Building my friend a PC

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ezelisko

New Member
Hey, my buddy wants a pretty good gaming desktop that will last at least 3 years or so. He is paying for it all, but wants it cheap. Let me know what you think of the comp. He isn't worried about the OS (military gives us win 7 for free) or the monitor/keyboard (I have spares). I can probably find some of this stuff a bit cheaper, but I want to make sure I have all that I need. Any suggestions on saving money or getting a better quality product for barely any money at all would be wonderful.

CPU: AMD FX-4170 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($119.98 @ Outlet PC) Motherboard: MSI 970A-G46 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($127.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 320 Series 80GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Compuvest)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($189.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Inwin Dragon Rider ATX Full Tower Case ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq Plus 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg) Total: $887.91

Please no AMD/intel wars. Just need some feedback. My goal is to drop the price a little bit if possible, although it's not a requirement. His limit is $900, so I am pushing it a bit. Thanks for the help.
 
Case is overkill. Most MidTower cases would be fine. You can get one down like 50 and have it still be decent. However most cases are a personal decision.

SSD isn't really necessary unless they want the increased boot and load times of programs they put on there. I have the same Seagate drive and it boots plenty quick for my tastes. You can cut that out if you want but if not it's nice to have.

Get 8GB of 1600 MHz RAM as 16GB is overkill. Also that motherboard doesn't support that high of speeds.

As for the CPU I'd advise a FX 4300 or a 6300 as they are newer and better technology of the new AMD line.

Otherwise looks very good.
 
You should get an FX-4300 definitely, much better than the old FX-4170. It's faster and overclocks just the same.

I agree with Denther, 16GB of RAM is overkill, save the money and get 8GB and then maybe put the cash towards a better processor: FX-6300.

I'd get a Corsair CX 600 PSU for that system just to have a tiny bit of headroom.

Spend less on the case too and get a Carbide 300R. It's like 80 bucks I think. You could maybe put the money towards a 7870 if you did that.
 
You might find some trouble with that Motherboard and tower combination. Most of your top connections won't have no place to plug into. You have no front header for 3.0 USB's or fire wire that I can see on the MB.
And like "Twiki" says, 8gb is nice enough. In less he is planning to do video or photo editing (rendering), that is where the extra memory comes in.
This is the case I have: COOLER MASTER HAF XM RC-922XM-KKN1 Latch Side Panel w/ 2 x 200mm Fan Black Mesh, Plastic, Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case for 129.99 Free Shipping from Newegg. It is a "Big" Mid-Tower. Most people call it a "baby Full"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119257

And you do have the OS right, that going to cost some change.
 
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