Build for a friend ~$800

371 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by -iceblade^, Nov 23, 2009

Pao

Discussion Starter · Nov 23, 2009

A buddy said he wanted a build to mainly play WoW on. He's not a hardcore gamer, nor do I really see him buying much more in the way of games besides WoW. If he didn't play WoW he probably wouldn't play any games at all on a computer.

He's not going to bechmark (probably doesn't even know what that means) and as long as the fps stay good he'll have no clue. I don't really see the need for the dx11 premium.

I have a MicroCenter close enough, but even at $150 an i5 puts an extreme strain on an $800 budget, so I do believe an X3 720 in a combo deal is my best bet. Review below, and keep in mind the budget.

Samsung DVD Burner ~ $26

NZXT BETA EVO case ~ $50 (comes with a cheapo 480w psu which I could sell off for a few bucks)

HIS 4890 ~ $180

Raidmax modular 630w PSU ~ $80 (I know I know, I generally only buy corsair, but the price is right, it's modular, and his computer wont be being overclocked)

G.Skill DDR3 1600 4gb ~ $105 (what on earth happened to memory prices!? Mine were $75 I think, and anymore there is no point in going with 1333 because the price is basically the same as 1600!)

Arctic Cooling freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2 ~ $32

Western Digital Black 640gb and Win 7 x64 bundle ~ $170

AMD 720 and Gigabyte UD3H 790GX Motherboard bundle ~ $194

This all boiled down to $844.76 shipped. It has $50 in MIR though, which I suppose evens it out, but I'd be unwilling to go any higher in the MIR to equal out the budget area, as I might be covering this out of my pocket!

Open to suggestions, AMD/Intel - NV/ATi whatever, but keep in mind the budget, it's not flexible.

Thanks brothers.

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_02

· #2 · Nov 23, 2009

I think you are fine. If you want to squeeze some pennies, go lower on the PSU.

Modular doesn't matter. 650w is way more than enough for those components.

Honestly, if he's just playing wow you can dial down the GPU a lot, too. Although, the 4890 is a steal ATM if you don't need DX11

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fuloran1

· #3 · Nov 23, 2009

If its only for WOW as you say, the 4890 is big time overkill. You could get away with something 80-100 cheaper and play WOW just fine. This for example. Everything else looks good, though for a budget PSU I like OCZ.

Oh, and since you have a microcenter nearby (I do too, so awesome) This card is a good one as well. Actually better than the other one I posted.

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-iceblade^

· #4 · Nov 23, 2009

no. i disagree.

first off, if he doesn't game, why a 4890? and second, i5 is easily attainable considering the MC nearby.

try this

add in the i5 750 for i think $160 or so with tax, and you're golden. you could also try looking at the combo deals of the i5 750 on the Egg.

-e- i5's turboboost would be perfect for him too since he isn't OCing. just substitute the HDD i added for your combo deal. alternatively, use the Antec Sonata III for a combo deal with Win7.

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