New Computer for my brother.

[Gizanked]

Ok, so my brothers computer crapped out on him a while ago, and he is finally deciding to possibly make a new one. I think he wants to do some gaming, but nothing high end.

He doesn't need anything aside from the tower, monitor and keyboard are still good to go. He only needs 1 video card slot. No need to include an OS at the moment, we are going to figure that out later.

Here is the tricky part. He'd like to spend around $400 for this, with a max of $500.


I'm lazy, and out of the loop,so I figured I'd ask in here first since there are so many people that enjoy putting these together

[gator]

The logical increments thing Clay usually links to is probably a good starting point:

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af1 ... /Guide.png

[Gizanked]

I figured I'd get that link, already ahve it saved.. was just wondering if anyone wanted to throw one together, or if that list was the be all end all of it.

[wirtzenator]

For a reference of game performance with gator's image, I just upgraded myself.

Old Setup(about the modest level)
Crysis
- High Settings, No AA, playable, ~20-30 fps
- Max Settings, No AA, not playable, ~10 fps
Every other game, playable or close to at high/max settings except Anti Alias.

New Setup(parts within Very Good to Outstanding Range)
Crysis
- Max Settings, AAx2, playable, ~30 fps
Haven't yet found another game that I can't put all settings at max including AA and AF and get lower than like 30 fps. (double negative might be confusing, sorry)

Valve's games(TF2, L4D(2), Portal) ran excellent on both setups with max settings, I mostly upgraded cause I didn't know what else to get for Christmas.

I hope this helped.

[MrBlah]

Is he keeping his case and optical drive? is his PSU still good? What kind of stuff is he able to keep and transplant to the new system?

[Gizanked]

the psu is under powered, the case is crap and all the drives are IDE. Rather than trying to accomodate for those things He needs a whole new tower, like i said.

[Clay Pigeon]

Any chance he can scrape together an extra 100 bucks? I don't like recommending anything below a 6850 or 460, but to accommodate them, you usually need at least a 600 dollar build.

What monitor does he have? A 57xx may be sufficient depending on his monitor.

[Deslock]

I agree with Clay. Hard to build a decent system for less than $600 (US)
For $400, you might be able to get one of those Wal-Mart stripped down, hard to upgrade POS.

This is my attempt at a $500 computer. Discuss.

From Newegg

1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKRK-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh $79.99
bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 460W Power ...
Model #:RC-534-KKRK-GP
Item #:N82E16811119208


1 GIGABYTE GA-770T-USB3 AM3 AMD 770 USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $89.99
Model #:GA-770T-USB
Item #:N82E16813128431


1 SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express $48.99
2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Low Profile Ready
Model #:100253HDMI
Item #:N82E16814102829


1 AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop $59.99
Processor ADX245OCGQBOX
Model #:ADX245OCGQBOX
Item #:N82E16819103687

1 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual $49.99
Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-2GBPK
Model #:F2-8500CL5D-2GBPK
Item #:N82E16820231144

1 Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" $36.99
Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:WD1600AAJS
Item #:N82E16822136075


1 LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98B $21.99
Model #:iHAS-324-98B
Item #:N82E16827106 4

1 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM $99.99
Model #:GFC-00564
Item #:N82E16832116752


Subtotal:$487.92

[Fano]

The logical increments thing Clay usually links to is probably a good starting point:

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af1 ... /Guide.png

how often is this chart updated? I'm seeing some new things I didn't see last time, like the i5 2500k

[Clay Pigeon]

It updates every time there is a major hardware release.

[Deslock]

The new i5's are listed on it now. Just updated last night.

[metacide]

Deslock's build looks pretty good, though I would suggest a few modifications.
- Get the 64 bit version of Win7. Also I think he said that OS wasnt counted in this build.
- Double up on the RAM
- Get a bigger Hard Drive, my own preference is at least 500GB for a system, drives less than that tend to get donated to other people.

[Deslock]

Deslock's build looks pretty good, though I would suggest a few modifications.
- Get the 64 bit version of Win7. Also I think he said that OS wasnt counted in this build.
- Double up on the RAM
- Get a bigger Hard Drive, my own preference is at least 500GB for a system, drives less than that tend to get donated to other people.

Hadn't noticed the OS comment before....so if we drop that and take the other suggestions into account.........better video, still weak on the CPU, and might be pushing the PS just a little. (and still way better than my current system)



1 Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AARS 640GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal $49.99
Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:WD6400RS
Item #:N82E16822136737

1 ASUS EAH5670/DI/512MD5/V2 Radeon HD 5670 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI $94.99
Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Model #:EAH5670/DI/512MD5/V2
Item #:N82E16814121410

1 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual $84.99
Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK
Model #:F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK
Item #:N82E16820231166

1 AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana 3.1GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop $77.00
Processor ADX445WFGMBOX
Model #:ADX445WFGMBOX
Item #:N82E16819103872

1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKRK-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh $79.99
bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 460W Power
Model #:RC-534-KKRK-GP
Item #:N82E16811119208

1 GIGABYTE GA-770T-USB3 AM3 AMD 770 USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $89.99
Model #:GA-770T-USB3
Item #:N82E16813128431

1 LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98B $21.99
Model #:iHAS-324-98B
Item #:N82E16827106334

Subtotal:$498.94

[metacide]

This gets a meta seal of approval. Which is of course a seal made of seals, just get 10 seals, toss in a blender and then moosh all together into a super seal.

[Clay Pigeon]

Deslock's build looks pretty good, though I would suggest a few modifications.
- Get the 64 bit version of Win7. Also I think he said that OS wasnt counted in this build.
- Double up on the RAM
- Get a bigger Hard Drive, my own preference is at least 500GB for a system, drives less than that tend to get donated to other people.

Hadn't noticed the OS comment before....so if we drop that and take the other suggestions into account.........better video, still weak on the CPU, and might be pushing the PS just a little. (and still way better than my current system)



1 Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AARS 640GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal $49.99
Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:WD6400RS
Item #:N82E16822136737

1 ASUS EAH5670/DI/512MD5/V2 Radeon HD 5670 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI $94.99
Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Model #:EAH5670/DI/512MD5/V2
Item #:N82E16814121410

1 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual $84.99
Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK
Model #:F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK
Item #:N82E16820231166

1 AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana 3.1GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop $77.00
Processor ADX445WFGMBOX
Model #:ADX445WFGMBOX
Item #:N82E16819103872

1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKRK-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh $79.99
bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 460W Power
Model #:RC-534-KKRK-GP
Item #:N82E16811119208

1 GIGABYTE GA-770T-USB3 AM3 AMD 770 USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $89.99
Model #:GA-770T-USB3
Item #:N82E16813128431

1 LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98B $21.99
Model #:iHAS-324-98B
Item #:N82E16827106334

Subtotal:$498.94

I may be a bit groggy this early, but I don't see a PSU on that list.