700 dollar build help

[XI_xtasy_ix]

My friend recently asked me to build him a computer for around $700 and he said he wanted it to be i7. i didnt know if that would work on his budget so i just thought to ask here and see if anyone had any ideas or has done this before. He doesnt need a monitor and i dont he needs a hard drive either. ill double check with him for sure and update this thread later.

Thanks

 

[BroncoBoy91]

I don't know what i7's go for, but I recently purchased the AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition 3.4 Quad, with 4 GB's DDR3, New Mobo, and the GeForce 9800GTX+ and got all that for 500 off new egg..so if he's got a case, decent P/S, and a H/D he should be pretty much set.

I don't know what he wants to do with the rig, but I can play Modern Warfare 2 Fully Maxed at 60 FPS never moves..I also do alot of flight simulation, and can run Flight Simulator X on almost all high settings and get a good 40-60 FPS (FSX is a CRAAZYYY vid card/processor hog). I'm going to be getting BC2 here shortly, I got a friend who has the same exact card, with a quad core 2.something ghz and 4 gb's DDR2 ram and he says his BC2 runs almost all high just fine.

So you shouldn't have an issue.

Just be sure to use Newegg!! and check out their combo deals! Find the processor and check out their CPU/Mobo deals.

 

[95BlackGA]

If you go with an i7, you're going to eat up almost half of the budget, on just the CPU. The cheapest being $280, plus around $150 for the cheapest motherboard... If you go with an i5 quad core, you're only going to be spending are $200, plus at least $60 for a motherboard. With a Phenom II quad, look at about $140 and around $35 for the cheapest motherboard. $180, for their most powerful Phenom II. Have your friend check out benchmarks online, and see what he's willing to sacrifice. Either cash, or performance. In my opinion, I'd sacrifice performance, as a Phenom II 940 is still a heavy weight contender in gaming.

 

[XI_xtasy_ix]

i can get the processors $50 cheaper at a local micro center but i was thinking along the same lines as you are. ill talk to him when i get a chance and i like your amd build powerful and cheap. i was thinking about going amd my next computer.

 

[95BlackGA]

Even at $50 cheaper, you're still going to have a hard time filling an i7 build with that budget. IF he has the drives, monitor, OS, and case, he MAY be able to.

$200+ for the CPU
$140+ for the motherboard
$85+ (This is the minimum) for the RAM (This is for 4GB DDR3 in a 2 x 2GB configuration)
$75+ (VERY GENEROUS ESTIMATE) for the PSU (expect to spend more)
$200+ for the GPU (Don't want a cheap, low-end GPU on an i7 build) (He could get away with a 4850, and that'd be roughly $100, and then he could add another and do a crossfire setup later)

$700 there. If he doesn't have the OS, that racks on roughly $100 more. ALWAYS RECYCLE WHAT YOU CAN!!! I'm using a P.O.S. eMachines case, so I could save money up for a nice BIG case. Turned out, that my case was more than adequate, and I saved up enough to build a new i5 computer. (Hopefully I can keep it. )

If you check these out : Intel's Core i5 Analyzed and Tested (150+ Benchmarks) - Page 6 | Maximum PC

You'll see that the i5-750, REALLY ISN'T BAD AT ALL!!! He can get a few more extra goodies in the bag if he went with the cheaper i5 setup. Which is what I recommend, or the 965 route, which he'll bareely notice the difference on.