A Bit of Insight for a New Gaming Build Please ~ $800ish

[p_lock82]

Approximate Purchase Date: Today

So my younger brother is looking to build himself his first gaming PC from scratch. His current computer is a solid 8 years old and just isn't cutting it anymore. He asked for my help, as well as a friend of his, in putting together a decent build for around 800 bucks. His friend cobbled something together (I've included his build at the bottom), and I went ahead and made some changes that I thought would get him the most bang for his buck. Any help you folks could provide me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you =).

Budget Range: 800 - 900

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming

Are you buying a monitor: No



Parts to Upgrade: Everything. Minus a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Location: Toledo, Ohio

Parts Preferences: None. Best bang for buck.

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Additional Comments: Mostly going to be used for playing WoW, CS:GO, SC2, and potentially any new games releasing.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Old computer just isn't cutting it anymore, looking for a build that will play the games listed very well and also provide a decent lifespan, for a reasonable price.

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Here is the list of parts recommended by my brother's friend:

ASUS 24X DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16827135204

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822148337

NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811146067

APEVIA ATX-AS680W-BL 680W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817148022

EVGA 015-P3-1480-KR GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814130759

Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16819116502

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813157293

Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TXD38192M1600HC9DC-D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820313080

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I went ahead and made a few changes, as well as tacking on windows, since he's gonna need an OS:

SAPPHIRERadeon HD 7850 OC 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card ( 11200-01-20G )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102984

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

Intel Core i5-3570 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637i53570
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115233

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

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The changes I've made save my brother 155 bucks without windows factored in, and I think provide him with a better "bang for your buck" build. Even with windows thrown in there he's saving 55 dollars.

Anyways, if you folks see anywhere that changes could be made to either provide an increase in performance without a big increase in price, or a decrease in price without a big decrease in performance, I would really appreciate if you could help me out.

Any recommendations at all are more than welcome, hoped for even. =)

Thank you.

- Patrick

 

[p_lock82]

I should mention that the changes I made are simply replacing the initial items recommended by my brothers friend, and if that I didn't make a change, I found the items recommended by his buddy suitable and would still be using them. (ie the motherboard, dvd drive, hard drive, power supply, and ram)

Thanks again!

 

[malbluff]

I would prefer your choices, although one thing left, that should go is that PSU. Problem is Newegg have a useless selection of PSU's, but we'll come to that. It may be worth thinking about using a GTX660, for graphics card. It's a good bit better than the HD7850, and a "similar" price. If you were to choose an nVidia graphics card, I would suggest sticking with your ASRock motherboard, even though you are not getting a "K" processor, because it would support a 2nd nVidia card, in SLi, in the future. If sticking with Radeon graphics, would suggest using a H77 mobo, although perhaps one of the better ones, from someone like Asus.
If you are using either the HD7850, or GTX660, you need something over 500w, for PSU. Would suggest using one from Seasonic, Corsair, XFX, Antec, or PC Power&Cooling. You may find you have to source from somewhere other than Newegg, to get a decent deal.
Couple of other thoughts. If you are sticking with the ASRock mobo, you might as well get the i5-3570K, which would allow you to overclock. Before overclocking, you would need to add an aftermarket cooler, but that doesn't have to be now. You could keep OC in reserve, as a future way to get a "lttle boost". I doubt you would need 1.5TB of hard drive. I would prefer a slightly smaller drive, but WD Caviar Black, for better reliability.