This computer will not be used for gaming or any high intensive usage. This will be an office PC that will only be used for web browsing.
I do not need a monitor, keyboard, or mouse.

I will need: Case, CPU, Mobo, RAM, PSU, and SSD.

I'd opt for a better cpu only cause his budget allows it.
It will help with speed of pc overall and it holding out longer if he does use it for some application down the road.

Boost the cpu and double the memory. Newer programs can suck up the ram.

I have no problem web browsing on 2gb ram, 8 will be plenty. Using an ad blocker can reduce ram usage by nearly 50%

You can do this super cheap via used +xeon route.

Buy old Dell optiplex 380 for 10-30$ (usually easy to find on Craiglist)
Buy modded Xeon 5450 quad core 3.0ghz for 20$ on Aliexpress
Get SSD off Newegg 40-80$
Get 8gb 10600 ddr3 for around 30-40$ from eBay
Get a low profile graphics card for 20-80$ with at least 2gb ddr5 (750 ti > gt 1030 > r7 240 > gt 730)

There ya go office+ decent gaming ranging from 100-250 ish depending on SSD and video card.

ISO link to 10600mhz ram pls.

Pc3 10600 (named after peak transfer rate) is DDR3 1333MHz.

Do not get the lower model graphics cards. Buy a newer low end card or youre going to have more issues getting it to cooperate with the newer OS's. A 1030 is fine. Anything lower is not a good idea.

750ti etc works perfect with newest versions of OS'

Edit: If you end up getting gt1030 becareful. There are two totally difference versions, named gt1030!
One with GDDR5 and the other versions with DDR4 VRAM. It even has lower clock etc.
Around double the fps count different in performance, Even tho they are the same price.

This post was edited by ZwiX on Jul 25 2018 04:16am