Gaming computer help?

[stanistheman]

My friend wants a new gaming build for the cheapeast price you can get.

Any help would be appreciated he does not care whether its amd or intel

He wants to keep it for the next 3 years

 

[kajabla]

Well, you can get a build together for $350, but it'll be awful. We really do need a budget.

 

[stanistheman]

Lets say $800-$1000 hes doesnt need hdd and a optical drive

 

[kajabla]

That definitely isn't the "cheapest price you can get"! Does he need an OS, monitor, keyboard etc? I'll assume the answer's no for now.
-$220 2500K ($180 if you can find it at a physical Microcenter)
-$150 Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498
-$35 Hyper 212 EVO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
-$99 after rebate XFX XXX 750W 80+ Silver http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207016
-$40 after rebate Kingston HyperX 8gb 1600mhz RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104246
-$55 Rosewill Challenger case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

...and $380 left for the GPU. Here's a good $355 card (EVGA 570 DS Superclocked): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130740
This comes in, if my mental arithmetic isn't faulty, at $975 after rebates and something like, oh, $1015 before. There's room here for another 570 in the future—SLI is the easiest upgrade to make, and he'll thank me when this build starts to feel balky and he can easily drop in a $350 upgrade.