Very inexperienced, and building a computer.

Conner

December 17, 2012 2:50:42 AM

My name is Conner, and I am building my brother a computer, well mapping one out for him. This is my present to him since he wouldn't begin to know what to do to have a computer built for him. So any help is appreciated. He has only asked that it play any game he'd like on a good graphics and the casing must be red or black/red. Thank you for any help

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: Sometime after the holidays

Budget Range: 500 - 750 (He's willing to do a grand but I thought It'd be too much for him) This is budget for the computer itself.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, web browsing, school

Are you buying a monitor: Father bought one for him.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com mostly so I save a bit on shipping but any site will do.

Location: City, State/Region, Country - Tampa Bay area, Florida

Parts Preferences: Anything that works and is reliable.

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: I don't know what my dad got him

((( I can find out if necessary.

Additional Comments: Like I said, Red colors, must look nice, not too gigantic, can't be overly loud, runs on windows.

More about : inexperienced building computer

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macgreen

December 17, 2012 3:41:10 AM

Is an OS necessary as well?

If it is, it's in this build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sSfV

Also, you didn't mention any particular games that he'd be playing, so I went with a Radeon HD 7850 for the graphics card. The color scheme for the case wasn't exactly easy to come up with, though you could certainly choose just about any Mid-Tower ATX case with those colors instead of the Redbone U3 that I chose.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sSgW This has a more expensive case and so the build is just about $760, but it is rather red in comparison. Cases are basically what you think is good for what you, or the person you're buying for, will want it to look like.

Hopefully, if nothing else, this gives you a good idea of what you could do with the cash that you have. The CPU in both builds is the same, and should be pretty good so long as the user isn't expecting to do any overclocking. From the System Usage info at least, it should be fine. If you'd like, I could try to come up with an Intel Core i5 build as well.

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Conner

December 17, 2012 3:29:24 PM

What exactly is overclocking? and Thanks for both builds.

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macgreen

December 18, 2012 2:04:29 AM

Overclocking is basically pushing the hardware in question (usually the CPU or the graphics card). OC'ing, as it's called, is usually used by people with either extreme gaming needs or need to get just that much more performance out of their hardware for various tasks. Honestly though, at the budget you have set and the end-user's needs, it's probably not needed.

You could probably save a bit more by downgrading to an Intel G860 CPU and getting an older, yet still viable motherboard, instead. Something like this- http://pcpartpicker.com/p/t11d

With that, you'll save just under $80, and probably just have a minor hit in speed and capacity of the CPU compared to the expensive build I posted previously. And if you liked the Redbone U3 case, then you could save another $50 or so by going with that instead of the NZXT case. Your choice there. The NZXT appears to have more fans installed from the get-go, however, so that'll probably be useful.

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