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Building for a friend, critique please!

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - Building for a friend, critique please!

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All right, my friend's birthday is coming up soon, and he's planning on using the money to build a new computer to play some games on. He doesn't need it to be too powerful, just good enough to play Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Source, COD4 and WoW around high/max. He's gonna get ~$800 on his birthday and I decided to spec out a build for him since he trusts me more with computers and stuff

I'm just posting a thread here to check if any of the more experienced guys here could help me out

Here it is:

Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 330 $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119115

PSU: Thermaltake Purepower 500W $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817153052

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L P35 $84.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128337

CPU: Intel E7200 $119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115052

RAM: G.SKILL 2x2 GB DDR2 800 $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231122

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 250GB SATA $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136161

Graphics Card: PNY GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB GDDR3 $114.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814133232

CD Burner: SAMSUNG 22X SATA DVD Burner $25.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151173

Monitor: Hanns-G 17" LCD $139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824254018

Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Keyboard and Mouse $12.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6823126017

OS: Windows Vista 64-bit $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116488

Total: $828.89

What do you guys think? Anything to make it better or cheaper? By the way, he's not going to be OCing, and I'm going to be paying for his shipping as his birthday present if you're wondering

Thank you!

Add a reply

Looks good, just a few things.

For the video card, why not get this (9800GT) cheaper (if you do not mind rebates) and comes with CoD4.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] 23-_-Compo

or, if you use a 17 inch monitor. This 9600GSO should max all of those games out.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130361

Also, I think you can do better on the monitor.

if you find room in your budget
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] =WEM1724TT

Lastly, i would like a nicer PSU, but i know you are on a budget.
Corsair VX450?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139003

if he is playing any old games from a vendor that starts with a E and ends with an A, he should not use Windows Vista 64.

Sorry that all my suggestions kinda raise the price.

------------------------------ Q6600@3.0/4870@stock
G33/X-fi ElitePro
24'E248WFP/OCZSxS600
Vista\Xp\Sv03\Ubuntu
Reply to Ares_

Nice build, maybe this 9800GT at $125 or $105 after rebate, features dual slot cooling for the CM330 case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130397
You can get an Asus 19" LCD for $129 after rebate and it has free shipping (saves $15 for me)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824236029

Reply to dirtmountain

RAM - $54 after mail-in-rebate and it comes with free shipping (-$5)
mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146731

Monitor - $169 but has free shipping ($20 value) (+$30)
BenQ G2000WD Black 20.1" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 1000:1 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824014176

HDD - $75, basically for $15 you get more speed and an additional 400gb + it has free shipping. I think that is about a $.50 savings but hay, everything counts.
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218

All the suggestions above would add $40 but I think it is well worth the extra investment.

Message edited by mexpedip on 10-10-2008 at 09:04:30 AM

Reply to mexpedip

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