are the specs any good? video card? price to spec ratio. Looking for a pc in the 500-750 range. Will use it for art and gaming. Any thoughts? will it run most new modern games?

Saint rows 3
Arma 2 or 3
MMO's Guild wars 2.

i know very little about hardware and any input would be appreciated.

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-ca/product/cyberpowerpc-cyberpowerpc-gamer-ultra-gaming-pc-amd-fx-4100-2tb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-english-gua390/10228093.aspx?path=62154f220aed0727ec2587c72f989c17en02

or

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/cyberpowerpc-cyberpowerpc-gamer-ultra-gaming-pc-amd-fx-4100-1tb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-7-english-gua250/10182891.aspx?path=06c06d9d3a44eb6857a4894fbf7e4255en02

Is self building an option at all?

not really, not techy at all. Was hoping to just pull somthing out of the box plug in and play

Pretty entry level stuff.. Really don't get the second one.. I think you could get better but i don't know the canadian stores..

yea entry is pretty much all i can afford.

Bruxel if you open to self building you can get a significantly better PC for a similar price. Its something you should seriously consider :)

Linustechtips has an excellent build guide on hes youtube channel which gives a step by step walkthrough of how to put your PC together. Its almost fail proof!

With regards to builds in the OP I don't think either will satisfy your needs or give you the experience you want.

The first one is undoubtedly better, but self building would yield you more.  If you don't feel comfortable with self build, I would spend 150-200 dollars more and it should raise ceiling enough to get something pre-made considerably better.

if i had the knowledge or time i would self build.

how about these? 800-1000 range

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/cyberpowerpc-cyberpowerpc-gamer-ultra-gaming-pc-amd-fx-8320-8gb-ram-1tb-hdd-windows-8-gua450/10249908.aspx?path=57fe881276f38e90294dc56c7e5cd4ceen02

or

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-ca/product/cyberpowerpc-cyberpowerpc-gamer-extreme-gxi600-intel-core-i5-4670k-1tb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-english-gxi600/10260853.aspx?path=e153492151dc57e3c0647626a4037219en02

If you can't build it by yourself don't you know anyone who can? Watch him doing it or say him that he shall help you and build it with him. That will give you a better PC for the same money and you learn to understand a  PC a little bit better which wouldn't be too bad. After that you can buy him a pizza and some beer

If you have no clue which parts you need you could ask here, say how much you want to spend and someone might give you a list of parts which should be possible to buy with it.

The machine with the FX 8320 isn't bad, but self building at that price could net you a Radeon 7950 rather than the mid-range 7850 at that price.