Gaming on a $700 Budget

[CroSsFiRe2009]

So a friend of mine is looking at building a new machine. Normally I'd be able to give him a good suggestion as to what parts to get but I'm really split between trying my luck at unlocking a 555BE or going with a i3 530.
There's no need for a case, dvdrw in this build as they'll be reused. Budget's $700 after tax and ordering online (pm with ncix most likely), and buying used are all options. He plays mostly RTS and RPG's but there's a few games like Bioshock 2 and MW2 he'd like to max out at 1920x1080.
So what would be your suggestions?
Tentatively, I'm looking at a 5850, AMD PII 555BE, the A-Data RAM 4GB DDR3 on sale at CC and the cheapest board I can find with:
Canada Computers - Seagate Barracuda (ST3500418AS) 7200.12 SATA 3.0Gb/s 500GB 16MB Cache (OEM)
Canada Computers - ADATA XPG G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 DIMM (AX3U1600GB2G9-AG)

[_dangtx_]

does he have any ddr2? if yes he can pick up a nice giga board on the cheep.
regor cpu, 60 bucks?
good thing to pick the video card first.

what else is in his current system? psu? etc?
id skip on ram now for exemple since you can add later. not so much on psu or video card..

[CroSsFiRe2009]

Nope, he's got no DDR2. Found a 5870 for $350 used. Would it be overkill to use one in this case where RPG's and RTS games are the most played games? Would having more cpu power be more important or is an unlocked 555 enough?
I'm also looking at the Asus M4A785TD-V Evo for the motherboard.

Any suggestions?

[_dangtx_]

probably.
how about a gtx/4870 used for 100 or less?
amd mobos stay with giga :)

[CroSsFiRe2009]

Hrm, if I'm debating whether or not I should go with a slower video card like a 4890/4870/5770. Which one should I choose? And with the rest of the budget should I get a i5 750?

[jcmaz]

You could get a 1055T for a i5 750...

and why not look at Gigabyte's selection of mobos? I always found them cheaper than the Asus one for the same amount of features.

[geokilla]

You're trying to put a ATI 5850/5870 into a $700 after tax budget build.... Once you do that you got no money left for anything else. Your friend should raise his budget or skimp down on the GPU.

And I suggest that you get the AMD Phenom II. No point in getting a Core i3 when you have the ability to unlock cores. Heck even if you don't unlock cores, I still say go with the AMD setup.

[Kayen]

For RTS , and RPG's there is nothing that is heavily taxing.
I mainly play RTS, and RPG's and i haven't even had a hitch playing them lately.
And i've been playing on my IGP on the 785g chipset (video card isn't in b/c i'm using a crappy PSU atm), without too many problems.