Building a PC: A present for my bro

[Tru Reptile]

I'm going back to the US next week to visit my family, and it just so happens to be in time for my brother's birthday. So, I thought it'd be a nice little present to help him pony up the cash to build a new PC so we can play GW2 together. Yay! He mentioned before that he likes this case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119233 Said case won't be included in the budget though, so we can just focus on the guts of the system.

We'll be using Newegg so please feel free to cough up dem links! What we need is:

Video card: We've always been happy with Nvidia in the past, so we'd like to continue with them. Maybe a GTX 660ti?

CPU: Sticking with Intel.

Motherboard: A future proof mobo to allow for upgrades and OC'ing if he wants to later on.

Ram: 8 gigs of whatever.

Hard Drive: I know it's pretty common to have both a standard HD and SSD, but I think it's best to skip the SSD and use that money for a better video card. Maybe a HD from the Caviar series? Nothing more than 1tb.

Power Supply: A future proof PSU to allow GPU upgrades and OC'ing if he wants to later on.

Optical Drive: Whatever.

Would like to spend $1,000, but am willing to go up to $1,200 if it means getting some sweet parts.

Thanks.

[Lady Rhonwyn]

I'm not going to comment on the motherboard, CPU and GPU (too long since I've built my own rig, I'm in need of a new one myself), but...

I wouldn't skip the SSD. Those things aren't expensive at all anymore. Get a 128GB SSD and a 1TB good HDD. It's absolutely worth the money to have a good and fast drive for your OS.

[Ora]

This has a list of good and affordable 128 Gig SSD's below 120 euro:

http://www.chip.de/artikel/SSD-Die-b..._56510041.html
you might not be able to read the article, since it's german, but you get the rating, name of SSD and price .

[Guildoholic]

Video card: Solid choice.

Case: Again, solid choice.

Processor: intel's core i5 3570k 230 USD

MoBo: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ~135 USD

RAM: G.SKILL Sniper 1600 mhz ~41 USD

HDD: Up to you, but based on your statements, 1TB western digital caviar black which is ~110 USD.
(Also, I own one of these and boot up takes me about 1 minute 20 seconds.)

Power supply: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 ~90
(A 650W supply is more than enough for the 660 Ti AND have room for OC)

Optical drive: Up to you. Some want blu-ray, others want just a plain CD/DvD drive so you decide. I would advise against Lite-On brand CD/DvD drives because they are freakishly loud.

[Tru Reptile]

Thanks for the help. I decided to get this SSD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227791

And this video card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127696

I'll be spending a bit more than I wanted because I forgot about Windows. What's the difference between the OEM version of Windows 7 and the retail version?

[Lady Rhonwyn]

Thanks for the help. I decided to get this SSD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227791

And this video card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127696

I'll be spending a bit more than I wanted because I forgot about Windows. What's the difference between the OEM version of Windows 7 and the retail version?

Officially, you're not allowed to buy OEM. They are supposed to be sold only with complete systems. They're generally also cheaper. And you've less activations.

[Guildoholic]

The products I listed (and replaced by the items you listed) comes out to be about 966 USD (not including optical drive and Windows). Again, it's up to you to make that decision on what to buy.

[Blazing Liger]

Since you're getting everything on newegg, make sure to check and see if there are any combo deals on the stuff you want. Don't forget the other little things you'll need, either, like case fans, a CPU fan/heatsink, and some thermal compound (I highly recommend arctic silver). Also make sure the mobo and video card can hook up to his current mouse/keyboard and monitor.

I was able to make a pretty succesful build about 2 years ago for $1100 (mostly thanks to black friday sales), so I'm sure your budget should be fine. I don't think the brand for RAM matters too much, just find whatever's cheap and well-rated (personally, I have Kingston RAM, but only because of the rebates they had at the time). For a PSU, I got a Kingwin. It's been quite reliable and also pretty quiet. It's also modular, so you only have to plug in the cables you're actually going to use.

Also, I don't know if I'm the only one with this problem, but I found case fans a huuuge pain to put in, as they were unthreaded and I could not get the darn things to screw in. I ended up getting some silicon fan 'screws' (they're recommended to reduce noise, but they're also easier to put in). If you go that route, just make sure you get SILICONE ones. I got the rubber ones once and they turned brittle and broke.

EDIT: As for OEM, it's just the item without all the retail packaging. If you don't need any manuals or fancy box, I'd go OEM.

[Tru Reptile]

I just got back from vacation... with massive jet lag.

This was a first time PC build for the both of us, and it was very easy. Anyone thinking of buying a gaming machine instead of building your own; build your own. Seriously.

Thanks for the advice in this thread, especially about the SSD. Boot and load times are crazy fast, and overall his PC is pretty beastly. I look forward to building my own hopefully sometime this year.

Thanks again!