Need help building 2x mid-range gaming rigs for nephews

[jbailey]

My nephews are 18 and 17 and their mother, my sister, decided I could build them two desktop computers for christmas. They both play computer games, with one playing mostly Minecraft/TF2/WoW and some video editing, while the other mostly plays Guild Wars 2 and sometimes WoW. I'd like to build them something that can play all of those games at "high detail" settings while running smoothly. Keyboards, mice, and monitors are not part of the budget.

What your budget is (and whether it includes taxes, shipping charges, and/or other costs)

My budget is around $650 per computer.

Which parts you need within that budget

Case, PSU, motherboard, CPU, ram, video card, (optional) dvd drive

What the system is going to be used for

Mostly gaming on WoW, Guild Wars 2, and TF2

All of the components that you already have and/or are planning on reusing

Completely fresh builds

Which components you are considering getting (list out your components with model numbers/names along with links to the stores you're getting them from)

Not quite sure. They don't need an amazing case, but something easy to get into is good. Was considering something like an i3 for cpu.

The question(s) you have -- or, the reason you made the thread in the first
place

I'd like to get the most bang for the buck and am not sure which video cards or cpus to go with. I'd be fine with AMD or Intel, but prefer Intel as I've always had fewer issues with them. I have a Fry's nearby I can shop from if needed. I most likely won't be buying the parts for a week or two, but need to get an idea of what I'm looking at.

Thanks!

 

[Dangman]

Some additional questions:
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

 

[jbailey]

Oops, sorry about that.

3) I live in the US, in Houston. Fry's and Best Buy are the preferred stores.
6) Will not be overclocking.
7) Not sure, but will probably be 20" widescreen, not more than 1680x1050, 1920x1080 max.
9) Onboard ethernet and audio are the only major requirements. Will probably be putting wireless cards in.
10) Will need to buy OS. Windows 7 64-bit most likely.

 

[Dangman]

Here's a prelim build for ya:

$120 - Intel Core i3-3220
$75 - Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Intel B75 mATX Motherboard
$34 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10666CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$120 - Sapphire Vapor-X 100358VXL Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB
$70 - Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$16 - Samsung DVD Burner
$58 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
$50 - Corsair Carbide Series 200R ATX Case
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM
----
Total: $643 shipped.

 

[jbailey]

Great, thanks a ton!