Friend's rig. Need a second opinion.

[RenzoGuzi]

I just finished making my first my pc and i have you guys to thank for that. Now, my friend has started to make a list of parts he'll plan on building with. He doesnt really trust my judgement so he wants a second opinion. Here's his specs:

Core i3 3220
MSI B75MA-P45 or Msi H61m-p31
Sapphire HD7770
Western Digital 500gb SATA Blue
8gb 4x2 DDR3 PC1600 with Heatsink Corsair
CM Storm Scout II or SilverStone Redline RL01 (Cm storm scout is on sale and has the same price as the silverstone)
Windows 7 Home Premium

His budget is 700$ with os so his real budget is around 600$. He prefers intel over amd and nvidia over intel. He also doesnt need usb3. i wanted to give him an h61m gigabyte mobo. If you want to make a devil's advocate build, thats fine too. He's new to this if that helps lol. Thanks in advance!

 

[Outlander_04]

A build with an AMD FX 6300 and a motherboard with a 970 chipset will cost about the same but absolutely thrash the i3
http://www.overclock.net/t/1363058/pc-games-hardware-crysis-3-in-the-cpu-test-amd-fx-processors-dominate-our-benchmarks

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Wouldn't go for the RAM - get this: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f312800cl9d8gbrl (assuming US - if not, get the cheapest 2x4GB DDR3-1600 CL9 (or lower) 1.5V (or lower)).

No sure what you mean by nVidia over Intel - they are in different sections of the market.

See if you can get a 650Ti or 650Ti Boost.

EDIT: Don't go for H61 - it doesn't always play nicely with Ivy. Also, consider Haswell. FX6300 is another option, especially in heavily threaded stuff.

 

[RenzoGuzi]

Could anyone do another build? I just need one.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($248.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone Redline Series RL04B ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.04 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.94 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $701.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-31 08:12 EDT-0400)

 

[RenzoGuzi]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($248.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone Redline Series RL04B ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.04 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.94 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $701.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-31 08:12 EDT-0400)

Wow. Just wow. Amazing build. Could you do an intel one as well so i could do a comparison?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Sorry I took so long - I expect I was asleep when you replied...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($248.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone Redline Series RL04B ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.04 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.94 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $707.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-31 21:00 EDT-0400)