Advice on a $500-$600 gaming build?

Haven't been able to keep as recent with hardware/prices as I would like due to college, but my brother's laptop has broken and he is in need of a new pc so I'm trying to lure him to the desktop side.

 

He has a hard budget of $600 but if it can be done for closer to $500 that would be ballin.  Any suggestions of where to start?

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/

this website is a really good place to start where you can put the build together and then check for any compatiblity issues. once you get done you can come back here to show us the build that you have in mind. if we can get a look at what you have in mind it would give us a better idea on how to help. and we would be glad to give you our opinion or our advice on how to make your build better. in my opinion choosing out the parts is one of the fun parts when trying to build a computer. So have fun!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Zk0t

I'd recommend this:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Zohh

Good budget quad core, easily overclockable CPU

Well reviewed motherboard with good expandability

8GB of 1600Mhz RAM 

1TB 7200 RPM Hard drive

Well reviewed, well ventilated case with good cable management and plenty of expandability

80 plus bronze certified power supply

GTX 760, which should play most games at 1080p on high or ultra settings

Otherwise, you can step down to a CX430/CX430M and a 750Ti/R7260X if you want to save a bit of money.

 

Because that's obviously close to the $500 build he wants...

Says in the title $500 - $600 budget, and the build I posted is within that limit.  I also gave options for lowering the price.

True, I did say $600 or less.  Not sure what the closest thing amd has to the 760 is, but this looks really good.  Any recommendations on what a good cooler for use with overclocking would be? If its not too much I may be able to give him the extra cash for it.

Just a thought, but I live near microcenter so I can go in and get their buy a cpu and get like $40 off a motherboard. Would it be a better idea to forgo the fm2+ and 760k and get an am3+ with a 6300 for about the same price as the cpu/mobo you listed or is the am3+ a dead cause now and fm2+ the way to go?

In my opinion, if you can get a good deal on a nice AM3+ motherboard (like an Asus M5A97 R2.0 or a M5A99FX) and the FX6300 for around the same price, then you should go for that instead.

Once you start getting to the FX-6000 series and the FX-8000 series, the power phase design becomes really important.  If the VRMs aren't adequately cooled, it's a recipe for disaster.  

That said, you'll really want to check the reviews on the AM3+ motherboards before you buy one to make sure it has good support for the CPU that's going to be used.

Hyper 212 Evo is always a good choice.  I recently installed one for a friend onto his i5-3570, and it idles at less than 30C.  Just make sure the case has enough room, since it is pretty tall.

I got that mouse as a temp replacement for my razer imperator since it was 5$ with my new PSU but its actually pretty damn good, especially for 5$

EVGA is making a 750TI that uses a 6pin PCI connector for better overclocks but its not out yet I don't think

That kinds defeats the use of the 750ti doesn't it? The low power usage, since isn't the 265 from amd gonna be the same price but a bit more powerful.

AMD 260 or the 270x. both in 1g or 2g