Building a PC for a friend, advice wanted.

Hey all,

A friend of mine asked me if I could build him a PC, and what parts would be best. His old PC is over 6 years old and he really needs a new one. His budget is about 1100€, the lower though, the better.

Since we live in Luxembourg, getting parts isn't easy, so for us the best alternative is still www.amazon.de. they got the best prices, no shipping fees and also send most stuff to Luxembourg. So it would be great if you could choose from there.

Here's what we came up with so far (site is in german):

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940
RAM: 4 GB Corsair TW3X4G1333C9 PC3-10666
Mobo: Asus M4A78T-E
GPU: Zotac Geforce GTX 260-216
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650TXEU ATX 650W
DVD Drive: LG GH22 NP20
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F1
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM

Total Price being ~980€.

I'm not so sure on AMD stuff so any advice would be really helpful. Also, checking for stuff on www.amazon.de makes it easier for us too.

Thanks in advance.

looks like you did your homework on this one and i like your choices except for vista one id probably go with xp a little cheaper but stable and isnt as bloated as vista tends to get. i personally like the amd phenon and the corsair memory looks like you got a nice psu to power this boy up with no problem and zotac according to latest test seems to be the best buy. im not a fan of samsung hard drives id go with a western digital or seagate one and maybe go half the size. im a big fan of antec cases and always have so that would stay on my list

I don't think the phenom X4 940 will work on an AM3 socket board. They are socket AM2+.

I would look for a X4 955 or 945. The X4 955 is like the X4 940 a black edition with unlocked multipliers (ie, easier to overclock) just faster at 3.2GHz. The X4 945 (3GHz) is like a 940 but for AM3 sockets and without the unlocked multipliers.

If what your friend manly does is gaming, you could try to save some money on the processor and get a Phenom X3 720 (its an AM3 socket so will fit that motherboard and its black edition so easy overclock) which is basically on par with the X4 940 for gaming, since most games don't take advantage of the 4rd core (3 cores is the sweet spot for gaming atm), although the X4 are faster for encoding and stuff.

If you choose the X3 720, I would look to upgrade the graphic card. The ATI Radeon 4890 or a Geforce GTX 275 are a bit faster than that GTX 260 c216.

Oh I thought all Phenom II CPU's would work on an AM3 board. Will have to look for an alternative then. Would it get cheaper if I stuck with the RAM and Mobo and got a different CPU or stay with that CPU and get different RAM and a different Mobo?

My friend is more a casual gamer, he has a few games but plays most of his games on his 360. Also he still has a rather small monitor, so I'm guessing anything more than the GTX260 would be wasted (I already think the GTX260 is overpowered). But it's a build that should last him for at least another 4 years, so will have to see about that.

Well if he is a casual player maybe something along the lines of the phenom X3 720. If you really want a quadcore then go for the X4 Phenom 945.

If you think a GTX 260 is too powerful you can always replace it for a GTS 250 or an ATI Radeon 4850 or 4770 (I would buy the cheapest).

I would stay with a socket AM3 motherboard. The AM2+ is end of life. The intel equivalents, the Core 2 Quad 9xxx aren't going to go anywhere either and the Intel I7 is just a more expensive platform.

The phenom X3 720 reviews:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ph...be-review-am3/

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...oc.aspx?i=3512

So you're saying vista isn't as stable as xp? I'd say you're quite wrong on that. It's also just about as fast as xp is as well. We're not in the pre-sp1 era anymore.

i was stating xp is stable un like the predecessors but vista is bloated and also stable but mainly bloated. i just think too fast for my fingers to type.

What games is your friend looking to play? If he's a casual gamer, playing older games at lower resolutions, then you probably don't even need a 260 GPU....