Assisting in a PC Build - Advice

[Hiccup]

My brother's PC died (an HP Desktop...good riddance), and has been kicking around the idea of building his own. He's not completely PC literate, so he's been asking around for advice on parts and such and I think it's a bit overwhelming to him. Today I went over and helped him get some ideas and create a list of things. His budget is capped at $900, so this is my best attempt (it's been a while since I've built mine so I'm not up on the latest and greatest. This will primarily be a gaming PC.

How does this look, and am I missing something?

Case - Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower =$60
MoBo - BIOSTAR A880GZ AM3+ AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX AMD =$70
CPU - AMD FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Quad-Core =$90 ($110-$20 combo discount with MoBo)
HD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s =$130 ($80 discount)
RAM - Team Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) =$38
Power - hec Zephyr MX 750 750W Peak Output ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready =$70 ($30 discount)
Video - EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 - $250 ($20 mail in rebate)
OS - Standard Win 7 OEM =$100

Total Cost ~ $810.

I would assume all the cables come supplied (or they did 7+ years ago). The CPU does come with a heat sink and fan. We were thinking of salvaging the DVD drive from his old PC as well, but not sure of compatibility. Thoughts?

[Anonymous Bosch]

Have a butcher's at the latest PC Buyer's Guide for Entry-Level Gaming on SharkyExtreme, as they also use a budget of $900 (which includes an LCD monitor).

[Giles Habibula]

That power supply might be a little iffy according to the recent customer reviews. It actually might be all right, but I personally would go with a brand like Antec or Corsair.

And wow, have hard drives really gone up in price that much in the last year?!? The regular price on that WD 1 gig black is $210! I bought that exact drive a little over a year ago for $99, but a quick look around tells me they are now high-priced everywhere.

[The Meal]

Yeah, the flooding in Thailand was a pretty big deal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Thailand_floods

[Sudy Nym]

My understanding is that AM3/+ is a socket that doesn't have anywhere left to go. I actually really like AMD, but if he's only gaming he might be better served by a dual-core i3-2100 (LGA 1155) and upgrading down the line if he wants/needs to. That said, I doubt there's anything the FX-4100 can't do gaming-wise right now, and it will come in handy if he ever does do something multiple-core intensive.

I don't know anything about hec, but I recently decided to go with a well reviewed XFX PSU. It's essentially made by Seasonic, which is tops when it comes to PSUs. I don't think 750w is necessary for a single GPU system--even 650w should be more than enough.

It would be nice to have a 120GB SSD, but that would be tough on your budget.

The resources I used a couple of months ago are here.

I would assume all the cables come supplied (or they did 7+ years ago).

Most likely, but the motherboard specs should tell you.

We were thinking of salvaging the DVD drive from his old PC as well, but not sure of compatibility.

If it's IDE, it won't be compatible with the motherboard you've chosen. Neither will any old HDs. A new DVD-RW can be had for $15 or $20 though.

[EvilHomer3k]

I agree with Sudy Nym. An i3 is faster by a good margin than the 4100. If you can fit it into your budget, though, the i5 2400k is the way to go. Excellent performance and overclocks super easily. If you go with a 2400k be sure to get a P or Z series motherboard. If not the H series is fine (P and Z have overclocking stuff built in).

The 560 is a very nice card at this point. If you're more on the AMD side a 6850 is also a good choice. Either should run anything out right now at 1920x1200.

Again, if you can swing it look at getting 16gb of ram. Windows will use the extra to cache programs in memory that you use often. Next best thing to an SSD and some people prefer it.