budget pc $600

[kanadien]

Im trying to piece together a cheap but solid system

used mostly for surfing the net/videos light gaming but still looking for some speed

case Coolermaster Haf 912 Black Mid Tower ATX Case
mobo Gigabyte H55M-S2 mATX LGA1156 H55 DDR3 1PCI-E16 2PCI 6SATA
cpu Intel Core i3 540 Dual Core Processor Clarkdale LGA1156 3.06GHZ
ram G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600
video card Powercolor Radeon HD 4650 600MHZ 1GB DDR3
hard drive Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Dual Proc
dvd Samsung SH-S223L/BEBS 22X SATA Black DVD Writer Lightscribe
psu Antec Earthwatts Green 380W Power Supply ATX12V V2.0
os win 7 home premium 64bit

any opinions/shortcuts for this system would be appreciated

[jcmaz]

The 4650 won't be doing that much gaming. If your budget allows, get a GTX460 768MB, either used or brand new.

I'm pretty sure that NCIX has an Antec 650W PSU on sale for ~$65.

[ilya]

The 4650 isn't a whole lot better than the IGP on the i3 540, save yourself the money and save up for a better graphics card later. Not to mention it's a fairly old card.

[Soultribunal]

I'm going to have to Echo the sentiments of the last two posters. That VC will not do your system justice.

Grab a Builder Series Corsair PSU , and perhaps a PNY GTS450, or HD5770. Will do your budget gaming needs much better I think.

Or you could change things around a bit and go AMD as they tend to be better budget oriented.

A ASUS EVO board with a X2 560 CPU, and some G.Skill Ripjaws might be better suited for what you are doing.

ST

[Kevard]

I'd have to agree with the poster above. For a $600 budget, an AMD-based system would fit you better.

Something like a Phenom II x2 matched with a decent motherboard would work well (Asus, MSI, Gigabyte).

While a 4650 isn't going to lend you much performance, don't go past a GTS 450/ HD5770 with a dual-core, seeing as your CPU will start to bottleneck your video card.

[_dangtx_]

nice. try to score a used 5770 on the cheap or try to fit a 6850 in there :) it should max out your light gaming needs by a lot.

[jcmaz]

Perhaps you can cheap out on the hard drive and the case. The Silverstone PS05 or PS04 are great cheap cases. They are, i believe, sub $50. And why not get the Seagate 7200.12 500GB. Those things are dirt cheap when on sale.

[Reyzac]

I second (?) the AMD notion. As good and cheap as the i3-540 is, an AMD-based system will drop the cost even more. At the very least get a high-clocked dual-core and see if you can unlock the extra two cores. If not, pick up an Athlon II X4 630. Don't get that 4650--your money is better spent elsewhere. A 5770 would serve you well, but as I am a bit of an NVIDIA fanboy, I have to recommend a GTS 450. Either the MSI Cyclone job or the ASUS DirectCU TOP (the factory-OC'ed one with the 952MHz core clock...that's a good one) will do you good. (If you want get a SLI-compatible board so you can double your graphics power later on... maybe this guy.)
Get a better PSU for sure, and the Silverstone Precision cases previously mentioned would also do you good.

EDIT: Oh and G.SKILL RAM is a must. Get the Ripjaws with the red heatsinks, the ones with the CAS of 9. Those are good and cheap.

[kanadien]

i know i said light gaming but that wasnt the real idea of the machine so would the built in gpu on the i3 be good enough for just general usage? i picked the 4650 because it was a cheap pci card

[ilya]

Originally Posted by kanadien

i know i said light gaming but that wasnt the real idea of the machine so would the built in gpu on the i3 be good enough for just general usage? i picked the 4650 because it was a cheap pci card

Any modern IGP will be more than enough for general use, and most will be able to handle less intensive games without too much issues. The 4650 would be a downgrade from the i3 540 IGP if you didn't make a typo about the PCI part. (instead of PCI-E)