Building a PC for my friend; quick review?

[clydefrog]

Hello, i'm building a PC for my friend, i would like to get your opinion on this build.

-He's a casual gamer, and will most likely play things like Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Bad Company 2, Skyrim etc...
-He does not want to exceed $1200 USD

CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz - $189.99

MoBo: ASRock P67 EXTREME4 - $149.99

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 -$189.99

RAM: G.SKILL Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1600 - $35.99

CD/DVD: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - $20.99

Case: Sunbeam Transformer - $69.99

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM - $54.99

PSU: COUGAR SX850 COUGAR-SX850 850W - $169.99

Monitor: Hannspree By HannsG SL231DPB Glossy Black 23" - $159.99

Speakers: Logitech LS21 2.1 Stereo - $26.99

Subtotal: $1,068
Total (tax, and shipping): $1,170.25

I wanted to give him a CPU cooler, but it would go over his budget. You think it's necessary? he's not going to overclock.

How is the GTX560 for gaming? Can he max out the current games?

What do think? Any recommendations or changes?

thanks a lot guys!

 

[geekapproved]

A cooler is not necessary if not overclocking.

Get a WD Black or Samsung F3 instead of WD Blue. You want a 500gb or 1tb, not 640, the 640 is based on 2-320gb platters which are slower than one based on 500gb platters.

Why do you need a $160 psu of 850w???? That's ridiculous, it only has a 3yr warranty too. This one is more than enough: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013

If he's planning on SLI in the future, go with this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207014

Both are Seasonic built and have 5yr warranty.

A GTX560 will perform well at 1920x1080 but it won't max out all current games for sure.

 

[clydefrog]

Hi

thanks for the suggeston.

I added the SLI ready PSU you suggested, and used the money saved to add at GTX 570. Is that a good move? will the 650W play nice with the GTX 570?

I also took the suggestion of the HDD and saved $20, so thank you

my running total is at $1300. Any thoughts on some ways to shave off another $100, that is if keeping the 570 (as opposed to the 560) is a good choice?

 

[geekapproved]

GTX570 is a big step up, unfortunately you'll need a 750w for SLI GTX570's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207015

 

[geekapproved]

Bigger monitor for $130.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380358370063+&clk_rvr_id=253453265917

 

[clydefrog]

EDIT:

Oh never mind i'm okay, it comes down to $1,138, i had accidently left both video cards in there, lol (this is with the 750W and the GTX570).

how is the rest of my build

 

[geekapproved]

Other than that ridiculously hideous case, it looks great.

Do you by chance live near a microcenter? If so you could get the i5-2500K for $179.

 

[geekapproved]

I would suggest springing for the i5-2500K now that I think about it.

With 2 gtx570's your gonna need to overclock.

So then if your overclocking, your gonna need a bigger psu yet, so swap it to this one it's only $5 more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207011

Don't forget, your gonna get a $30 rebate on the psu, so you can use that to upgrade i5-2400 to i5-2500K.

 

[clydefrog]

lol my friend chose the case, not me

whats a microcenter?

why would he need to OC with 2 570's? Because of bottle necking? So then that would mean he needs a cooler too right?

He's not much of an enthusiast, and in fact i'm going to be the one building it for him, so chances are he wont be OCing

Also, the case apparently has problems fitting in large graphics cards so ill probably change that off; should i stick with a full tower or a mid tower will be ample?

 

[geekapproved]

Microcenter is a computer store that sells cpu's real cheap in store only.

Microcenter.com

If he's not going to overclock then I would recommend the i5-2500, the extra 300mhz of speed will be ample for 2 GTX570's. In that case you can stick with the 750w psu, but for $5, might as well take the 850w.

I can't really help you with the case, I don't do SLI setups and I don't know how long those cards are without researching.

 

[Why_Me]

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Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-750 750W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

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GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Virtu, Touch BIOS, Smart Response SSD, 2-Way SLI, HDMI

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Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory with heatshield Model PSD38G1600KH

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Samsung Desktop Class Spinpoint F3 1 TB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 32 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare-OEM Drives, HD103SJ

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Sony 24X SATA Internal DVD+/-RW Drive AD-7260S-0B - Bulk (Black)

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EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

or.....

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MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card


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Asus VE228H 21.5" Full HD HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor w/Speakers ASCR 10,000,000:1




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COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7

 

[geekapproved]

That's a good build, but I guess you missed the part about him not wanting to overclock and I think he's already set his mind on GTX570.

 

[clydefrog]

thanks guys, after shopping around i was able to keep a gtx 580 + a 850W psu and still keep it under 1200.

I had to remove the speakers, but the monitor has built in speakers; he says he's gonna buy a 5.1 surround system with his next paycheck anyway.

thanks, both of you

 

[clydefrog]

Best answer selected by clydefrog.