So I'm looking to get out of consoles and into a PC since most of my friends play PC. Here's what I came up with...I'd like to avoid spending more than $700 as I can buy an XBONE for $300 at the moment, and going over double that budget seems a little ridiculous.

Anyway, here's what I came up with. It should include everything (using my TV as a monitor) except for the OS. Feel free to make other suggestions though.

Rosewill Computer Case - CHALLENGER - ATX Mid Tower - Black, Gaming - Three Included Fans - Two Extra Side Fans Supported
$49.99

AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W FD6300WMHKBOX Desktop Processor
$109.99

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
$24.99

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
$50.49

Cooler Master V650 - Compact 650W 80 PLUS Gold Modular PSU (6th Generation Skylake Compatible)
$89.99

SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 285 100374OCL 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support Video Card
$189.99

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
$49.99

Logitech MK320 2.4GHz Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo - Black
$27.49

GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3P AM3+/AM3 AMD 970 6 x SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
$77.99

Intel PWLA8391GT 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI Desktop Adapter PRO/1000 GT
$28.63


Grand Total:$699.54

Here it is a little cheaper, not sure why you want to buy another NIC, the Mobo already has onboard 10/100/1000 ethernet.

Firefinder, I really appreciate you taking the time to throw that together. And good catch on the Mobo, I had no idea that was the case. I figured it was referring to supported LAN capability rather than what was available onboard. So the cord plugin should be in the back then once it's installed?

Sorry for the stupid questions, I'm a total noob when it comes to PCs.

Yup, your cat5 network cable will go from your router straight to the motherboard.

 

FWIW, this would be a much better build for a little more money.  It has built in WiFi, so one less cable to worry about.  I did spec out a 250GB SSD, and another hard drive can be added later.  Sitting next to the TV, it would make a great gaming/HTPC setup.

Thanks for the information - so comparing the two builds, what exactly makes the second one superior? Honest question as I have no idea.

For example, when I compared the two cards on Game Debate it seemed like a wash (or at least not enough of a difference to warrant double the price). Is there something that I'm missing?

The intel Core-i5's are the best all around CPU for gaming/home theater work, you could spend a lot more for a Core-i7, and the gaming performance wouldn't be noticeable.  And I spec'd out an nvidia graphics card, because that also is the sweet spot for performance VS price.  Either build will be fine, just though I'd give you another choice.

 

Cheers, thanks!

You can get a R9 280X for the same price as a 960. Better performance, but more power, more heat, and older architecture.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hXXbMp

If you go to microcenter you can save $16 on the cpu:

http://www.microcenter.com/product/432161/Core_i5-4590_33GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor