Building a new gaming PC for my brother. Ideas?

[PP Mguire]

Input lag is the only thing that is an issue with PCs and TVs. I'd say the RCA 52" in the living room makes no more heat than my CCFL 24" NEC.

 

[Buriedfire]

Okay. I got a budget of $1100. I'll probably be going to Micro Center for it. I like the convenience of being able to return any DOA parts immediately. And I can yell more efficiently in person if someone tries to screw me over lol.

 

[PP Mguire]

Ok before they try to sell you any junk follow these guidelines.

Go for an Intel bundle if they have one. If they don't they have the 4670k for sale for 189. That's a steal, get it.
Intel Core i5 4670K 3.4GHz Socket LGA 1150 Boxed Processor 521575 - Micro Center

Make sure you get a Z87 board, it does not need to be anything fancy. Don't spend more than 160 bucks on one.

Don't get suckered into a huge wattage or low quality PSU. You don't need anymore than 650w of a quality unit. So for a guideline, Corsair TX series or better (although the CSM is decent too), or a Seasonic. If you want something they have on sale now, this would work. Although budget, it'll still handle a good GPU.
Corsair CX Series CX600M 600 Watt ATX Modular Power Supply CP-9020060-NA - Micro Center

You don't need anymore than 8GB of 1600MHz RAM. Get the cheapest they have.

As for a case, don't go real elaborate. They should have a Corsair 200r for cheap. It's a good quality case with decent airflow if he likes the simplistic design.

I wouldn't go too elaborate for storage right now. A 1TB Seagate Barracuda or WD Black/Blue would be fine. Just don't get him a green drive.

Now you have enough budget left to get a GTX 770 2GB. Although personally I would purchase this piece from Newegg because MC usually has their prices slightly inflated on GPUs.

Now you should have enough budget left to get your OS and possibly an SSD. If you grab an SSD get the 120GB Samsung EVO. It's usually on sale everywhere.

 

[-RockMan-]

I should have made a better point with the tv recommendation. I mention this for various reasons.
1) If he has a tv in place that could save money and space
2) if he has vision problems or just is too far away from monitor, a tv may offer better options.

The downsides of TV opposed to monitors can be
1) tv's can but are not ideally made for PC use (although they are becoming more so due to the media machine market), that said, if he is in a small or compact room, the higher power required to run on TV can cause greater heating issues. Most of the time this can be easily taken care of by making sure your machine is built with airflow in mind and placed in a place in the room for easy air flow access.

I have one of these Sansui HDTV 19" Excellent Condition 755805020721 | eBay
Owned mine for about 4 years now, stays on mostly not unless I am gone from the house for more than 12 hours.
Its a good size tv and monitor if he ever wanted to hook up a ps2 and pc wont be much of a problem.
Also it can hang on a wall easily if his brother or family put it up.

19inch monitor would be perfect for him in a private room or dining area.
Don't knock tvs much for not being usefull as monitors.
I haven't watched tv since spring 2010 so it sits by my computer faithfully.

 

[Buriedfire]

Thanks for the post Mguire. I managed to get everything, except the SSD, and ended up with a 760 instead of a 770. We'll get the SSD in the future. Ran a wee bit over budget, because we forgot he needed a copy of windows, a mouse, keyboard, wireless receiver and monitor lol. And we have to get him a table with decent clearance so he can just roll in under it

 

[PP Mguire]

Thanks for the post Mguire. I managed to get everything, except the SSD, and ended up with a 760 instead of a 770. We'll get the SSD in the future. Ran a wee bit over budget, because we forgot he needed a copy of windows, a mouse, keyboard, wireless receiver and monitor lol. And we have to get him a table with decent clearance so he can just roll in under it

I mentioned that above.

Modify a fold up table or just raise it with bricks.

 

[SirCyber]

I just read through this post. I really hope your brother gets better. this build is a good budget build and will handle everything you can throw at it! best of luck!

 

[Dauntae]

That is a good build and I hope it helps him get through the recovery a little easier, I'm jealous you got the 4670K for the $189 because I had to order it for a tad more but the closest Micro center is a 120 + mile round trip for me and I drive a truck with a V8 so any savings would have been used up in gas so I just ordered and saved time. Let us know how he likes it once you give it to him.

Dauntae

 

[Buriedfire]

Thanks for the replies all. I got it set up for him, but he cant get off the couch yet to get on it. Just got his temp splint off and now has his boot on. Still a lot of road rash covering his legs and a few holes to heal up, but he is doing well.