1. What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games (ex: resolution, FPS, settings) or programs you will be using.

Mostly gaming (Civ 6 is all I play now, but will likely expand with a legitimate gaming PC), potentially some software development. With Civ 6 being 7+ years old I'd ideally like it to run it with maximum settings at 1080p 60 FPS (or better). I'm hoping if it can run Civ 6 really well it won't have a problem running Civ 7 when it comes out (in the next year or two).

2. What is your maximum PRE-TAX budget before rebates and shipping?

$1500 (hoping for closer to $1200-1300, but if the value is there I can go up to $1500).

3. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

The next week or two.

4. What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ex: tower/OS/monitor/keyboard/mouse/etc)

Tower and OS.

5. If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? How old are they? Brands and models are appreciated.

Using existing monitor (Dell Ultrasharp), keyboard (Keychron K1SE), mouse (Logitech MX Master 3).

6. Will you be overclocking (ex: CPU/GPU/RAM)? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line?

Probably not.

7. Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, VR, VirtualLink, tensor cores, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)

No.

8. Do you have any specific case preferences (ex: mITX/mATX/mid-tower/full-tower sizes, styles, colours, window or not, LED lighting, etc.), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

Something on the smaller side would be nice, but less important than performance.

9. Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? Note: some post-secondary students can get Windows 10 for free.

Yes.

10. Will you be upgrading this PC in the future (ie: will you swap out better parts later on or will you build an entirely new tower later)? If so, when?

Possibly, but unless my gaming habits change it likely won't be a priority any time in the near future (3-5 years from now).

11. Do you have a brand preference? (ex: AMD/Intel for CPUs, AMD/NVIDIA for video cards, etc)

No.

12. What are the specs of your old PC / laptop? Do you want to see if it can be upgraded instead? If so, paste its build from PCPartPicker here.

I currently play Civ 6 on an old Macbook Pro, so there's certainly nothing I can use from that.

13. Extra info or particulars:

I went to Canada Computers and they suggested it would be more expensive to do a custom build than it would be to buy a prebuild. I'm not against a prebuild if it's not a terrible deal since I haven't assembled a computer in 15-20 years.