Need help with choosing a PC

Hi guys,

So it is my brothers birthday in a few weeks and my parents and I are talking about getting him a computer. I don't have a ton of knowledge about building or choosing computers for gaming so I want to get some input from the GB community. The computer would mostly be used for gaming, and my parents are saying that they will spend $1000 on it, but if it is a little higher I am sure it wouldn't be an issue (let's say $1100 max).

I now that you save money building a computer yourself but I don't know how to do that and if it would be easy to learn. But I have looked online for some tutorials on what to buy and saw that Tested just put a video telling people how to build one so I will watch that soon. I found some builds just googling online so let me know if you guys think these are any good.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2013741/build-a-killer-windows-8-gaming-pc-for-under-1-000.html

And since I have never built a PC, we are looking at just buying one so let me know what companies are good or what types are good for around $1000. I heard that Maingear Vybe is good, here's the link if you are not familiar with them.

http://www.maingear.com/custom/desktops/vybe/customize.php

Thanks for the help guys!

So I have been messing around with cyberpower and looking at different builds and making some small adaptions of my own, would someone be able to help make some recommendations off of this...

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/CyberPower_ASUS_Z77_Configurator

just build a pc, be an hero.

(sorry i really don't have advice to offer. can't see why you would buy a PC except for a really customized case/design that some offer or you want to shell an extra couple hundred to have someone do all the work for you. guess it saves you the hassle of having a dead mobo and having to return/exchange/troubleshoot all the time.)

I really would advise you to build it yourself. It might look scary but it is really quite simple. There are a million guides on the subject out there with focus on different aspects. Also for the sake of the thread, what's the $1100 supposed to cover. Just the tower and components, or monitor, keyboards and so on as well?

@azteck: The money limit is the budget that I have for the PC. The thing is I just don't know what is good I guess.

@noobsauceg7: @azteck's specific question is referring to the fact that most posted budgets aren't including the monitor, keyboard, and other peripherals in that price, as people usually have them already. If that is not the case, specificity will help us out.

I have no experience with any company that pre-builds PCs, at least none that I would recommend. My suggestion is the same as always; build your own. It's dead simple. For quick advice:

• Avoid AMD CPUs,
• don't waste money on crazy expensive motherboards (whose only difference from <$200 boards are the addition of unnecessary features for your usage),
• 8GB of RAM is fine (and branding doesn't really matter),
• make sure the PSU you get is 80 PLUS Bronze or better (it's a measure of efficiency and usually listed on the product's page if it qualifies) and above all else do NOT skimp on it (cut your budget anywhere but the PSU),
• look at GPU reviews that list games your brother is likely to play and note their performance at the resolution you are aiming for,
• and don't get a pseudo-watercooler like the Corsair H70 if you are going to get an aftermarket CPU cooler at all (it isn't necessary but it'll make whatever processor you choose run quieter and cooler; stick to cheaper air coolers as anything is a step up over stock), they're too expensive and you probably aren't going to be overclocking at all.

@mirado: Thanks for all the advice! I made a thread listing all the parts if you want to take a look at it too.

http://www.giantbomb.com/pc/3045-94/forums/help-me-build-a-pc-thread-1428698/

I appreciate the help.