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$500-800 computer build for friends birthday
Heya guys, it's me again needing help with another computer build(though not as extensive as the one i made last time)
I have a friend who's birthday is upcoming and i want to build them a new computer since the one they have is so bad, they lag on World of Warcraft. This is going to be a gaming computer sort of primarily, but they're not gonna be playing insane graphic intensive games. Mainly just World of Warcraft for now, but I wouldn't mind paying a little extra for them to be able to handle games like FFXIV either, just trying to not spend TOO much. I have a few things in mind to start the build off, but i just need help picking out the specifics.
To start things off, I'd like the budget to be under $800 FOR SURE. I'd like it to be around $500 if possible. As for the final result, as long as it can play games of World of Warcraft's quality on the highest settings with no lag, that's enough for me, and i dont think it'll require anything truly amazing for that either.
I'm definitely getting a 128gb ssd, a crucial m4 one. I wanna get them 4gb ram, though not sure which specifically i should get. A Mid Tower-sized case will be more than enough room. They already have a 1tb hdd so i dont have to worry about that.
Everything else, the processor, the motherboard, power supply(dont know how much wattage i need to look for and which is good) and the gfx card, also which specific case is fine with airflow and what not. If you guys can just help me with that, i'd appreciate it 
.
Again, i'd like the keep the budget around $500, if lower without sacrificing quality to much, then that's even better. Thanks for any help provided.
TL;DR - Need help picking out parts for a build: Motherboard, Processor, Graphics Card, Power Supply, and to a lesser extent, a Mid Tower Case and what RAM to get for it also.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
Comments
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.892401
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231468
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151244
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
Note the promo code on the case. Also, you want to run the memory at 1866 MHz and 1.5 V. You could try reducing the latency timings a bit to 10-10-10-27 or so and it will probably work (since 11-11-11-30 is at 2133 MHz), but you should test it if you try that.
That comes to $530, including shipping and before $20 in rebates. It doesn't have the 128 GB Crucial M4 you wanted, but that's an extra $33 over a 120 GB Mushkin Chronos, which is also a good SSD.
I realize that's a lot to spend on memory. But since you're going to use the integrated graphics, memory bandwidth is very important to graphical performance, and spending $20 more than you would for 1333 MHz memory probably gets you an extra 10%-20% performance. Also, because the integrated graphics are grabbing some system memory for use as video memory, 4 GB would be cutting it awfully tight, and you really want 8 GB. With adequate memory bandwidth, the integrated graphics will likely perform somewhere between a GeForce GT 440 and a Radeon HD 5570.
The settings are way above the recommended system requirements for World of Warcraft, but I have no idea how the game will perform on highest settings. If your friend needs a graphical upgrade down the road, it will be easy to add a video card later.
As always, you're ever so helpful Quiz, honestly i was going to get them a graphics card as well, but you're absolutely right in that, this setup, even without a graphics card will be way above the recommended settings for WoW and so i don't really need to spend an extra couple hundred on a graphics card as they can easily buy one later like you said. Perfectly fits the budget too so thats just an added bonus.
I'm gonna run the case by them to make sure they like the way it looks, but as it is, i think ill go ahead and buy everything else in a couple days after looking around some more myself and get to building it.
Thank you for the detailed input again.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
Your best bet for ~500$ gaming rig would probably be a Llano hybrid crossfire system.
Processor and Motherboard combo 160$
Ram 55$
Video card 65$
Power supply 30$
Case 30$
Heatsink 48$ (optional)
388$ with heatsink.
340$ without aftermarket heatsink or SSD
You could probably go without the heatsink upgrade for now and see how well the stock cooler does. Ramping the Ram up to 1866 will improve performance a bit.
OC the processor and iGPU, OC the Ram, OC the Video card to 900 or so. It should play very well.
The SSD isn't really necessary, at least a 128gb one isn't. a 60gb one is enough for the os and at least 6 games. Anime/Vids/music is quite happy on an older HD. OCZ solid3 60gb good read and write speeds. 55$
Quizz that is an A55 motherboard, it lacks sata6 and usb3.
Total build without heatsink = 385$
Just grab Windows 8 Release preview. Buy it when it expires.
With no storage or OS license, you're not going to play WoW or anything else at all.
On a severe budget, you don't get a $48 CPU cooler.
I wouldn't trust the power supply, as the specs look like it's firmly in the "cheap junk" category.
I wouldn't go ultra low end on the case, either. Once you add shipping, it's only $10 cheaper than the case I linked before rebate, or the same price after rebate. And once you add fans, it will be more expensive after rebate for a far inferior case.
Nice find on the memory, though. I'd get that over what I linked above, as it is $5 cheaper. Not sure how I missed that particular kit, as it's basically exactly what I was looking for. But the memory clock speed only matters if you need to feed integrated graphics with it, and not if you're also getting a discrete video card.
Your motherboard link doesn't work, but I think that's a forum glitch, not an error on your part. Regardless, without the $25 off combo deal, it's not so cheap as compared to the one I linked.
I did some editing but That PS has some solid reviews, and this system won't even be pulling 250w. I switched CPU/mobo to a combo deal. I drool over that ram also.
I just tossed in the cooler for s&g. 10-15% more performance might be worth getting an aftermarket cooler.
The case has some solid reviews. and you can't beat the price.
And how many of those reviews came from people who actually know something about power supplies? Probably about zero.
You better not pull 250 W from it, as you'd probably fry it. It's only rated at 15 A on the +12 V rail, which comes to 180 W. The TDPs of the processor and video card you chose come to not far shy of that.
It's also rather lacking in modern power connectors. There's no 24-pin motherboard connector, no 8-pin CPU connector, no PCI-E power connector at all, and only two SATA connectors. With the two it comes with used up by the optical drive and SSD, you'd be in the precarious situation that adding a hard drive later would require replacing the power supply.
The power supply is a relic of another era, and not at all intended for powering modern computers. It's not a good idea to try it. Not when you can get a much better modern power supply for not that much more money.
A8-3570 160w, overclocked 230w
radeon 6670 125w, overclocked 215w
Yea you're right, it needs at least a 500w.
So I would go with the Rosewill green 530w. Be sure to double check board soldering. One I got had very long solder leads.