My first Asus board was a m2a-sli running an Amd x2 6400+. I used that build from 2007- 2013 replacing it with a M5A99Fx and an Amd 8350. Although i did replace them both a few months later with an MSI board, and 4790k.
Steelseries Apex Keyboard- Bought as a refurbished unit from amazon, about 1 month ago. the keyboard works great, the WASD keys show wear. comes with original box Asking 38 shipped.
Corsair M60 mouse- bought off another hardforum member in october of last year, shows wear on the left side of...
i have only been able to use MX red, and browns out of the two, i like reds more than the browns. i could be biased not using the browns for very long though.
it all comes down to self control, and managing gaming and real life time. Although getting married soon will severely cut down my gaming time(unless i can get the wife, to start pc gaming) and im prepared for that day.
i picked up a refurbished Lenovo y500 about 5 months ago on e bay.
Specs i7 3630qm
8gb ram
650m
1080p
paid 600 back then. could pick one up even cheaper now.
seems creative leaves alot to be desired in terms of quality, i like wtourist suggestion of T-amp, and bookshelf speakers, im using a similar setup and cannot see myself going back to a 2.1. If 2.1 is your thing its a little over your budget but the corsair SP2500 seem decent.
i completely agree about how pc people despise cod, Hawken is good enough for most people that enjoy mech games. i personally do not feel that pc gaming is dying, we pc people just have different taste in games.