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Build for friend

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My friend wants to get a new gaming desktop, and I will be picking out the parts and assembling it for him. He would like to stay ~$700. Here are the parts I have picked out.

Case: CM HAF 912 $50 @ Microcenter
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

CPU: 3570k $190 @ Microcenter
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 $20(after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H $70 @ Microcenter(after MIR and Microcenter gives motherboards purchased with a 3570k a $50 discount)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Ram: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB 1600mhz $45 @ newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM $70 @ newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Power Supply: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W $56.50 @ newegg(after MIR and promo code)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Video Card: EVGA Superclocked 560 1GB $135 @ newegg(after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

+$23.50 in tax from Microcenter

Total: $660 including all tax and rebates.

That's everything. He doesn't need a DVD drive, monitor, or OS.

Now, I know my stuff pretty good, but want to make sure all of this looks good.

One thing that caught my eye was the Hard Drive only has sata 3.0Gb/s as opposed to 6.0. Does this matter? I was under the impression that mechanical drives couldn't fully use the sata interface anyways, so it wasn't a big deal.

Also, my friend's current monitor resolution is 1680x1050. He may upgrade to 1080p eventually, but probably not till the end of this year, at the earliest. He wants to use this to play games like SCII, Guild Wars 2, Dark Souls, DayZ, Borderlands 2, and stuff like that. Not extremely demanding games, but he would like to run them at high settings. Do you think this build will give him that? I am thinking he could get a better video card, but the 560 will probably be good enough for the games I listed.

The only thing else I have to add is that he plans on getting Borderlands 2 on release for $60. With the recent release of the 660ti, this made me think of something. All 660ti's come with borderlands 2 for free. So I am kind of thinking he should save a little more and get the 660ti, since it will perform better and he will be spending the $60 on Borderlands anyways. What do you guys think?


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Homebuilt system Expert

Looks decent, but the card is going to be weak at 1920x1080 when he upgrades his monitor. I'd go with at least a 560ti, they are going for about$170 after rebate.

The 660ti would definitely be the way to go.

My friend would like to order the newegg parts tonight and go to microcenter tomorrow, so does anyone have any other thoughts, on the Hard drive being only Sata 3.0Gb/s, or anything else?

If he gets the 660ti, I told him it would play most games on high for at least 2 years at 1080p. Does that sound reasonable?

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Homebuilt system Expert

I think the 560 is fine for now, especially with a non 1080 monitor. The mobo is SLI capable so I would say that this current build is great and then he can add on a second 560 down the road when he upgrades his monitor. I would maybe go up to the 750w PSU but that's just me. Also, the budget may not allow for it now but an SSD is such a great investment. Get a 60GB Crucial M4 for about $60 and he will be impressed. With the SSD the hard drive you selected will be fine.
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