New Carry-on Baggage Build

[HilbertSpace]

I’m helping my 15-year old nephew out by building a computer for him (his Xmas present). He’s been saving up for a year and I want his money to go as far as possible. He has $800 saved up for it, and he’ll be coming for a visit over Xmas, so the only hard requirement is that the case has to fit in the carry-on allowance size for WestJet:

Maximum size Carry-on baggage (length + width + height)
53 cm x 23 cm x 38 cm
(21 in. x 9 in. x 15 in.)

Therefore I would put the size of the case to be at ~1” less than the above dimensions:

MAXIMUM Computer Case Size: 20 x 8.5 x 14 inches (51 x 36 x 22 cm)

Here’s the details:

1. Used for: gaming - according to steam he plays mainly FPS (Counterstrike), and indie games. He also plays BF3 and Minecraft. I don't think he's into RTS's.

2. Budget: $800 CAD (before tax)

3. Country: Canada

4. Possible vendors (used most of these in the past):

amazon.ca
newegg.ca
ncix.com
directcanada.com
memoryexpress.com
dell.ca
canadacomputers.com
tigerdirect.ca
vuugo.com

local store: otvtech.com

Any other options in Canada (Saskatchewan)…?


5. Brand preference: No OCZ SSD’s or Intel 320 SSD’s

6. Current parts:

- will re-use an older PSU I bought in July 2011 (XFX 550W PRO550W Core Edition Single Rail ATX 12V 44A 24PIN ATX Power Supply 80PLUS Bronze). Is this a bad idea? Only used for maybe 8 months of the past couple years.
- My old LG-E2240T-PN (1920x1080) LED-LCD. Again, would you want a better system, or newer monitor and slower system? Personally, I’d go with better system, as I could upgrade the monitor in the future easier and cheaper than the computer…thoughts?

7. Overclocking: No - probably wouldn’t have time to set this up for him.

8. Resolution: 1920x1080

9. Timeframe: This week - will buy all parts during Black Friday/Cyber Monday ‘sales’.

10. I’ll re-iterate the requirement for a smaller case size, and therefore will probably need to be micro-atx MB too. No need for ODD.

Just found out about ca.pcpartpicker.com today, so here’s the suggested setup, but the total price is above budget, what should I drop down on, SSD, CPU, GPU? Any other suggestions welcome. I could give him my old “8 MB un-bricked” Intel 320 SSD, for use with SRT - which I’m assuming won’t cause problems if run in ‘conservative’ mode - that would save having to buy an SSD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.75 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Foxconn H87MX-D Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($81.27 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($78.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($86.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.50 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($309.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Zalman ZM-T1 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($27.81 @ DirectCanada)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($11.37 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $860.66
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-25 17:16 EST-0500)


Thanks for all suggestions and help!

 

[NTMBK]

Operating system? Speakers?

EDIT Oh, and nice name

 

[Termie]

I use that case, and it's nice, but I recommend the Silverstone PS08 instead. About the same price, a little deeper, a little shorter. Has USB 3.0 and slightly better airflow, along with a bit more space for video cards.

 

[mfenn]

I agree with Termie on the case. The Silverstone PS08B is much nicer.

The other big recommendation I have is to avoid Foxconn motherboards. They usually make reference boards for other OEMs to put their own BIOS on top of, so the Foxconn setup is pretty barebones barely functional stuff. I'd grab a board from a more end-user focused manufacturer such as this MSI B85M-G45. You do step down to the B85 chipset, but I highly doubt your nephew is going to have more than one SSD.

 

[HilbertSpace]

@ NTMBK - I have a copy of Win 8 Pro I think I'll be able to use - need to look at license terms...
I also think he uses a headset (he's into multi-player FPS) so speakers aren't needed at the moment.

@Termie, mfenn: thanks for the Silverstone case idea. I'll keep an eye out for it.

@mfenn: I'm undecided whether to use the Intel 320 SSD I have collecting dust with Intel SRT (not supported on B85), as that would save buying a new SSD, and hopefully provide enough of the SSD benefit. And if it did brick again (infamous 8 MB bug) his computer should still work. I haven't used Foxconn so thanks for the advice there.

 

[mfenn]

Since you have the budget for a new, decent, SSD I would go with that. You'd end up paying half the price of the SSD ($40) to get a Z87 board over the B85 board. Definitely not worth it for SRT.

 

[HilbertSpace]

Nephew had a bit more saved, so I upgraded a few components... Looking forward to building it. Hopefully I'll get him hooked on OC'ing.

Thanks for the suggestions and advice.

Here's the breakdown, total will be $30 less after MIR. BF sales seemed a bit weak in Canada this year. Still overall quite good for a complete build (minus mouse), and 3 free games.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $234.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For $29.79)
Motherboard: MSI Z87M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $114.99)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $64.99)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (Purchased For $89.49)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $59.99)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (Purchased For $329.99)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $47.74)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $10.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For $11.00)
Monitor: LG E2242T-BN 21.5" Monitor (Purchased For $50.00)
Other: GST (Purchased For $50.59)
Other: Thermaltake TT eSports Knucker Plunger Cherry Black Switch Pro Gaming Keyboard (Purchased For $9.99)
Total: $1103.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-03 15:13 EST-0500)

 

[Termie]

Awesome build - lots of great part selections there.

I wouldn't exactly call the N200 a carry-on, but it's a very nice case.

 

[mfenn]

Looks nice, let us know how the build goes!