Gaming PC upgrade for a friend $700

[MegaVovaN]

Hi all, building a gaming PC for friend. He has two 19" LCDs. Need CPU, mobo, RAM, video, PSU and case. Budget is $700, max $750.

Here's what I came up with:
$195 CPU
8400

$90 + 8 ship Mobo
GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L

$88 + 0 ship - 20 MIR RAM
DDR800 Corsair Fry's deal

$70 - 10 MIR - 10 GCO PSU
CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W

$180 + 8 ship - 40 MIR Video card

8800GT 512 by Gigabyte


$50+9ship Case
hec 6XR8 mid tower

With components I picked we are up to approximately $650 shipped without case, but then again there might be discount for combined shipping, and more importantly there are $20, $40, and $10 mail in rebates. so 650 - 70 in rebates = 580 shipped without case.

What you all think?


edit: forgot to add videocard to the list

 

[Aisengard]

You can save $10 by ordering the Corsair PSU from Buy.com instead.

You should maybe go for a better case, I've never heard of 'hec'. Maybe a Centurion, or an Antec 900.

Will he be overclocking?

 

[MegaVovaN]

Thanks, edited OP for PSU.
As for case, we'll stick with this one. There will be no overclocking.

Is videocard and RAM alright? Planning to buy tomorrow night if all goes well.

 

[Urtho]

Ram should be fine, Corsair makes good sticks of RAM as well as good PSUs.

Video card on a gaming system is the one place I would really not skimp if there is a better product out there for not much more money. For $30 more, this 8800GTS card from ECS is a much better deal. And for only $10 more than that one there's a card from MSI right here that comes with a free game in The Witcher.

There's nothing glarringly wrong with the card you picked, I just think the other options are better deals for only a little bit more but then again it's not my money now is it.

 

[chinaman1472]

E7200 will save you another $40. You can OC it pretty high still and get near the performance of an E8400. Since it's on an 19" monitor, he probably doesn't need that much power to begin with.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: chinaman1472
E7200 will save you another $40. You can OC it pretty high still and get near the performance of an E8400. Since it's on an 19" monitor, he probably doesn't need that much power to begin with.

:thumbsup:

 

[MegaVovaN]

The thing is, he doesn't want to OC at all, and is in love with 8400.

As for video card, I considered both of these, and MSI has only one year of warranty = no no.
The ECS I just don't like the brand, it's like bottom feeder of brands. And I don't know what their warranty is.

Whereas XFX is excellent brand name that I trust, with lifetime warranty. It's up there with eVGA.

By the way, all did not go well, so hopefully we will buy it next thursday, not today.


edit: Besides, with two 19" screens he won't notice difference between 8800GT and GTS, IMO.

 

[MegaVovaN]

bump - should have the $$ today if all is well.

 

[NoStateofMind]

What about HDD/DVD and OS? Already have those?

Fixing up a recommendation for you now

edit: IMO this is what I would get if I was building a PC with $700

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 $189 Free Shipping! (Nice chip, OC's well.)

Motherboard: ASUS P5N-D NVIDIA nForce 750i $144.49 Free Shipping! (Keep the gaming doors open! Go SLI when you need more power!)

RAM: A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $83.99 Free Shipping! (Good RAM at a good price. Excellent capacity.)

Video Card:EVGA GeForce 9600 GT 512MB $154.99 + $7.59 Shipping - $10 Rebate! (Great performer for the price. Will be fine for 1280x1024 gaming. Add another later on for graphically intensive games)

Power Supply: BFG Tech 650W $74.99 Free Shipping! $25 Rebate! (This Power Supply will be plenty and enough headroom for later additions (hard drives/video cards etc.)

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 $49.99 Free Shipping! (Decent case from a known manufacturer. Not much choice in this price range but it will do your friend fine.)

Total with Shipping: $706.53

Rebates: $35

Total Cost After Rebates: $671.53

Fee for fixing this up for you: A thank you