PC build suggestion for a friend

[ramj70]

A friend of mine has $600 to spend on a PC go predominately play Diablo 3 when it comes out. He will be playing at 1080 resolution and already has a monitor. I will sell him my old GTX480 and Phenom II 965 (140W version)

GTX 480- $150
PII 465- $50
Windows 7 64bit- $89
Raidmax case- $60 (that is the case he wanted and picked out)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811156270

So that leaves around $260 for a mobo, PSU, RAM and Hard drive. Now I do live near a Microcenter and they do have some nice CPU/mobo combos fairly cheap if I get a different CPU. He doesn't need a large hard drive, he will not be buying lots of games.

MC has a combo deal of an FX4100 or 960T and a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P Socket AM3+ 760G mATX for $100

Memory G.Skil 8GB- $42
Hard Drive- WD blue 320GB- $75
PSU- Corsair TX550- $89 (also has a $20 rebate) or any other suggestions on a PSU would be appreciated

So for the FX or 960T CPU/mobo combo the price comes to $605.

If I kept the PII 465 and added a mobo it would come to about the same price as the MC combo. They also have an I3 2100 with a H61M-P23 (B3) LGA 1155 H61 mATX for $130 which would go a over budget somewhat but he can go a little over budget.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0366104

 

[Ken g6]

A GTX 480 takes a good bit of power. The advertised special I saw on Newegg for an Antec Earthwatts 650W for $54 AR AP ($64 just AP) looks like a good deal.

The i3 would be better than either of the AMD processors, although the PII is probably better than the FX4100.

Edit: What are the specs on a PII 465? I couldn't find that model listed.

 

[lehtv]

I would buy the motherboard separately, e.g. Asrock 970 Extreme3 $76 AP (SATA 6gb/s USB 3.0). Saves a bit compared to the combo and you get a board with new features. The Antec Earthwatts is good, but you'll need to buy a power cord unless you have a spare one. I'd also recommend the XFX 550W, it costs less, comes with the power cord (as well as sleeved cables) and has 2 more years of warranty on it.

Here's a 500GB hitachi for $75 AP shipped.

What kind of GTX 480 do you have, does it have decent cooling? It's a bit overkill for Diablo 3, that game should run very well on a lesser GPU. It might be a good idea to sell the 480 and buy a 6870 or 6850 that stays cool and quiet, unless he just doesn't care about noise.

 

[ramj70]

Ooops, I mean a PII 965 @3.4GHZ. The 480 I have is an MSI with the stock cooler, he uses headset and said the noise wouldn't bother him as I told him it can get a little loud. I figured it was overkill but since I have it just sitting in the closet. I'll ask him and see what he wants to do though. That Asrock looks nice with a good price.

I think I'll switch to that Hitachi drive, larger and the same price. The PSU's look good also.

 

[mfenn]

I would buy the motherboard separately, e.g. Asrock 970 Extreme3 $76 AP (SATA 6gb/s USB 3.0). Saves a bit compared to the combo and you get a board with new features. The Antec Earthwatts is good, but you'll need to buy a power cord unless you have a spare one. I'd also recommend the XFX 550W, it costs less, comes with the power cord (as well as sleeved cables) and has 2 more years of warranty on it.

Here's a 500GB hitachi for $75 AP shipped.

What kind of GTX 480 do you have, does it have decent cooling? It's a bit overkill for Diablo 3, that game should run very well on a lesser GPU. It might be a good idea to sell the 480 and buy a 6870 or 6850 that stays cool and quiet, unless he just doesn't care about noise.

The GTX 480 takes 421W on Crysis, so a 550W would worry me a little. The Antec is only about $4 more and gives you 23A more on the 12V rails.

 

[lehtv]

Yes, the Antec would be a better choice with the GTX480. If he decided to buy a new graphics card with lower power consumption, the XFX 550 would be better. However XFX 650W is $65 AR, also worth considering.

The Antec doesn't have 23A more on the +12V rails. It can do the full 650W of +12v combined for both rails, that's 54A, versus XFX's single rail rated at 44A.

 

[Feliabolica]

For a PSU that rated at 550w, $89 is just too expensive. You can get a decent 650w PSU at $89.

 

[lehtv]

I agree. Even without rebate, XFX 650W is $80.

 

[ramj70]

I got the Antec 650W for $75 and if I get the rebate it will knock it down to $65, I also have plenty of power cords around. I talked to him about the video card and he said the 480 will be fine. I brought him over and put my 480 back in my computer to let him hear it and he said the noise wouldn't be an issue.

I also got Asrock board you recommended lehtv, not a bad deal for $76. With everything priced out it came to $617 and I took $17 off the price of my video card to get him to $600. Thanks for all your input.

 

[mfenn]

Glad to help! It's too bad you weren't able to get in in time to use the promo code on the EA-650. That would have gotten you just a little closer to the $600 number.