Advice on new PC Build

[vision810]

I'm building a new PC for a friend of mine. He'll use it mainly for gaming @ 1920x1080.

We've come up with the following build so far:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 175€
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 2GB DDR5 229€
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77 93€
Memory: Corsair DDR3 2x 4GB 1600MHz CL9 Vengeance 37€
PSU: Corsair TX650W 100€
HDD: Western Digital Green 500GB/64MB cache/SATA3 57€
Heat Sink: Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 26€
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 400R 84€
Monitor: LG 23 LED E2342T-BN 140€
DVD Drive: 15€

Total: 941€

He is okay with the price, but wouldn't mind it a bit cheaper. Did we go overkill or too cheap on anything?
I'd appreciate any suggestions/advice. Thanks!

 

[larrym]

Go to a H77 board as your CPU is locked. That will save some. Also, you will not need a cooler. The stock one will work fine.

 

[Onus]

The i5-3450 is a locked processor, which means no overclocking. That means you won't need the aftermarket CPU cooler, and you would probably be fine with a H77 mobo. Both of those should lower the cost.
Use some of the savings to get a Blue (better) or Black (best) HDD though; the Green is built to save power, and is slow. It's an excellent data drive along with a fast SSD for Windows and programs, but a budget build probably doesn't have room for a SSD.
The PSU is larger than needed (a high quality 500W is enough), but if less expensive options are of low or unknown quality, keep it. Keep in mind that the Corsair Builder V2 is NOT a good PSU, having been built with some inferior Samxon capacitors. It reviews well when new, but may not hold up.

 

[vision810]

Thanks for the advice, managed to bring down the costs a bit with a GA-H77-DS3H, a Corsair TX550M.

 

[g-unit1111]

The i5-3450 is a locked processor, which means no overclocking. That means you won't need the aftermarket CPU cooler, and you would probably be fine with a H77 mobo. Both of those should lower the cost.
Use some of the savings to get a Blue (better) or Black (best) HDD though; the Green is built to save power, and is slow. It's an excellent data drive along with a fast SSD for Windows and programs, but a budget build probably doesn't have room for a SSD.
The PSU is larger than needed (a high quality 500W is enough), but if less expensive options are of low or unknown quality, keep it. Keep in mind that the Corsair Builder V2 is NOT a good PSU, having been built with some inferior Samxon capacitors. It reviews well when new, but may not hold up.

I agree that the Z77 board isn't necessary. And that stock cooler is overrated junk - it's no better than the included stock fan. SSDs are very nice to have but you could probably add one later and it will still be the same.

I can vouch that the CX series is not good. It's cheap and the 600W is the only model worth anything but anything other than that - don't bother. I've had a couple of CX430s fail on me for numerous reasons and it doesn't work well with Intel builds.

He is okay with the price, but wouldn't mind it a bit cheaper. Did we go overkill or too cheap on anything?
I'd appreciate any suggestions/advice. Thanks!

If you post a link to the store you're buying from that will help to suggest parts. If you don't know one the link in my signature lists over 80 countries.

 

[vision810]

My friend's from Poland so we were looking on allegro.pl, but it turns out its not the cheapest solution at all. Huge thanks to g-unit1111, as we found proline.pl which is a lot cheaper. We managed to put together the following:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 208€
GPU: Gigabyte GTX660 2048MB 199€
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H 85€
Memory: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2x 4GB 1600MHz CL9 38€
PSU: Corsair TXV2650 93€
HDD: WD Caviar Green 500GB 53€
SSD: Intel 330 120GB 94€
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 48€
Monitor: BENQ 23" G2320HDBL 135€
DVD Drive: 15€

Total: 968€

Managed to even squeeze in an SSD.
Would the stock cooler be enough on the 3570K?
Also, any recommendations on a similarly priced budget case?

 

[g-unit1111]

My friend's from Poland so we were looking on allegro.pl, but it turns out its not the cheapest solution at all. Huge thanks to g-unit1111, as we found proline.pl which is a lot cheaper. We managed to put together the following:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 208€
GPU: Gigabyte GTX660 2048MB 199€
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H 85€
Memory: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2x 4GB 1600MHz CL9 38€
PSU: Corsair TXV2650 93€
HDD: WD Caviar Green 500GB 53€
SSD: Intel 330 120GB 94€
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 48€
Monitor: BENQ 23" G2320HDBL 135€
DVD Drive: 15€

Total: 968€

Managed to even squeeze in an SSD.
Would the stock cooler be enough on the 3570K?
Also, any recommendations on a similarly priced budget case?

Here's what I would suggest - on that tight of a budget - I'd actually consider dropping the SSD. I'm not the biggest fan of anything Intel branded other than CPUs. So what I would do - drop the SSD and then that frees you up to do this:

- Upgrade the case to the Cooler Master HAF 912: http://www.proline.pl/?p=CM+HAF+RC-912+PLUS
- Upgrade GPU to Radeon 7950: http://www.proline.pl/?p=XFX+FX-795A-TNFC
- Then add an aftermarket cooler: http://www.proline.pl/?p=CM+RR-212E-16PK-R1

Shouldn't alter the budget too much.