Friend's Retiring His Old Computer,

PruritusAni · May 30, 2010

My buddy's taking his old compy out back and hitting it with a shovel, a few times. So he'll be looking to build a new one to take its place. I figured I'd get some advice from you guys on what he ought to spend his money on. Here are some details:

Budget: $800.

Purpose: Gaming and opening up an obscene amount of Firefox tabs.

Parts needed: Case, Processor, CPU cooler, Motherboard, Memory, Graphics, PSU, CD/DVD drive and probably Windows 7. And maybe a drive, see notes.

Already has: keyboard, mouse and monitor.

Notes: He wants the fastest/strongest CPU his budget can buy, and will be overclocking it moderately. He may also reuse his 8800gts alongside the new graphics card (thinking physX?). He may also reuse a 250Gb SATA hard drive.

CowKing · May 30, 2010

if he wants a bigger hardware budget he can reuse his case and optical drives, but i'm far to lazy to look for a system right now. I'm thinking i5 or maybe even the P2 965

xchrissypoox · May 30, 2010

Here is what he should get, the cpu should overclock to over 4.2Ghz from what I've seen and the price leaves room for a good video card which I suggested a 5830 which is a very good card

overclocked 530

CAINuKe · May 31, 2010

^ I think hes going to want something quite a bit more powered than an i3.

xchrissypoox · May 31, 2010

^ I think hes going to want something quite a bit more powered than an i3.

For gaming that overclocked would be very powerful since it goes higher on air then most processors and having a 5830 on that budget is pretty good, but otherwise he's going to want to go with a amd build if you want tri or quad core, $800 is a tight budget

PruritusAni · May 31, 2010

if he wants a bigger hardware budget he can reuse his case and optical drives, but i'm far to lazy to look for a system right now. I'm thinking i5 or maybe even the P2 965

I think his gf may be getting his old computer, so in a way she's getting upgraded too. I just found this out, so I guess I may have gotten carried away with the shovel out back thing :biggrin:

Thanks chrissypoo for the suggested build, I will be talking with the guy about it tomorrow. I tried repping you but the thing doesn't work yet.

Any AMD CPU/mobo alternatives to the i3? Also if somehow he managed to get a i7 930 instead of the i3 for a decent price should he do it?

Crazy_Nate · May 31, 2010

I think his gf may be getting his old computer, so in a way she's getting upgraded too. I just found this out, so I guess I may have gotten carried away with the shovel out back thing

Thanks chrissypoo for the suggested build, I will be talking with the guy about it tomorrow. I tried repping you but the thing doesn't work yet.

Any AMD CPU/mobo alternatives to the i3? Also if somehow he managed to get a i7 930 instead of the i3 for a decent price should he do it?

Well, the processor is only one of the parts...X58 motherboards seem to be a little pricey.

I'd say you can probably squeeze a P2 955 in there...and AM3 motherboards are plentiful.