New PC build for my brother

[theantidavis]

Hello, I have had good luck with builds here before, and my brother's birthday is coming up, so I figured I may as well ask help here!

Approximate Purchase Date: This week
Budget Range: approximately 800 USD

System Usage from Most to Least Important: General usage, watching movies, light gaming (Civ IV and The Sims are his favorites)

Are you buying a monitor: Yes, he needs a monitor

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: preference towards newegg or amazon, but other providers are acceptable

Location: Norman, Oklahoma

Parts Preferences: none

Overclocking: Probably not

SLI or Crossfire: Not at this budget

Your Monitor Resolution: 1080p if it can fit into the budget

Additional Comments: He has a few things he requested, including a large hard drive (>1TB), a mouse, and a keyboard

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: He's been using a pretty bad Dell for six years now, I figured I would help him out.

 

[i7Baby]

Try -

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($83.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($53.10 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($148.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($57.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($48.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($86.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($138.99 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($27.87 @ Amazon)
Total: $873.68

 

[bsod1]

staying close to budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($90.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($53.10 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card ($158.42 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer H226HQLbid 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($116.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($27.87 @ Amazon)
Total: $819.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-10 20:13 EDT-0400

 

[Silverbear]

An AMD option just to spice things up, lol:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($73.75 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMMAXX 200 37.2 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus A88X-PLUS ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($199.00 @ NCIX US)
Case: Thermaltake VM30001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($27.87 @ Amazon)
Total: $794.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-10 20:41 EDT-0400

 

[bsod1]

An AMD option just to spice things up, lol:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($73.75 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMMAXX 200 37.2 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus A88X-PLUS ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($199.00 @ NCIX US)
Case: Thermaltake VM30001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($27.87 @ Amazon)
Total: $794.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-10 20:41 EDT-0400

I like this quite a bit although it's easier to upgrade Intel.

 

[Silverbear]

I like this quite a bit although it's easier to upgrade Intel.

Thanks. But yeah, at the moment, Intel has a better upgrade path, AMD has been biding their time recently and I hope they announce some new goodies soon since Vishera was showing it's age a week after it's release, lol. For budget builds, I like going AMD just because you can maximize what video card you can get. I recently built a friend's computer with an 860k and GTX 960 combo, he only had a $600 budget and I just couldn't fit a core i3 in at the time without sacrificing the quality of the motherboard the video card. Anyway it surprised the heck out of me when we tested some games out and proceeded to max out most of his Steam library (Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas, Bioshock Infinite, and almost maxed out Wolfenstein The New Order.)