Build Me A New Computer! Decently.

Does he need a Desk too?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7ErC

you can probably sub a few parts to bring the cost down a little more but that gives you a good starting point.

Voila. Yes the PSU in that barebones will handle the graphics card. Yes it will run Crysis.

What kind of build with a $1000 budget does not include an SSD!? Ridiculous.

 

My recommendation for the best PC ever leans towards:

AMD Phenom II x6 1045T - $140 shipped [Superbiiz] (you might as well save the CPU money and hold out until Piledriver noting the minimal improvement usually brought forward by an FX; swap and keep your 1090T and give your brother the 1045 maybe?)

Heatsink - let him have the stock cooler which can still manage a ~3.4-3.5Ghz OC I reckon.  Keep your existing.

Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 - $129 shipped, $10 rebate [NCIX]

Mushkin Blackline 2x4GB DDR3-1600 - $43 shipped [NCIX]
OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD - $70 shipped, $60 after rebate

WD Caviar Blue 1TB 7200RPM HDD - $90 shipped [NCIX]

MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti - $219 shipped, $189 after rebate

Rosewill Green RG630 PSU - $50 shipped [Newegg] has room for two GPUs

ASUS 24X DVD drive - $17 shipped [NCIX]

Windows 7 Home Premium x64 - $87 shipped [DiscountMountain]
AOC 22" 1080p LED monitor - $110 shipped [TigerDirect]

 

Superbiiz promo code HOOPS gives you $10 off

$945 shipped, and then there's rebates......

i5-2500k and 7850 (Over budget) (Click to show)
960T and 7870 (Click to show) 960T is the better deal.

You do not need a SSD for a gaming rig, It will only benefit the load times, and it would only decrease his boot times by around 10-15 seconds. It is not worth it IMO. seeing as you would be taking away from the GPU budget.

I'm going to put forth my suggestion, which is a little different than most you'll see on OCN. It goes for an Intel build to get a more powerful processor than the AMDs on offer, but since I'm infering that your friend doesn't want to bother much with the hardware side, I'm neglecting overclockability to save costs. This is kind of assuming that he (or you) don't want to bother with setting up an overclock (I'll also point out how to change the build to allow for OC).

Replacement parts for overclocking build: Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
CPU - i5-2500k $200
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=57962&vpn=BX80623I52500K&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1058
$34 less than the slightly improved update, i5-3570k. More expensive than AMD processors, obviously. Normally you'd get a non-K processor if not overclocking, but the i5-2500k is on sale for less than an i5-2500.

Mobo - Gigabyte cheapo H61 $55
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=63501&vpn=GA%2DH61M%2DS2H&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1058
It's a no-frills mobo, but hey, they work and save you money.

GPU - Radeon 6870 $160 AMIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521
The 6870 is only a little worse than a 560Ti, but $50 cheaper. This particular one has a higher upfront cost, but a $30 rebate. It'll run BF3 fine unless your friend is one of those guys that loves to crank the settings way up. Then you'll have some problems staying in budget in any case.

RAM - 2x4gb 1333mhz RAM - $30 w/promo code
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313086

Case: haf 912 $50
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=55583&vpn=RC%2D912%2DKKN1&manufacture=COOLERMASTER&promoid=1058
One of the best budget cases.

PSU - Antec Neo Eco 450C $30
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=60491&vpn=NEO%2DECO450C&manufacture=Antec&promoid=1058
Quality, clean power on special.

DVD-burner $17
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=49597&vpn=DRW-24B1ST%20Bulk&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1058

SSD: Crucial M4 128GB $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
Load OS & most commonly used programs on it. Your friend will love you forever.

HDD: Caviar Blue 1TB $90
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=58881&vpn=WD10EALX&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD&promoid=1058

Mionix Naos 3200 $55
http://www.amazon.com/Mionix-Naos-Wired-LED-optical-Mouse/dp/B0041SPG24/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336014125&sr=1-1
A nice mouse really does feel great, even for non-gaming tasks.

Total: $802 AMIR, which leaves you $15 or so for cheapo speakers, $5 or so for cheapo keyboard, and $130-180 for a monitor.

Obvious ways to spend more money:
Get the overclocking configuration (+ $85)
Get a 560Ti or better video card (+$50)
Get a better monitor, keyboard, or headphones.

Obvious ways to save money:
Drop to an i3-2100 or 2120 (dual core w/hyperthreading vs the i5's quad-core without hyperthreading (- ~$85)
I recommended the i5 in the main board, but the i3 is a very good budget option with combined with the H61 board above, cheaper than the AMD quad-cores + mobo.
Drop the SSD and deal with ordinary load times (- $125)
Use a **** mouse (-$50)

I did not budget in windows (a problem, particularly if he doesn't want to use the windows 8 preview, or a desk & chair. And as ironman noted above, you can get a good deal on a CPU at a microcenter... IF you want to drive out to orange county.
Edited by MisterFred - 5/2/12 at 8:30pm

A ssd does lot more then speed up boot times. It makes the system more responsive. I went from having my OS on a 3x 640gb WD black raid 0 setup to a 128gb Samsung 470 series ssd drive. Even though my raid has better sequential read and write, the SSD kills it in pretty much everything else. Thats why games go on my raid and OS on ssd.

Even I was skeptical on how much of a improvement the SSD would be over my blacks for a OS drive. People that say all you get is faster boot speeds really should try out a ssd for them selves.
Edited by DzillaXx - 5/2/12 at 8:38pm