New build from scratch

[bombatwist]

I'm currently helping my friend build a new pc mainly for gaming.
his budget is around $900. the lower the expenses, the better, but if not, hes willing to add a little bit more money to the budget.

1. preferably buy all parts off newegg. any US online stores are acceptable as long as they are reliable. (such as tigerdirect)
2. intel c2d, c2q or i7 if its really worth it. (preferably a quad core, he wants it to last a couple of years)
3. as for the video card, doesn't matter if its a nvidia or ati, as long as it will run games like CoD World at War, or Left 4 Dead very smoothly.
4. will need to purchase a monitor also, anything thats a 19inch widescreen or bigger will do
5. no overclocking will be done whatsoever
6. planning to have this built by mid june
7. For the case, cooling is the #1 priority and i prefer to have the PSU located on the bottom of the case instead of the top.

thats all i can think of right now, if i have anymore i'll add to it.

thanks

 

[brblx]

900 including monitor? chuck the i7 idea out the window.

you'll get the fastest performance for your buck at this moment if you buy a c2d, most likely. the quads in your price range will be <3ghz, so unless the application multithreads on more than two cores, it'll actually be a bit slower. if he wants to hang on to it for a few years, though, might as well get the quad.

there are lots of builds in your price range posted on the board right now. key points would be a solid name-brand PSU, probably an antec 300, p45 mobo, 4gb, and as much video card as you can afford. if you keep the monitor below $200 you might squeeze a gtx260 or better in there.

 

[Lunyone]

Do you have the OS or do you need to include that into the budget too?
What OS are you going to use?

 

[fffblackmage]

If you're not overclocking, PhII X4 might not be a bad idea, unless you just have to get an Intel cpu.

As for OS, maybe go with Win7 RC? (random suggestion)

 

[bombatwist]

OS isn't going to be included in the budget. My friend already purchased Windows Vista Ultimate and will be using that.

What do you guys think of this build? another friend of mine suggested it for me.

CASE: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black
CPU: Intel C2D E8400
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3LR
VIDEO CARD: XFX Radeon HD 4850 512mb
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W
RAM: OCZ VISTA UPGRADE 4GB
HD: Western Digital SATA 3.0 640GB
DVD DRIVE: SONY OPTIARC Black
MONITOR: ASUS Black 22"

Others
Keyboard: OCZ Alchemy Series USB
Mouse: Logitech MX518
Headphones: JVC HA-RX700
Mic: Logitech Desktop Mic

Total: $985.86 (this is not counting shipping and tax charges but its okay)