Budget Build for Friend

[JJThomp]

Hey so my friend needs a new computer, he is mostly going to be playing Diablo III, SCII and Guild Wars 2. There will be no overclocking but there is no brand preference. The catch is he needs his new rig and a monitor all for $900 (before tax, including windows 7). The monitor must be 1920x1080 but again no brand preference. I am pretty much set on getting him an intel processor due to SCII and how much better it performs with sandy bridge processors.

Also he said he might not be building til summer and I realise IB and lower end Kepler cards are coming out so it might change if he is not ready to build soon.

Here is what i came up with:

OS: Windows 7 Windows 7 Home Premium - 64bit $95.50

Mobo: Sapphire Pure Black Hydra P67 Sapphire Pure Black P67 Hydra ATX LGA1155 DDR3 3XPCI-E16 SATA3 USB3 GBLAN Audio Motherboard - SAPPHIRE - 52035-00-40R $79.99

CPU: Intel i5 2400 Buy the Intel Core i5-2400 3.10 GHz Quad Core Processor at TigerDirect.ca $189.99

RAM: Mushkin 8gb 1600mhz CL9 Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Frostbyte PC3-12800 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V Dual Channel Memory - Mushkin Enhanced - 996995 $44.78

HDD: WD Caviar blue 500gb 16mb Cache Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 16MB Cache 7200RPM 3.5IN SATA Internal Hard Drive OEM - Western Digital WD - WD5000AAKX $74.99

PSU: Antec HCG 620W Antec High Current Gamer 620W 48A 24PIN ATX12V V2.3 Active PFC 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply 135mm Fan - Antec - HCG-620 $59.99

Optical drive: Whatever is cheap, you really only need it for windows 7, $20

Case: Zalman Z9+ Zalman Z9 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case Black 3X5.25 1X3.5 5X3.5INT No PS W/ Fan Controller & Temp Display - ZALMAN TECH - Z9 Plus $49.99

Monitor: Asus 21.5" ASUS VS228H-P 21.5IN Widescreen LED LCD Monitor 1920X1080 5ms 50M:1 250CD/M2 HDMI VGA - DirectCanada $136.96

GPU: HD 7770 Asus Radeon HD 7770 1GB PCI-E 3.0 w/ DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort at Memory Express $140

Total: $892.28

Total after tax: $1008.27

Edit: Forgot to say I'm pricematching to NCIX, and I'm most worried about the Mobo. It didn't get very good reviews for it's price point but since then it has halved in price. Also I have no idea about the reliability of this mobo.

[sswilson]

I second your concern about the motherboard. Sapphire has never produced a motherboard I'd consider using unless it was literally a throw away price.

[Bond007]

Honestly it looks quite good. My points to consider would be a different motherboard (fear of the unknown), and I would try to get a deal on a better hard drive (seagate, or WD black IMO). Also you could try to save a few bucks on the case if you want (antec one hundred goes for $40 somtimes), and personally I like a touch bigger monitor, but it is fine.

[JJThomp]

Originally Posted by Bond007

Honestly it looks quite good. My points to consider would be a different motherboard (fear of the unknown), and I would try to get a deal on a better hard drive (seagate, or WD black IMO). Also you could try to save a few bucks on the case if you want (antec one hundred goes for $40 somtimes), and personally I like a touch bigger monitor, but it is fine.

I wanted a WD black for him two but could not find a deal... That 500 gb blue is more than what I paid for my 1tb black... Hoepfully if he isn't buying for a month or two still and we can take advantage of some IB and kepler deals as well as maybe a decrease in HDD prices.

[Kilauea]

Have you considered going used ?
Or at least getting some used parts.

[JJThomp]

Originally Posted by Kilauea

Have you considered going used ?
Or at least getting some used parts.

Only problem is if he buys used I wont be around if something goes wrong, I am only home about 4 weeks of the year. Atleast if he has a major issue I can get his BSOD code or determine a somewhat accurate diagnosis from the symptoms and RMA the parts but if I buy used there is no RMA if anything goes wrong.

Maybe if I can find an entire system I will go for it but other than that I think no.

[supaflyx3]

+1 for getting used, if you buy from a respectable member I'm sure they'd be willing to help out in RMA.

[Apathetik]

Yeah most of the people on here are very respectful and helpful unlike other forums. I would also consider a used build, or at least maybe part of it.

[Adzsask]

Look for used mobo/cpu/ram, the rest new.

[Dzzope]

Look for a used GPU too.. that 7770 although ok.. could be much better if your willing to go used (especially if it's someone from here or that you know IRL thats willing to RMA anything that dies)