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Advice on build requested
So my brother's kids want to play ESO (I assume they are getting bored with their xbox one) and he has asked me for help for a computer for his kids. FYI, he is a senior VP at a major international consulting firm, so I set the price at $1,500. Unfortunately, as a CPA, i am crushed right now with audits and such and so do not have the time to build him anything. I am going to recommend to him AVAdirect, as their build quality is decent and their pricing is fair (no gouging with 100% markups etc). No peripherals, but need OS license. The PC i am looking at will be able to play 1080p ESO at basically max graphics and possibly even 2560x1200 at near max as my brother may get them a nice monitor. I may have it shipped to me and do some overclocking of the CPU and GPU so parts need to be decent for o'c'ing
So below is what i am going to recommend to him unless you guys have better ideas
- FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Titanium Grey Silent Mid-Tower Case, ATX, No PSU, Plastic/Steel
- SEASONIC M12II-750 Bronze 750W Power Supply w/ Modular Cables, 80 PLUS® Bronze, 24-pin ATX12V 2x EPS12V, 4x 8/6-pin PCIe, Retail
- INTEL Core™ i5-4670K Quad-Core 3.4 - 3.8GHz TB, HD Graphics 4600, LGA1150, 6MB L3 Cache, DDR3-1600, 22nm, 84W, EIST VT-x XD, Retail
- ARCTIC SILVER Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, Polysynthetic Silver, Electrically Non-Conductive
- THERMALTAKE Water 3.0 Extreme Liquid Cooling System, Socket LGA2011/1155/1156/1366/FM2/FM1/AM3/AM2, Retail
- MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming, LGA1150, Intel® Z87, DDR3-3000 (O.C.) 32GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI CF /1+2*, SATA 6Gb/s RAID 5 /8, HDMI + DVI + VGA, USB 3.0 /4+2, HDA, GbLAN, ATX, Retail
- CRUCIAL 8GB (2 x 4GB) Ballistix Sport XT PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1.5V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
- ZOTAC ZT-70301-10P, GeForce® GTX 770 1059-1098MHz, 2GB GDDR5 7010MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DP + HDMI + 2x DVI, Retail
- SAMSUNG 250GB 840 EVO Series SSD, TLC Samsung MEX, 540/520 MB/s, SATA 6 Gb/s, 2.5-Inch 7mm, Retail
- RAID No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
- LITE-ON iHAS124-14 Black 24x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, OEM
- CUSTOM WIRING Standard Wiring with Precision Cable Routing and Tie-Down
- MICROSOFT Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition w/ SP1, OEM w/ Media
Comments
Rosewill Challenger case = 50$
MSI Z87-G43 Motherboard = 140$
Intel Core i5-3570K = 230$
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 = 155$
PowerColor PCS+ AXR9 290 4GBD5-PPDHE Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-Bit GDDR5 = 375$
Mushkin Enhanced MKNSSDCR240GB-DX7 2.5" 240GB SATA III 7 (SSD) = 140$
SilverStone Argon Series AR02 CPU Cooler = 28$
Vantec Thermoflow 92mm Double Ball BearingTemperature Controlled Case Fan (For 2nd fan on CPU cooler) = 7$
Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound = 10$
SILVERSTONE Strider Gold S Series 850W Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply = 155$
LG internal super multi DVD drive = 20$
Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache = 90$
Microsoft Windows 8.1 - Full Version (32 & 64-bit) = 120$
Total $1,519.67
It only takes an hour to build a complete system, and the better components are worth it.
Unbox everything. Make sure to touch kitchen faucet before starting and not to make too much static.
Plug in CPU to Mobo
Attach 2nd 92mm fan to heatsink
Apply thermal paste razor thin to both socket and heatsink. Install to Motherboard. Plug in power connectors.
Plug in motherboard power connectors
Install Ram
Install motherboard to case, Install PSU, Plug in appropriate power connectors.
Install GPU. Plug in power connectors
Install hard drives/DVD, Connect Sata, Connect power cables.
Close up the case. Power on. Install windows.
Whether something is a good value for the money depends greatly on the prices and the alternatives. If your primary concern is whether the parts listed will make for a capable gaming rig, then you should be fine.
For what it's worth, at the prices listed on AVA Direct, I'd sooner get a Seasonic S12G-650 for the power supply and a 240 GB Crucial M500 for the SSD. I'd also go with air cooling rather than liquid cooling, largely because it's simpler and less can go wrong.
As for the choice of whether to buy a computer built-to-order or build your own, some people have quite a bit of spare money but not much spare time, and for those people, paying someone else to assemble a computer can make a lot of sense.