jousef

ah defeat, i know it well.. win10 isnt as friendly to older hardware =/

An A+ will land you a job working in a help desk most likely. I got my A+ back in high school (many years ago) and the majority of the questions were related to keyboards, mice, and printers (with some basic Windows troubleshooting). I don't remember why I took the exam but I do remember I didn't study for it and I got a near perfect score on the first one (220-601) and slightly lower on the second one (220-603), back in high school I knew a small fraction of what I know today and I remember after I took it I laughed so hard at how easy it was and I knew right away the certificate was going to be worthless when I went looking for a real job. Maybe it's changed since I took it but if you want to look for a real entry level job I would suggest going for your Network+, Cloud+, Security+, Linux+, etc... and skip the A+ unless you just want an easy certificate under your belt.
 
If you still want to take the exams, then just go take some of the practice tests online to see what areas you need to study for. Basically just go through the practice tests (as many as you can find) and you'll see what subjects appear more frequently and which types of questions you don't know.

Well depending on when he's buying, AM4 APUs might be out, and then you'd get a better display, probably 1080p 144hz free-sync
 
otherwise i3 + 360
 
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/fZVRjX
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/fZVRjX/by_merchant/
CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($158.50 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2HP Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($90.66 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($41.50 @ Vuugo)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($66.35 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 360 2GB Core Edition Video Card  ($139.20 @ shopRBC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($42.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($69.88 @ Canada Computers)
Monitor: AOC i2267Fw 60Hz 22.0" Monitor  ($146.03 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $755.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-21 19:45 EDT-0400


APU build with 1080p 144hz Free-sync display, less performance obviously, and AM4 would be better to wait for, but the 144hz display is going to make up for a lot of that, especially if competitive games are his focus
 
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/k4HLvK
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/k4HLvK/by_merchant/
CPU: AMD A8-7650K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($114.98 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($94.98 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($52.43 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($66.35 @ Vuugo)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($42.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($69.88 @ Canada Computers)
Monitor: AOC G2460PF 144Hz 24.0" Monitor  ($362.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $804.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-21 19:49 EDT-0400

You can see how they compare here, and yeah Norton gets 6* across the board, MSE gets like 3.5*
 
 
https://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/windows-10/october-2015/

If you want to get norton, then get internet security - AFAIK 360 just adds cloud storage etc
 
 
 
Although I am not a big norton fan - if I was going to pay for one, I would get bitdefender, but there are free ones that provide just as good support
 
 
check out avtest.org - they compare and review the paid and free ones!!!
 
 
EDIT: also if anyone recommends MSE I suggest they read up on it, since its pretty terrible

check craigslist, tons of slightly used phones for cheap

go to the properties of one of them copy the trackers over to the other.

I would recommend a monitor for gaming

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant   CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($279.99 @ Micro Center)  Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ SuperBiiz)  Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($179.99 @ Newegg)  Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($89.99 @ Amazon)  Storage: Seagate  2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($79.99 @ Micro Center)  Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($333.98 @ Newegg)  Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($333.98 @ Newegg)  Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)  Power Supply: Corsair 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($131.98 @ Newegg)  Monitor: Acer B286HK ymjdpprz 60Hz 28.0" Monitor  ($465.64 @ B&H)  Total: $2144.52 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-24 16:39 EDT-0400  
plus you're left with 14 bucks for a six pack to celebrate! 

600cca is what i could find

best buy has it for 50, case closed, thank you!

I got mine for 10 USD so not a great deal man... It is a decent webcam, does not like low light. 

@ owns one I believe. Looks good from calls I've had with him

Had to shout down my dail-up connection to use the telephone.
P55C with up to 16KB to 32KB CPU cache speed was a huge deal. and finally!
 

Specs
Intel i5 4690K
MSI Z97 Gaming 5
MSI GTX970 3.5gb
Corsair Veneance Pro 2400
Corsair Force GS 240gb
Corsair RM650
Corsair H100i
NZXT S430
Asus wireless card
Phillips 27" 1080p screen
Logitech G27
This all is costing me quite a bit here in SA, so wanted to know what you guys think of a decent gaming machine and racing Sims. Will also do light video editing like twice a year.

Usually the order is x16 x8 x16 x8 and in this case another x8 so a 2 way bridge would work because of the spacing if you only use the x16 slots
Edit: that won't work because the 4th a lot iasnt x16 in the first place just do what the manual says

2 GB VRAM in 2015, i wouldn't. 

CCleaner.

970, for sure.

wow, reading the specs of this ar, i thought i would be at least 200 CAD, its for 150, might go with it, thanks

Z97 supports SLi unless it the cheapest board like the MSI Z97 PC Mate
 
H97 only allows at most CF if not only 1 GPU
 
 
Z97 will be the only board to OC your K CPUs

I am not judging or anything but I am, That's sad

PFFF no. Absolutely not. 4690K is the best chip on the market at the moment for gaming, BAR NONE, because it is a quad-core, it's Devil's Canyon which means it overclocks like a monster, and it doesn't bottleneck anything. Like, anything. It's Intel's flagship for gaming.
The only benefit to having an i7 is that you get hyperthreading. and that is IT. It's nice if you're doing some video editing on the side or some other CPU-intensive stuff like 3D rendering and video re-encoding, but other than that you get absolutely no benefit in anything else, let alone gaming. It's for people who want the best-of-the-best with some room too spare.
So to answer your initial question, you have a kick-ass gaming machine there which you'll be extremely happy with.
The requirement I have for you is an SSD. You owe it to yourself to have an SSD for this gaming rig. If you don't get one, something is seriously wrong with you and you need to see a doctor. Your build is too powerful not to take advantage of one.
Suggestions I have for you are
 
• a 240/280mm AIO liquid cooler or a big air aftermarket cooler like a Noctua DH14, because you're nuts if you don't overclock this sucker.
• Make sure that your PSU has 80+ Gold. Settle for nothing less, you cannot skimp out on your power supply for a high-end build like this. Gold-rated PSUs are getting a lot less expensive now and you don't need a huge amount of power. for example, 650W will power an overclocked CPU, 2 680s and 9 hard drives. PCPartpicker will automatically calculate the power draw of your system. Get a PSU that has as close to double the draw as your system spec as you can for maximum efficiency.
 
• Find a case that you like, and make sure that it has space for your cooler. I would recommend cases, but... no, I wouldn't. That's up to you, I'm afraid. Just make sure it suits your needs.
 
That's all, really.