PC build for a friend

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Narh

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Friend want me to build him an Intel/nvidia PC, with massive emphasis on the cpu and mainboard. His budge is $900

Mainboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130694

CPU/Case combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1356415

Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148321

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

Video:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130831

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Trying to talk him down to an i5 right now, as the cpu he wants is %40 of his budget. An i5 would be a better, cheaper option from him, given the rest of the specs and the games he wants to play.

Other than that, thoughts?
 
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Decent build and you are correct, the 4770 is overkill.

Having said that, I personally prefer:

Intel Extreme or Asus motherboards
GSkill RAM
Seasonic power supplies(the Corsair you linked is actually made by Seasonic)
Western Digital hard drives
Asus video cards
 
I would have picked an Asus or GA Mobo, but he said (and I quote) "I want something that the military would use for my motherboard. Or atleast has military components."
 
Narh said:
I would have picked an Asus or GA Mobo, but he said (and I quote) "I want something that the military would use for my motherboard. Or atleast has military components."
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You need to talk some sense into your friend. The military uses an iPad; why don't he just use that instead? /sarcasm

You are right; the i7 is overkill, especially when paired with that GPU. An i5 is enough for him, and I have the feeling he doesn't even know how to overclock an unlocked one. How computer savvy is he? Maybe you could just build him a good budget build, and just tell him he got military components and an i7 in it.
 
Snipeye said:
Maybe you could just build him a good budget build, and just tell him he got military components and an i7 in it.
Click to expand...

I second this. And then in a few weeks after he's had time to push the machine and seems happy with it, give him the money you didn't spend on those superfluous parts.... and tell him to trust you next time.
 
Snipeye said:
How computer savvy is he?
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He know what the parts are, just not how to assemble them and get the pc up and running. Hes buying the parts and bringing them to me to set up.

I've sent him another list of parts (similar to mine, but a different video) to see what he thinks of that.
 
Did price of RAM go up? I heard a few people talking about it, and I noticed a few spikes around where I'm from...
 
Narh said:
I would have picked an Asus or GA Mobo, but he said (and I quote) "I want something that the military would use for my motherboard. Or atleast has military components."
Click to expand...

almost all of the new Asus boards use military grade components... I know mine does, the z77 Sabertooth socket 1155.

some z77 specs:

?LGA1155 Intel? 3rd/2nd Generation Processors Ready
?TUF Thermal Armor - Total Airflow-Boosting Heat Dissipation
?TUF Dust Defender-Repel the Dust, Expand the Lifespan
?TUF Thermal Radar - Real Time Temp. Detection and Heat Removal
?TUF Components [Choke, Cap. & MOSFET; Certified by Military-standard] - Certified for Tough Duty
?New DIGI+ Power Control - All-New Digital Power Control for both CPU and DRAM
 
Narh said:
He know what the parts are, just not how to assemble them and get the pc up and running. Hes buying the parts and bringing them to me to set up.

I've sent him another list of parts (similar to mine, but a different video) to see what he thinks of that.
Click to expand...

If he doesn't realize that the i7 is overkill in proportion to his graphics card, I would say he doesn't know the parts.
 
I would suggest he get an i5-3570k ... for his needs, this cpu would be more then enough. The main difference between i5 and i7 is i7 has hyperthreading, and a bit more onboard cpu RAM. But, with the advances in North Bridge/South Bridge architecture, the speed comparison between the i5 and i7 is negligible. I have my i5-3570k OC'd to 4.1ghz on water. I haven't even come close to maxing the cpu yet.

I also would steer him away from that case... with only 2 fans, heat will be a factor... and doing some reading, he may have issues with the sata headers if his case isn't big enough.
 
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Silent_Predator said:
I would suggest he get an i5-3570k ... for his needs, this cpu would be more then enough. The main difference between i5 and i7 is i7 has hyperthreading, and a bit more onboard cpu RAM. But, with the advances in North Bridge/South Bridge architecture, the speed comparison between the i5 and i7 is negligible. I have my i5-3570k OC'd to 4.1ghz on water. I haven't even come close to maxing the cpu yet.

I also would steer him away from that case... with only 2 fans, heat will be a factor... and doing some reading, he may have issues with the sata headers if his case isn't big enough.
Click to expand...

+1
 
I'd try to get an Ivy bridge CPU to be completely honest. Save a little more money on the CPU and motherboard to spare some of the other components, and still maybe get an i7-3770k with a decent GPU. The GTX 760 is out too which I'd definitely recommend if he wants an Nvidia card within the mid-high range.

Haswell comparatively offers little in upgrades, doesn't it? It's like a 4 watt diff with a small power upgrade. Might as well get an i7-3770k over an i5-4670k for the price. I almost did, but I dropped it and got an FX-8350 to keep the GPU decent.

What does he plan on doing with the PC, though? Gaming, editing, both, or what?
 
I run a z77 Sabertooth socket 1155... I Love It. The motherboard has 2 fans, 1 on the N Bridge 1 on S Bridge, they can be set to run for a period after the pc is shut down to get rid of stagnant heat. I run mine on a Thermaltake water Extreme 2.0 for the cpu cooler.
 
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Without further ado, I present to you my $900 budget i7-3770k/GTX 760 build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1eVsq

So I decided to look and MSI uses military grade components in some motherboards, this one in specific. Stable and efficient, saved a bundle of money over what I found first.

I selected the same case you found originally, I would have gone with a Zalman to keep under budget, but I'm just assuming you'd rather this case over any. Change it if you'd like, I'd recommend the Zalman Z11 Plus because of all the cooling.

Believe it or not I could fit a 3770k and GTX 760 in it. I wish I could have done the same to my own as this is only $150 more than I spent, but oh well. If you don't want the GTX 760, don't pick Nvidia. Anything less than belongs to AMD for this case in my opinion. It's fanboyism otherwise, price for power favors AMD up until the GTX 760 I believe, and as you won't be needing the CUDA cores, you won't be needing Nvidia...

XFX power supplies are in fact from Seasonic, which is why the one I picked out is highly rated. It fits the needed wattage and amperage, too. I'll upgrade to this or a gold plus PSU in the future when (I know it will) mine breaks.

You can remove the DVD drive and HDD if you have spares or don't need them, I just put them in with the assumption that you don't.

I would have opted for a CPU cooler, but that would hurt the budget and the quality of some components.
 
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Silent_Predator said:
I would suggest he get an i5-3570k ... for his needs, this cpu would be more then enough. The main difference between i5 and i7 is i7 has hyperthreading, and a bit more onboard cpu RAM. But, with the advances in North Bridge/South Bridge architecture, the speed comparison between the i5 and i7 is negligible. I have my i5-3570k OC'd to 4.1ghz on water. I haven't even come close to maxing the cpu yet.

I also would steer him away from that case... with only 2 fans, heat will be a factor... and doing some reading, he may have issues with the sata headers if his case isn't big enough.
Click to expand...

Son Goku said:
I'd try to get an Ivy bridge CPU to be completely honest. Save a little more money on the CPU and motherboard to spare some of the other components, and still maybe get an i7-3770k with a decent GPU. The GTX 760 is out too which I'd definitely recommend if he wants an Nvidia card within the mid-high range.

Haswell comparatively offers little in upgrades, doesn't it? It's like a 4 watt diff with a small power upgrade. Might as well get an i7-3770k over an i5-4670k for the price. I almost did, but I dropped it and got an FX-8350 to keep the GPU decent.

What does he plan on doing with the PC, though? Gaming, editing, both, or what?
Click to expand...

I would honestly steer away from Ivy and stick with the new stuff. There isn't a big cost reduction in buying Ivy compared to Haswell. I don't like the fact that the Ivy socket is no longer going to be useful.

Also, don't forget Windows.

This is the build I'm going to add to the table.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/goldblattster/saved/1Vqc
 
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There's nothing wrong with Ivy as far as I know. Heat was my only concern looking into it, but it wasn't a massive "fry your CPU" kind of heat.

Price difference is moderately large given the additional cost of LGA1150 motherboards, the processors themselves aren't too much more. For what'd you'd spend on an i5-4670k and the motherboard, you could get an i7-3770k for hardly any more. Or at least at Microcenter. The i7-3770k and motherboard combo only costed $15 more than an i5-4670k combo xD

Also, the PSU you selected is really bad. I don't think there's enough amperage on the 12v rail, and there aren't enough 6+2 pin connectors for the GPU. There's one, the 760 needs two. Which reminds me, there's a similar issue with the PSU I picked out, there's one 6 pin and then a 6+2 pin, again you need two 6+2 pin connectors.

As well, 430w is REALLY pushing it, Nvidia recommends a 500w PSU as the safe spot.
 
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