I'm a bit out of touch with what's good; give me some comments on a build for a friend.

[n00bmuffin]

About 2 years ago I built a mid-range gaming/photo-editing/whatever PC with some advice from this forum. Back then, I had a really good idea of what was good at what prices (for reference: I got a 4870, I think the GTX 295 and 4890 were pretty new at that time). Since then, it seems that some stuff has changed somewhat; though I still have an idea of what's going on. A friend is getting about $400-500 within a couple weeks, and he needs a new computer. His old laptop apparently needs a new charger or something, and he's been using his iPod Touch as a computer for a while. He's planning on using it for general purpose stuff like browsing forums and eBay. Also, I got him hooked on TF2 after he played it at my house, so it should be able to run that reasonably well (not that TF2 is a graphically demanding game or anything). He also said something about WoW, but I have no idea if he's really going to play it.

I have an extra 120GB hard drive and a DVD-RW drive that he can have, in addition to a 1024*768 LCD (I know...) that doesn't have to be included in the budget. He's aiming to spend $300-400 on it, but small upgrades may be considered after he gets the check and we know for sure.

Anyways, here's the build I have together on NewEgg at the moment. I know that people in this forum tend to (rightfully) get mad when people reveal that they're not purchasing the computer for a few months, but he is definitely going to get the money within a few weeks, a month tops; I'm sure we'll build shortly after.

[img]http://content.screencast.com/users/n00bmuffin/folders/Jing/media/b6caef34-1296-49fd-8c2d-5553c851b5df/2011-03-26_2128.png[/img]

I can post the links if anyone would rather have them, but I think a screenshot should suffice (also, it's a lot easier).

I think the CPU and GPU are sufficient for what he needs, but if he wants to spend $15 or so more, would it be worth it to get something like an Athlon II X3 or a Phenom II?

The case...yeah, I haven't heard much of the brand and it's a shameless Antec 900 rip-off, but it seems to be the best in that price range. The reviewers seem to like it, and cases are probably the one thing I'll consider NewEgg reviews for.

The motherboard...has anyone had any experience with ECS mobos? I have a Gigabyte board on mine and would prefer to get one of those, but honestly think I spent a bit more on it than I really needed to. I guess it has a decent warranty should it spontaneously decide to stop working...

The power supply... I've got a 650TX, and while I know that my experiences with a $80 PSU won't necessarily extend to an effectively $50 one just because it's from the same brand, but I've had absolutely no problems with my PSU. Has anyone used the CX PSUs? I think for this build it should be enough.

[bull3tmagn3t]

That will run tf2 on medium/high, but with that monitor, probably on high. But let me remind you that it is definitely a lower end computer, but it should be ok. Kind of a small hard drive.

[FalcoLombardi]

$400 - 500? You can do better than that

[editline]29th March 2011[/editline]

And wait 'till the last week to look at building a computer. Trust me, prices are unpredictable in the PC world.

[n00bmuffin]

[QUOTE=FalcoLombardi;28885681]$400 - 500? You can do better than that

[editline]29th March 2011[/editline]

And wait 'till the last week to look at building a computer. Trust me, prices are unpredictable in the PC world.[/QUOTE]

How, specifically? I did find a 4850 for the same price after MIR. Actually, what I have put together is more like $300ish after MIRs.

I'd kinda like to get him a decent idea of how much it'll cost now. He'll probably have the check in a week or two, and I haven't seen prices jump THAT drastically over a short period of time. I'll keep an eye on NewEgg, but I'd like to have some sort of build ready to tweak until we order.