$1000 gaming build for a friend

[Peppersworth]

Alright so I'm building this computer for my friend. He doesn't want to overclock anything, but he wants a new sandy bridge cpu and a really good graphics card. He wants it only slightly above $1000 after SA&H and taxes, so this is what I came up with.

Please make any reccomendations on how I could save money on parts. Also please keep in mind that all prices are Canadian, so please suggest products available on newegg.ca.

Thanks!

PSU: Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
DVD: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
GPU: EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

Total: $1022 including taxes and shipping.

 

[ComputerNovice]

The parts you have picked so far are pretty much some of the best choices you could have made when you consider price/performance trade offs etc. The only thing I see that I would possibly change is the motherboard you picked. I would probably go with this one right here

ASRock P67 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157217

159.99


Then you could make the 20 bucks back by going downgrading the GPU just slightly, I'd recommend getting a ATI 5850 GPU yes they are slower than the 470 (Fermi) Nvidia card but you'll save almost 60 bucks and you really aren't losing a TON of performance but you are saving almost 60 bucks. Then on top of that you could spring some of that extra cash on a slightly bigger HDD, but other than what I just mentioned I don't really see any other areas where you could make big improvements as far as part choices are concerned. You basically have already made great picks IMHO.

Although you could also take the rest of the money you saved by downgrading the GPU to a 5850 and spend it on a slightly better power supply. Just for the sake of making sure your PSU is plenty big enough if he ever wanted to add anything to the computer later on without having to replace the PSU, I'd recommend getting at least a 600W or 650W PSU although I wouldn't buy anything over that just because it's not likely the extra headroom after that point would ever get used. But anyways good luck with your build it seems you have it all pretty well sorted out.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Case - $75 - Antec 300 Illusion http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
PSU - $100 - Antec TP-650 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021
MoBo - $400 - ASUS P8P67 Pro w/ i5-2500 and Civ V game http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.575892
CPU - incl above - Intel Core i5-2500K
Cooler - $38 - Scythe SCMG 2100 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185142
TIM - $6 - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080
RAM - $40 - (2 x 4GB) Corsair CAS 9 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260
GFX - $140 - EVGA GTX 460 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130591
HD - $70 - Seagate 7200.12 1TB 7200 rpm http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433
DVD Writer - $22 - Asus 24X DRW-24B3L w/ LS http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135221

Total $891

The above build is capable of heavy overclocks and the addition of a 2nd 460 GFX card in the future in SLI w/ no other ugrades required. Upgrade to the Asus GTX 470 for $100 (Total System Cost = $991) but ya won't be able to handle a 2nd GFX card w/ that PSU

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121400

To handle two 470's, you'd need an 850 watter and you'd be better off in a larger case:

Case - $100 - Coolermaster HAF-922 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197
PSU - $110 - XFX Black Edition 850 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207001

With those upgrades, you'd be at $1,026 but, if it was me, that's the way I'd go

 

[cbrunnem]

^ he wanted the parts from the canadian site

 

[ComputerNovice]

He also made it clear his friend didn't want to overclock

 

[Peppersworth]

Case - $75 - Antec 300 Illusion http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
PSU - $100 - Antec TP-650 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021
MoBo - $400 - ASUS P8P67 Pro w/ i5-2500 and Civ V game http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.575892
CPU - incl above - Intel Core i5-2500K
Cooler - $38 - Scythe SCMG 2100 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185142
TIM - $6 - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080
RAM - $40 - (2 x 4GB) Corsair CAS 9 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260
GFX - $140 - EVGA GTX 460 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130591
HD - $70 - Seagate 7200.12 1TB 7200 rpm http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433
DVD Writer - $22 - Asus 24X DRW-24B3L w/ LS http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135221

Total $891

The above build is capable of heavy overclocks and the addition of a 2nd 460 GFX card in the future in SLI w/ no other ugrades required. Upgrade to the Asus GTX 470 for $100 (Total System Cost = $991) but ya won't be able to handle a 2nd GFX card w/ that PSU

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121400

To handle two 470's, you'd need an 850 watter and you'd be better off in a larger case:

Case - $100 - Coolermaster HAF-922 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197
PSU - $110 - XFX Black Edition 850 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207001

With those upgrades, you'd be at $1,026 but, if it was me, that's the way I'd go

Well he isn't going to be overclocking as I said, so I don't need the 2500k or the cooler. The case you recommended is more expensive anyways. Also, $891 with taxes and shipping will probably push it close to $1100. And he doesn't want to SLI, so I don't need to spend $60 more on that motherboard. And if he did, he wouldn't need an 850W power supply; 750w would be more than enough for 2 470's, especially with a 95w cpu.

And where on earth did you find an EVGA GTX 460 for $140 on newegg.ca? They're all about $200 for EVGA, and only a little less for other brands.

Finally, half of your links don't work.

Honestly, thanks for your time, but please read the original post first

 

[Peppersworth]

Best answer selected by Peppersworth.

 

[ComputerNovice]

Thanks for selecting my answer as the best answer, on another note though I wish you luck on the build. Post a update when you finish it or PM me or something to let me know how the build turns out.