Advice for Build for Friend in Hard Times.

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

Hey guys. My cousin has a little girl who may be diagnosed with cancer soon. We all definatly pray that she doesnt have it. She has a mass in her brain. With all the hard times they are going through now I want to build A pc for them. We had talked about it a while back but that all got put on the backburner. He trusts my opinion on what to get when we were talkin about and seems pleased with what I picked out. His budget was $500 at the time and this is what we came up with. Any "constructive" advice would be appreciated. If you can't comment in a polite way please do not comment here.

CPU - AMD FX-6300 3.5 6-core $119
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286 (credit vrumor)

R9 270~200

GIgabyte GA-970 $80
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970ads3p (credit ASHYCFC)

Corsair 500w power supply $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

Ram - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) $68
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

Hard Drive – Free

Case – NZXT Source 210 $44
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146102

I'm hoping I'm able to do this for him and surprise him. Figured it would be a nice gesture as he is running an old dell office pc.

vrumor · Jan 20, 2014

Get a 6300 instead of the 4130. $10 more and A LOT more performance.

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

vrumor :

thanks man, funny you mention that I was actually looking at it. I'll make an edit for it

ronintexas · Jan 20, 2014

If he is not an avid gamer, switching to a mobo that when paired with the right processor has onboard GPU will save you about $150-$170 on the build. I am not a gamer where FPS is an issue - but I can display virtually everything the internet has to throw at me, Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop (3D modeling is a bear) with the onboard GPU (I have one AMD build and one Intel build with the same software installed).

It might be enough of a savings to get a 120GB SSD for him - that would be a huge surprise in performance....

realchaos · Jan 20, 2014

It depends on what your friend is using the computer for. If your friend isn't a gamer, and just uses it for basic internet usage and such, then you can get by with a cheaper build that will be just as good.

bryonhowley · Jan 20, 2014

That is really nice of you. As far as the system goes that should work just fine. I think it would be much better than that old Dell that is for sure. And it would give him something that he could update later if he needed. I guess you already have the OS? Remember you can't use the OEM version that came with the Dell as it is keyed only for that system and you can't transfer a OEM copy of Windows older than Windows 8.

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

ronintexas :

He wants to game with us. thats what the $500 price point was for as a "what he would have spent on a console" kinda figure. He is easy to please though and a 650 boost or r9 270 I believe should go above and beyond his dreams.

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

bryonhowley :

Yep I already have the os. Win 7 home premium 64.

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

realchaos :

He wants to start gaming with us so Im trying to find a good introductory build that would be a good base to start from with no wasted expenses

realchaos · Jan 20, 2014

PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139048
Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157394
Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139026

The psu is just a bit more, but it has an extra 100w and it's semi-modular. It's worth it, IMHO. It can handle any future upgrades you wish to implement.
The motherboard is better than that G43 board. The MSI G41 and G43 series's VRMs tend to overheat due to bad VRM heatsinks.
The case is cheaper and better than the Source 210. It's on a great sale and it has better airflow. The only thing I can see that's a con is that your friend may not like the LEDs, but I believe you can cut a wire to disable the LEDs.
For the GPU, go for the R9-270. It's much stronger than the 650 ti boost at just a bit more.

AshyCFC · Jan 20, 2014

Can you get a different mobo than the MSI? An asrock board is on offer at the moment for around $64http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-970extreme3r20 do not rate msi AMD boards. +1 for R9 270 as well

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

AshyCFC :

I believe I went with that board because It had better ratings overall then the Extreme 3. I myself use an Extreme 4 and have no problems with it but my friend got an E4 as well and had to RMA it after a week. Realchaos has clued me in on something that I did not know about on MSI board though that I'll have to take into consideration depending on what it takes to actually overheat them.

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

realchaos :

on the overheating vrms. What would you consider that it takes to actually over heat them? He doesnt do cinema 4d or physics renders or even photoshop. just general web browsing and wants to start gaming with us. 1080p gaming on medium settings is going to make him excited by the way. He is easy to please. Do you think he runs a chance of overheating them. He wont be overclocked also.

filippi · Jan 20, 2014

This build is avaliable right now. (its hard to find those amd gpus...)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($44.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.97 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $503.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-20 17:11 EST-0500)

AshyCFC · Jan 20, 2014

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a97ler20 if you don't like that asrock go for this Asus, its the le version (basic version) of the m5a97 R2.0 or this board is better than both of themhttp://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970ads3p I run it and it is amazing and includes heat sinks for the vrms! Yeah the msi boards have vrm problems especially with the fx-8series CPUs hope this helps. Also the build above contains an 760g chip set board, do not recommend it.

realchaos · Jan 20, 2014

I wouldn't recommend any MSI G41 or G43 because the VRMs will overheat no matter what you plan to do. It just takes a bit of time for it to fry out.

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

filippi :

Thanks for your reply filippi. I see we have some things in common however I probably wont go with that case. I like silverstone but that one still has that "office/regular" computer feel. I was hoping to give him a little bit of flash with the case. Also I wish your mobo you selected had some sort of a heatsink for the vrm. probably not really an issue but I'd feel more comfortable if it had one. I just now noticed the original one I chose didnt have a heatsink either that why I'm going to change it. Probably to the mobo Ashycfc mentioned. Also the PSU you have is that price with a coupon that expires today

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

AshyCFC :

I like that mobo

AshyCFC · Jan 20, 2014

realchaos :

this ^^ and also the G46 has a similar problem with the VRM's i think.

Which mobo were you discussing kgrevem? I have a bias for the gigabyte one as it's one i've used and it contains a VRM heatsink which the asus does not.

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

realchaos :

yea im starting to see that now. thanks for saving me from that mistake. A mobo was mentioned above. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970ads3p

I like it. Im in love with my asrock Extreme 4 and it works flawlessly: however, my friend had to rma his in a week and there are a lot of rma's on asrock sometimes. I just wouldnt want to put him through that with all he's going through now so im a bit skiddish about buying an asrock for him.

Do you have any concerns with that mobo?

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

AshyCFC :

realchaos :

this ^^ and also the G46 has a similar problem with the VRM's i think.

Which mobo were you discussing kgrevem? I have a bias for the gigabyte one as it's one i've used and it contains a VRM heatsink which the asus does not.

GA-970A

AshyCFC · Jan 20, 2014

That gigabyte is the one I used and was recommended to my by some of the guys here on toms and has worked an absolute treat with my fx-4100 and fx-8320.

Seal of Approval on it.

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

AshyCFC :

credited you above. I like it and the heatsink is nice to have. I'm gonna do a little more digging on it. pcpartpicker and such to make sure but it looks good.

filippi · Jan 20, 2014

AshyCFC :

Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS is a ok mobo for a smaller build.

Ref. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131795&clickid=TLETmXxzmWqKwC7UjbwWbx%3AhUkT3XYUG%3AVuZ1c0&iradid=97618&ircid=2106&irpid=79301&nm_mc=AFC-IR&cm_mmc=AFC-IR-_-na-_-na-_-na

kgrevemberg · Jan 20, 2014

filippi :

AshyCFC :

Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS is a ok mobo for a smaller build.

Ref. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131795&clickid=TLETmXxzmWqKwC7UjbwWbx%3AhUkT3XYUG%3AVuZ1c0&iradid=97618&ircid=2106&irpid=79301&nm_mc=AFC-IR&cm_mmc=AFC-IR-_-na-_-na-_-na

filippi you also mentioned munchkin ram above. I have no experience with this ram. Do you? Do you have reasons to recommend it over the gskill?

Advice for Build for Friend in Hard Times.

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