Well, my brother and I threw this together on a really low budget of 800 bucks including OS. He wants to 2d animate, use Blendr, play games like Medal of Honor Airborne and Crysis 3 at high settings occasionally, and do other simple things. This won't be built until early next year, but we need to finalize things. Any alternative is accepted, including AND builds, just not Pentiums. And noise isn't an issue, as it will only be on for about 2 hours a day. Help is greatly thanked!
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($107.98 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($81.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($53.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($91.75 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.89 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.89 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Cougar Turbine 120 (4-Pack) 60.4 CFM 120mm Fan ($26.99 @ Amazon)
Fan Controller: NZXT Sentry Mix 2 Fan Controller ($27.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $789.28
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($107.98 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($81.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($53.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($91.75 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.89 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Arctic Cooling Arctic F12 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($6.89 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Cougar Turbine 120 (4-Pack) 60.4 CFM 120mm Fan ($26.99 @ Amazon)
Fan Controller: NZXT Sentry Mix 2 Fan Controller ($27.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $789.28