Help me build a computer for $600

[MrQuickness]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
- Gaming, web browsing, school work, multimedia.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- About $600, with tax and shipping. The cheaper the better.. I'm mostly looking to get my bang for the buck.

3) Where do you live?
- California. I live a couple minutes away from a Micro Center and Frys, so I'll mainly be purchasing from these places (and Newegg of course).

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
- Motherboard, Processor, Video Card, RAM, and Power Supply.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
- I'm going to re-use my old case, hard drive, optical drive, and monitor.

6) Will you be overclocking?
- Nope.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
- I have an 23" Acer H233H (1920x1080).

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- Within the next month. I might stall a bit and wait for Black Friday, though.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
- Crossfire/SLI support for future upgrades would be nice, but it's not a requirement. A more future proof motherboard would be nice as well.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, I have an extra copy of Windows 7 64-bit.

---

Here's a build I quickly put together on Newegg:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=14484112

$79 ASUS M4A77TD AM3
$89 AMD Phenom II X3 740
$169 Gigabyte GTX 460
$82 G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB)
$69 OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W
= $490

I also made a similar build at Micro Center for $480 (AR):
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0337970
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0317772
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0344331
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0341976
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0334767

Are there any changes that I should make?

 

[lt_shiro]

advice

get the 1 GB version of GTX 460, 768 mb doesn't have the horsepower for 1080p gaming

get better brand of psu like antec, seasonic, corsair, etc.

 

[Dangman]

Try buying as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com since they don't charge tax for CA residents and usually have free shipping.

I concur with lt_shiro: Avoid OCZ PSUs and spring for the GTX 460 1GB. CPU wise, don't go for that X3 740 since you still need to buy a HSF for it. RAM wise, avoid OCZ RAM as well. They tend to have more issues than other brands.

What case are you reusing? What hard drive are you reusing?

 

[MrQuickness]

Yeah I was thinking that. I looked up a bunch of benchmarks and the 768MB version got a little less FPS than its 1GB/2GB counterparts (but at 2560x1600).

Are there any PSUs in particular that you guys would recommend? I thought the OCZ StealthXtreme 2 series was decent. (http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx ... although I don't know how reliable that thread is).

I'm using my old Antec Sonata II for the case. I would purchase another one but I'm a bit tight on the cash. And I should probably buy another hard drive... I was planning on using my old WD 80GB.

 

[Dangman]

Yeah I was thinking that. I looked up a bunch of benchmarks and the 768MB version got a little less FPS than its 1GB/2GB counterparts (but at 2560x1600).

Are there any PSUs in particular that you guys would recommend? I thought the OCZ StealthXtreme 2 series was decent. (http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx ... although I don't know how reliable that thread is).

I'm using my old Antec Sonata II for the case. I would purchase another one but I'm a bit tight on the cash. And I should probably buy another hard drive... I was planning on using my old WD 80GB.

I recommend this PSU:
$70 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU

That thread isn't that reliable since there's quite a few questionable PSUs there. And their criteria is all BS as well.

Yeah you really should get a new HDD: The old HDD is so slow that it's gonna make your new PC react and feel like the old one. Basically, you're not going to notice that much of a difference in response/load times/general usage if you keep using that old drive. I recommend this drive:
$45 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Motherboard wise, I recommend this mobo instead since it's a newer chipset than either of the mobos you chose and will be significantly cheaper once you factor in tax:
$85 - Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H 880G mATX MotherBoard

RAM wise, I recommend this RAM since, again, no tax and therefore cheaper:
$83 - Crucial CT2KIT25664BA1339 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

 

[MrQuickness]

Thanks for the advice. Here's my updated build:
Motherboard: $85
Gigabyte AMD AM3 6 Core MotherBoard GA-880GM-UD2H

Processor: $99
AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0GHz Boxed Processor

RAM: $82
Crucial CT2KIT25664BA1339 4GB 2GBx2 240-pin PC3-10600 DIMM DDR3 Memory KIT

Video Card: $199
GeForce GTX 460 Sonic NE5X460SF1102 1024B GDDR5 PCIe 2.0 x16 Graphics Card

Power Supply: $69
Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Hard Drive: $45
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 16 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD5000AAKS

= $579

I was planning on purchasing all the parts from Micro Center so it would be easier to exchange if they were to be dysfunctional. Receiving shipped parts DOA is no fun. But I guess having no tax from Amazon is the deal breaker.

Also, would it be worth it to get the Platinum version of the GTX 460 instead? It's about $20 more.

 

[Dangman]

Also, would it be worth it to get the Platinum version of the GTX 460 instead? It's about $20 more.

Nope.