Cheapish upgrade for my nephew (been a while since I built an AMD)

[Outamyhead]

Okay building my third AMD system for the family, I have not built an AMD since 2007 for customers, and not since 2004 for myself (system in sig) that the nephew has right now.

I'm treating him to an update of the innards as he has finished High school and community college, here is what I have put together:-

SAMSUNG EcoGreen F2 HD103SI 1TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $54.99


GIGABYTE GA-880GM-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$89.99


EVGA 01G-P3-1366-TR GeForce GTX 460 SE (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $144.99


Thermaltake TR2 W0388RU 600W ATX 12V v2.2 Power Supply
$64.99


G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM $46.99


AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX $119

I haven't seen anything in the way of reviews of the motherboard Any thoughts on the board, I need the IDE/PATA port for the CD/RW, and the DVD/RW drives to save money?

I went with that one primarily because it was under $100, had mostly good reviews, and at the time I was looking at the on board graphics, but he will need the 460 for his game playing needs, and his potential move into art, design, animation, and flash work.

The build is over $100 cheaper than what Intel can cough up as a comparison, they don't have any quad cores under $140 for a start, and finding a Quad/i3/i5/i7 board with PATA/IDE under $100, is like finding golden rocking horse droppings.

I have also found I can get the motherboard, GPU, and CPU from Amazon for the posted prices, without tax, and free delivery, so I scrubbed $40 off the total price if it was entirely Newegg, and hopefully $50 worth of rebates.

 

[tiraides]

Can you please answer the questions listed in the "Asking for Build Help?" sticky? I have some alternatives, but your answers will give me a better direction as to what I should suggest to you.

 

[Dangman]

While we await your answers, I do have to point one thing: Don't get that shitty PSU. No Thermaltake TR2 PSU is ever a good PSU. So definitely look at a different PSU from Corsair or Antec (not their Basiq line).

Also note that a SATA DVD burner is only $20 shipped nowadays.

 

[Outamyhead]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing?
My nephew will be using the system for casual gaming, online TV, Internet, email, photoshop, flash animation, website design, homework.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Around $450-500

3) Where do you live?
North California

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, Motherboard, HDD, PSU, GPU, possible SATA DVD burner if a motherboard with PATA/IDE isn't an option

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
CD/RW, and DVD/RW IDE drives, Xaser III ATX case

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I think he already has a 19" TFT

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next week or so

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
IDE/PATA for the existing 2 DVDRW/CDRWdrives, able to fit into an ATX space, case has enough room for 10" GPU if neccessary (10.5-11" if the PCI-E connectors are on the side of the GPU).

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows XP 32, or will purchase Windows 7 64 bit, if my nephew wants it.

Took Danny's advice and switched for a possible Corsair CX600 PSU, depending on the outcome, of my Q/A.

 

[Dangman]

If I were you, cram as much fans as possible if you haven't already into that case. The small size of those fans aren't exactly the best for cooling so having a lot of them should help out a little bit.

$114 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition CPU
$75 - MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 870 ATX Motherboard
$35 - Patriot PSD34G13332 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$165 - XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$45 - Western Digital WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$72 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
---
Total: $506 shipped.

Notes:
- I grabbed as many parts as possible from Amazon.com avoid tax. Only the PSU came from Newegg but I've already factored in tax and shipping for that item.

- The HD 6850 1GB is a significantly faster card than the somewhat gimped GTX 460 SE.

- The WD 500GB drive is significantly faster than than that Samsung drive.

- The Antec 520C is a better buy than the Corsair 600CX since both PSUs have the same +12 amperage, 40A. So the "extra" wattage that the 600CX has doesn't really matter since it's not being applied to the +12V rail. And then theres' the fact that the 520C is of higher quality than the 600CX.