having a 120hz refresh rate? I doubt we'd really need that for any reason.



I have these monitors right now, and the base is kinda bulky and in the way. I'm hoping the one's I recommended Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight L...
have a smaller base(my friend's desk isn't that large), so for the same price, I'll probably go with the smaller ones.



Is there really a benefit of having a 750 watt power supply versus the 620 one I recommended? SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 1...
It's $40 cheaper. Although I might go with a higher-end graphics card (7950) so maybe it will be necessary....



Having 2 monitors is invaluable when you're doing work, and like others said, the 3770K is probably overkill.

Acer is nasty and cheap in the UK, nobody except your average joe buys their products here, and then send them to be repaired 6 months later.

the non + edition of the Isku is quite cheap, it just has blue illumination and not so many customisable options with colours. I buy Roccat products only because I played WoW and the keyboard and XTD combo give me twice as many macros, and they feel great for CS:GO.

As for the PSU, I'd usually go 650w Bronze for single GPU, 850w silver/gold for dual GPU, and 1050w Gold/Platinum for serious overclocking and possible 3 GPU.

The benefit for 120hz for me is in CS:GO, epic fps is great for quickfire shooters, not so sought after for everyone else.

Honestly, the AMD 8350 is my favourite processor of all time, I've had two in the last year and given them both away to new PC builders, and they're both still running, both clocked to 4.8Ghz like champs. The 8320 doesnt overclock as high, but you're not doing such a thing, so I wouldnt worry about the 8350. 8320 is an excellent price, and if gaming at 60fps, the intel wont offer anything more than an AMD can when paired with a high end GPU. The only games I can think of that are CPU limited are Shogun, Civ V and SC2, all of which run at 60fps on my old 8350 with dual 7950's.
AMD boards can be scored pretty cheap too without sacrificing many features. Asus Sabertooth's, MSI GD65's, Gigbyte UD3's, ASRock Extreme3's are all very good midrange boards with the potential to last a long time. AM3+ still has another processor line to go through (steamroller), whereas the current Z77 is at its end with the ivybridge processors. You will eventually realise however, upgrading processors each generation isnt a smart thing to do, best to skip a gen or two.

 

[Kevin117007]

Acers don't have a great reputation from what I've heard. I am really happy with the Asus monitors relative to their cost, I have in total 3 of the older vh236h and they work perfectly for the past 4 years. One option is to mount the asus monitors on a VESA stand and remove the base. A lot of people also like Dell monitors due to low cost to decent quality ratio.

As always, monitor, keyboard, and case are all personal preference. Do you like the other suggestions I made? A 750 watt gold 80+ is better than a 620 watt bronze. You could probably get away with a 620 watt but the extra power headroom is always good and 80+ gold certification indicates higher quality components/design evidenced by the greater power efficiency. The Sapphire 7950 Vapor X would be a great video card, especially at its current price. Its the best value for high end cards right now. I wouldn't buy anything less than a 660ti/7950. No need to buy a k series processor if you dont overclock. For that matter, no need to buy a Z77 when an H is essentially the same without the overclocking, so the non-k plus h series should save you $50-75 combined. More savings can be had switching from 16GB of ram to 8GB RAM. Running a $75 case will save you $25 as well. If the designs appeal to you, a few options include the Antec 300, Coolermaster Haf 912, CM Haf XB, the NZXT Source, Corsair Carbides etc.


As far as processor, I'd get a locked i5. I think that it will be fine for the next 3 years. Then 3 years from now you can upgrade to the next mid range processor and have a better setup than if you went with an i7 now.

The other option might be a E3 Xeon. The microcenter ones appear to be mislabeled because the E3-1230 V2 should be a 22nm process and an ivy bridge. These are $200 at microcenter and are an i7 without overclocking and no onboard gpu. This would be good for future proofing.

Yes. Lol, I agree with all that going to update the build in a few minutes...

Why an intel though? I was actually looking at the AMD processors suggested, and they honestly give more bang-per-buck. And I thought the i5 processors ran on 1155, which was going to be discontinued, making it hard to futureproof them? I'm not too familiar with AMD though, so I don't know if I got a FX-8320 if it'd be upgradable in the future.

"Honestly, the AMD 8350 is my favourite processor of all time" Not the intel 8080?

For the processors, I think I have it down to these two combos:

AMD:
$149.99 AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor (microcenter)
$109.99 GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 ATX AMD Motherboard - Newegg....
INTEL:
$169 Core i5-3470S 2.93 GHz (microcenter)
$89.99 MSI ZH77A-G43 MSI ZH77A-G43 LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s U...

They come out to roughly the same price.

 

[Vario]

Yes. Lol, I agree with all that going to update the build in a few minutes...

Why an intel though? I was actually looking at the AMD processors suggested, and they honestly give more bang-per-buck. And I thought the i5 processors ran on 1155, which was going to be discontinued, making it hard to futureproof them? I'm not too familiar with AMD though, so I don't know if I got a FX-8320 if it'd be upgradable in the future.

"Honestly, the AMD 8350 is my favourite processor of all time" Not the intel 8080?

For the processors, I think I have it down to these two combos:

AMD:
$149.99 AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor (microcenter)
$109.99 GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 ATX AMD Motherboard - Newegg....
INTEL:
$169 Core i5-3470S 2.93 GHz (microcenter)
$89.99 MSI ZH77A-G43 MSI ZH77A-G43 LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s U...

They come out to roughly the same price.

For intel:
The 3rd gen i5 is ending on 1155 and the newly released 1150 4th gen i5 is out. The 4th gen and the 3rd gen i5 have virtually IDENTICAL performance. The 1155 chipset is more matured. Id rather get a 3rd gen i5.

For amd:
You get more cores. This really only helps with video editing or servers. This doesn't really have much benefit for gaming. In fact its slower than an i5 for gaming. Look at benchmarks.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/702?vs=697 The WoW benchmark might be applicable.