Upgrading My PC

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Try the i3 2120. Secondary iterations usually have decent upgrades for minimal cost increase.
The best bang4buck vga under $200 right now is a 6850. Those run ~$120-150. Also, Nvidia has not impressed me lately.
What OS are you going to run?

For most gaming (with some few exceptions that efficiently use 4+ cores) an i3 is, right now, probably a better solution than most of AMDs offerings, although you can get Phenom2 Quadcores quite cheap and they aren't complete garbage, either. If you are comfortable with gambling a bit, get a AM3+ MoBo and a cheap Phenom2 and cross your fingers that Piledriver will not suck as much as Bulldozer, so you can get a relatively cheap upgrade in a year or so.

Btw., while an i3 will be definitely good enough for most stuff, I probably wouldn't get a dualcore CPU for general-purpose desktop PCs anymore. But of course, an i5 will almost double the expenses for the CPU.

GPU-wise waywardOnes suggestion isn't a bad one.
Of course, driver support for AMD GPUs still seems to be worse than NVidia's and of course NVidia offers PhysX (which is overrated and under-used, though, so one can forget about it, I guess).

The new 7xxx and GTX6xx cards offer good improvements, but are yet much too expensive (and NVidia has no low-to-midrange offerings yet).

How's this for the complete Build?

CPU
Intel Core i3-2100 Processor (3M Cache, 3.10 GHz)
$90
http://ark.intel.com/products/53422/

CPU Cooler? (Not sure if its needed)
Cooler MasterHyper 212 Plus Universal CPU Cooler
$20
http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6603

Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-H61M-S2H 1155 MATX
$60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128524

RAM
KingstonHyperX blu 8GB DDR3-1333
$45
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360526

Graphics
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB
$105
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4069#ov

Hard Drive
Caviar Black 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 3.5" WD5002AALX - OEM
$100-$90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795

Case
NZXT Source 210 Black
$20 (Already Own)

Power
CorsairBuilder Series 500 Watt ATX 12V
$60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139018

Optical
Samsung LightScribe 22x DVD±RW
$11
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173

Final cost for all the parts around $510.

psu is way more than yo need and a pretty average CWT design, ill see if there are any cheaper alternatives

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033 is a good buy. just keep in mind that it only comes with one pcie connector, so youll be limited a little bit if you want to upgrade later. not a big deal though, a 7850 uses only one pcie connector and its plenty fast for most games. the other thingy is that it doesnt come with a power cord, but you can just reuse your old one/steal one from home or work or something/buy one for a dollar or two. unfortunately newegg doesnt have the antec vp350 which wouldve been my first recommendation as its probably the best value for money psu on the market, so if you can find that, grab it instead

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026 also a great buy

dual core works fine but id rather get a WD blue and sink the remainder into a cheap quadcore like a i5-2320 or the ivy bridge equivalent if its cheaper

the cpu cooler isnt needed for cooling but the stock cooler that comes with the intel cpu is loud so if silence is your thing you might want to invest in a low end cooler. that one is fine, i personally dont like cooler master (at all ) and i hate their fans so id suggest buying another fan and tossing the coolermaster one out (once again, if you hate noise.) these two are nice cheap choices http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835610006 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185057. if you wanted to spend extra, scythe GTs are probably the best (especially the 800rpm model) as are noiseblockers, but they cost like >20 bucks each so yeah

motherboard works, no connectivity for usb 3 internal or sata 3 though. not a big deal unless you want a sata 3 compatible ssd. the alternative is buying a B75 board for a bit extra as they come with native USB3/SATA3 support

im assuming this computer is for gaming, so just get the cheapest kit of ram you can find. a stick of ram uses like, a watt, so they arent going to get hot meaning heatsinks are mostly an aesthetic choice. 8 gigs is plenty, i still use 4 and i never have any troubles unless i have a monstrous number of youtube/porn videos loading up + a game minimised. if you dont care about the way ram looks, a cheap heatsink-less variety by a brand with decent warranty would be my choice (should be some cheap g skill 4gb kits for <20 bucks)

personally i think WD blacks are a waste of money over blues. i really doubt youd notice the diffrence in speed and youd be better off just saving for an ssd anyway, which are superior in just about every way (well, except price per gig)

I agree with Fader.

Either go quad core (i5) or ditch any extra cooling accessories (I'd go with this). You won't be overclocking on that MBO anyway.
WD blue is fine, or you could keep your old drive (if it's SATA) or/and even go for a 128 GB SSD (it's around $100) if you don't have a huge collection of khm... movies and songs

This is a much better PSU, for a little extra (+it's modular): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093 (if you're buying on Newegg).

yeah for 60 bucks that seasonic is a much better deal than the corsair

Yeah, but it depends where he's buying things from. Your suggestions may still be "better", as that's obviously not a normal price for that kind of PSU (it's heavily discounted) and it's an overkill for his build. Almost everything is good (enough) or bad depending on price.

Oh, and as someone else suggested, go with i3 2120, if the price difference is small ($10ish).

all those psus mentioned are more than likely group reg with cheap components so theyll all perform roughly the same anyway. as you said, price is what he's looking for. im not too knowlegeable on NA websites so i usually stick to newegg or ncix when recommending stuff (i dont know shit about microcenters and tigerdirect etc) and theyre usually pretty competitive so i dont think he'll get raped on the price if he sticks to one of antec or corsair etcs budget line psus.

anyways grim monk, in case you are worried, even the vp350 is PLENTY of power for your system. your cpu has a ~45w power draw and your graphics card in most cases will be <100w. low end mobos use small amounts of power too as there arent many chipsets sucking up juice (h67/p67 etc uses like 7w), your hard drive will be like ~7w at the most strenuous of times, your fans wont use much etc etc. you won't get anywhere near 200w with that system at stock

Although one might consider future upgradeability, in which case a few watts more won't hurt.
It's true though that PSUs are often a total overkill for a given system.

Okay, if I take the previous Build with:

Hard Drive

Caviar Blue 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" WDBAAX5000ENC
$85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136784

PSU
CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS
$45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
Posted by Fader

OS
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit OEM
$100
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Premium-64bit-System-Builder/dp/B004Q0PT3I

No CPU Cooler for now, from what I understand the stock cooler is good enough.
Also on the topic of cooling, should I at least throw some in case fans?


Then I will fit into my original $600 price range.

Looks good, I made a similar build for my HTPC, got a modular PSU to save space in my case though (HTPCs) are always a bit more cramped).

If you're like me, you made the right choice with the CPU, buying/building for the future never seems to work out.

the single rear fan that comes with the case should be fine

Got all the parts mentioned today.

The GIGABYTE GA-H61M-S2H was sold out, so bought this for the same price:

Asus P8H61-M LE/CSM R3
http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H61M_LECSM/#specifications


What do you guys think, is it an adequate alternative?

It's fine. Now assemble everything and post some pics!