My brother in law needs some new systems parts. He looking for a new CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Video Card. With a budget of around $500.00. He's not a huge gamer but said he wouldn't mind something that can run some of the more current games. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
CPU: [CPU] i5-4690k $175.99 USD ($199.99-$25 VISA Checkout) GPU: [GPU] PowerColor R9 280 + AMD Gold Reward $129.99 ($159.99 - $30 Rebate) Motherboard: MSI Z97-GD65 Gaming LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ($139.99 - $15 Rebate) RAM: HyperX Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory ($89.99 - $14 Promo) Total (w/Deals): $506 Side Note: This was done in a few minutes I had at work so I would look up some reviews and other items within each category to compare. Plus Engima might have a better handle on the current market.
What power supply does he have? What resolution monitor he uses and does he plan to upgrade? for motherboard id pick asus http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132118 As for other parts, i like what Riot selected.
He has a 600W PSU currently and he sounds like he just wants something for office applications, internet with a side order of gaming. Thanks for your help.
Even though it isnt asked for, I think the new parts need to include a solid state drive. It is one of the largest speed boosts you can do to a computer for general usage and feels like the difference between a single core CPU and a quad core. You can keep the existing HDD for storage of pictures, videos, etc and for games that are not played often. That will leave plenty of space for WIndows, programs, and a game or two on the SSD. You can get a great deal on this highly reliable Intel SSD right now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167177 Deals come and go so the price may go up if you wait more than a few days on it. Or the price may go down even more tomorrow or on Monday. Who knows. Pentium G3258 unlocked dual-core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117374 Hyper 212 Evo cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 ASRock H97M Pro4 motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157512 RipjawsX 8GB DDR-1866 ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455 R9 280 gpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131570 530 series SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167177 All that comes to $506 before rebates, so under the $500 mark when all is said and done. Even though it is a dual core, with the cooler you will be able to overclock the processor to the mid 4GHz and it is incredibly fast, especially for office work. I use that processor myself (and the same cooler and motherboard) in my own office computer. It is still plenty sufficient for light to medium gaming and wont hold back the graphics card at all. The motherboard was chosen because it is actually a pretty good board, and has a chance it may be able to upgrade to the next gen Broadwell CPU from Intel. It can also overclock the processors even though it is not a "Z" chipset and has proper cooling of the power delivery on the board to allow for safe overclocking. The RAM I chose is pretty much the same as the HyperX above, but is cheaper and ever so slightly faster. 8GB will be plenty for this PC and it keeps the cost down over 16GB kits the 280 GPU is actually a pretty good deal for the price right now. It will handle just about any game in 1080p and the SSD is a really good price for the size and is a very reliable drive. I feel like this is a necessity for any new computer being done these days.