Help with PC upgrades on a moderate budget?

[VanceIX]

Pillow said:
GTX760 no less, at least if you want to play 1080p with good framerate.
CPU = anything Intel, usually we go with 1/2 $ of graphic card price, so a 230$ GC means 115$ CPU.
An i3 4130 would be in that price range and is good enough.

Otherwise go with a bit pricier i5 4430 (180$), totally worth it if you want some "future-proof"

Motherboard/case/ram/HDD/PSU for the remaining 255$ is really up to your choice of brand, as long as you get the right MB that is compatible with the right CPU.

I'd also go with a minimum of 8GB of ram, that's what I use for gaming and multi-task and it's more than enough.

SSD are a really good investment, but they are 100$ a piece (for 120GB) which wouldn't work with that budget.

He already has the CPU, MB, HDD, and RAM. He could actually afford a 280x or even 290x, along with a cheap SSD for the OS. Depends on if he has an air cooler, case, and an extra copy of Windows 8.1 lying around though.

If not, going with a 280x and getting those components will still make for a pretty awesome build overall.