Help me plan a PC for my brother?

[Deacon]

Ok, so I have seen several threads where people say "why didn't you ask us". And since i have routinely proven that I have NO CLUE about anything, I was hoping you guys could help.

So I figured, if you guys have nothing better to do...I have been looking at trying to upgrade my brother from an old laptop to a decent gaming computer. Currently money is tight, so I'd like to have everything planned out ahead of time. With money being tight, I'd also like to get things which maybe a year or two down the road can be upgraded to stay relatively competitive.

I was thinking that we could buy something entry level now, and upgrade it as we needed.
What I know he will want, though, is something that runs well.
He plays WoW (and TF2, but not now, his computer can't run it well.), and I know he'll want that on the highest graphics settings possible.
I don't think its a necessity, but I'd LIKE to get him a dual monitor setup, because he is very impatient with everything. (RAM, right? ._.)

Now, I was looking at this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227339
And I (in my stupid way) think this would be a good entry level model that can be upgraded later.

Tell me why i'm wrong and what i should do instead.

[Supertoaster]

Ok, so I have seen several threads where people say "why didn't you ask us". And since i have routinely proven that I have NO CLUE about anything, I was hoping you guys could help.

So I figured, if you guys have nothing better to do...I have been looking at trying to upgrade my brother from an old laptop to a decent gaming computer. Currently money is tight, so I'd like to have everything planned out ahead of time. With money being tight, I'd also like to get things which maybe a year or two down the road can be upgraded to stay relatively competitive.

I was thinking that we could buy something entry level now, and upgrade it as we needed.
What I know he will want, though, is something that runs well.
He plays WoW (and TF2, but not now, his computer can't run it well.), and I know he'll want that on the highest graphics settings possible.
I don't think its a necessity, but I'd LIKE to get him a dual monitor setup, because he is very impatient with everything. (RAM, right? ._.)

Now, I was looking at this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227339
And I (in my stupid way) think this would be a good entry level model that can be upgraded later.

Tell me why i'm wrong and what i should do instead.

It seems great, I don't even think you would need to upgrade it once you get it. Except maybe the GPU (it's only a $50 one)

Also frankly I'm a bit pissed, My processor is shit compared to this one and this comp cost $1000, Ah the wonders of prebuilt computers.

[Captain Communism]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.683101

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121391
It's like, $100 more.

And much better, IMO.

[Cake Faice]

For under $500 ($410 to be precise)...I sorta picked out the parts for you if you go down the build it yourself route. Can you post what your budget limit actually is?

XFX Radeon 4670, 1GB $50

ASUS M4A78LT-M, AM3, $70

AMD Phenom II x4 945 (Same I have), $110

Corsair 4GB DDR3 Memory, $30 (Holy shit that's cheap)

Apevia X-Cruiser PC Case, $70 (I use a different model of this case)

Cooler Master 500watt Powersupply, $40

WD Caviar Blue HDD, 500GB, $40

And for the OS, I'll let you decide your preference on that. But yea, this looks like an okay PC. The Radeon I linked you to is old, but if someone can correct me on a better graphics card for around the same price or any of the parts I described, I'll appreciate that. That Radeon can play Crysis at max settings though, not the best of the best, but pretty good.

Peetah nid varify pl0x.

[Deacon]

For under $500 ($410 to be precise)...I sorta picked out the parts for you if you go down the build it yourself route. Can you post what your budget limit actually is?

XFX Radeon 4670, 1GB $50

ASUS M4A78LT-M, AM3, $70

AMD Phenom II x4 945 (Same I have), $110

Corsair 4GB DDR3 Memory, $30 (Holy shit that's cheap)

Apevia X-Cruiser PC Case, $70 (I use a different model of this case)

Cooler Master 500watt Powersupply, $40

WD Caviar Blue HDD, 500GB, $40

And for the OS, I'll let you decide your preference on that. But yea, this looks like an okay PC. The Radeon I linked you to is old, but if someone can correct me on a better graphics card for around the same price or any of the parts I described, I'll appreciate that. That Radeon can play Crysis at max settings though, not the best of the best, but pretty good.

Peetah nid varify pl0x.

we can build it ourselves, but my concern is throwing money at a part i know nothing about. I'll take your word for it, although i would like a bit of variety if anyone else still would like to help.

As far as a price range, we only have 200 saved up as of now. Further down the road (and if my brother lets me take over his finances like i asked) we'll be able to save more. For now, I think a $550 cap would work for us. and this will be his pride and joy.
I also do not want to overclock anything, so don't suggest that (if you were going to.)

[Deacon]

doublepostforlock

ok thanks guys, it looks like we're gonna go with cakes suggestions (since its cheaper)
He may end up picking a different case but whatever, his choice.

Many thanks again
please lock

[ursus]

doublepostforlock

ok thanks guys, it looks like we're gonna go with cakes suggestions (since its cheaper)
He may end up picking a different case but whatever, his choice.

Many thanks again
please lock

if your cap is $140 higher than what cake face posted, i would suggest a better GPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129153

this is the card i have myself, it can run crysis 2 on decent settings

[Cake Faice]

Eh, actually if $550 is your limit, then go with a much more powerful graphics card.

For $110, this Radeon 6750 is way more powerful that what I linked you to. And better than gamefreak's card from benchmarks.

[Peetah]

Ahh yes we talked over steam about it.
Its very good parts.
The Choice for the lowish graphics card aint that bad cause he can easy upgrade in future without upgrading Cpu also.
Now I did suggest to Get a Seagate or a Samsung, because many bad cases with the Caviar blue.

I can lock now or let people discuss.

[ursus]

Ahh yes we talked over steam about it.
Its very good parts.
The Choice for the lowish graphics card aint that bad cause he can easy upgrade in future without upgrading Cpu also.
Now I did suggest to Get a Seagate or a Samsung, because many bad cases with the Caviar blue.

I can lock now or let people discuss.

i have a 500gb caviar blue and it works fine .-.

[Peetah]

Didnt say every Caviar.
I work at the store.
Them customers bring them back all the time.

[Cake Faice]

Didnt say every Caviar.
I work at the store.
Them customers bring them back all the time.

Hmm, I never had a problem with mine either, I just thought that Western Digital is a trusted brand with HDD's.

But yea, Segates and Samsungs are good too,

[Deathie]

I had two 500GB seagates. They both died after 2-3 months.

[» Magic «]

My old Maxtor being running all day everyday for 4 years now

Samsumg Spinpoint been running all day everyday for 3/4 of a year now

no problems yet

performance and speed still max