Is this a good build for a cheap gaming PC?

I think its a very bad mix for gaming

You have an absolute top end expensive processor that is marginal value for gaming pc's , combined with a very low end graphics card designed to run in a motherboard from 4 years ago that wont even install .
2009 gfx cards are PCI-e , not the older AGP standard

Good frame rates in games , at high quality and resolution settings is more dependant on gfx card power and less on cpu power

A more balanced system with a larger monitor and including WINDOWS for a similar price
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] aming-1000

the heatsink is overpriced this is better http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] t%20cooler and i'd look at the faster f3 samsung http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 181&Tpk=f3 this video card for better performance at the same price an better warranty http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150351 why do you want an external dvd drive ? this would do http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151187

Theres a lot to learn

and theres more than 1 opinion to listen to as well . We would all do things a slightly different way

Ok Now you may see that this is my first post but Thats because im just starting on TOMs. Anyways you can trust my opnions as valid but just as a disclaimer they are just opnions. I have been building PCs as a private buissness (registered with the state and everything) for five years . Anyways here we go:

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129021 ($104.99)

Cant really go wrong with an Antec Case but if your using newegg use the combo deals to select your psu, im telling you youll save some cash! Companys i have used myself include, Rosewill, corsair, ABS, antec, OCZ(recommend that you dont use some bad experience when prime95 a overcloacked PC) and raidmax(Ive ordered 2 and both DOA so ill never use again)

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131386 ($209.99)

Asus is my personal favorite brand of MOBO so i would say go for it but the motherboard in personal rig is this EVGA:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813188049 ,(229.99) Handles my overclocks extremely well 920@4.01 and is very fine looking plus has alot of support for expandability with video cards. Its a little more expensive but i always but a bit more than i should into the motherboard for future upgrades... just a thought

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115202 ($279.99)

Great CPU i love it nothing more to say

CD/DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151186 ($49.99)

Is there any reason your spending extra to have an external drive? Really Spend 25 bucks on a samsung, sony or LG DVD Burner ,and as long as you have no special reason for external make it internal

Fan/Heatsink: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835103055 ($54.99)

For a air cooler i cant think of any better... but you could save by getting another...

Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822145215 ($54.99)

Now im very biased on hard drives as i never went with anything else besides WD.. but as forr the specs i would say good but again if i had to reccomend a alternative http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136320 Note the 32Mb cache but it also costs 15 more...

Keyboard/Mouse: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6823126041 ($27.99)

Eh im currently typing on a logitech...

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148247 ($97.99)

From personal experience , crucial has been unrelieable customers have had to bring them back, a alternative....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145222
yes i know corsiar always gets hyped but for good reason super reliable Price for quality is a bit more though...(124.99)

Power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139004 ($89.99)

Now like i said if you comboed with the antec case im sure you could save some money....

Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824236050 ($169.99)

Its Good Monitour just keep under consideration you will see no ghosting with 5ms and you might be able to save a few bucks...

Video card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161284 ($119.99)

Ahh the video card is what inspired me to help you with the post ... you chose an AGP slot video card and well the motherboard you chose has no agp slot, not to mention AGPs maximum bus is half the size of PCIexpress 1.0( which is why i dont know why they made a AGP 4000 series...) So You HAVE to choose another video card. If you want to stick with ATI heres a great Alternative (and its cheaper!) plus for the future you might be able to go Xfire with it
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161259 (109.99)

Well thats all my advice i know more over i added some price on to the total but you have to relize you are going to spend a bit on an i7 system but i think there is no real problem with that as it will last... If you really want to reduce the price you could go with a dragon system( newegg has some great deals on that ) But overall i think this one will be great
PM me if ya need any more help
- Portdrake
DAM i did put broken links thanks for the heads up jbaker ha fixed now lol

intels i7 is the most powerful cpu available , but there are plenty of gaming benchmarks that show it being beaten by AMD processors costing half as much , on motherboards costing half as much using just 4 gig of ram instead of 6.

My opinion , is that for gaming, i7 is a waste of time unless you have a monitor with a higher resolution than 1920 x 1080 AND a gfx card budget greater than $200 . Preferably closer to $350 .

If you plan on encoding a bunch of video then the i7 starts to make some sense . It also makes sense if you must have nVidia gfx card[s] because AMD AM3 does not support SLI . But then again it wasnt that long ago that nVidia told its customers not to buy i7 for gaming , and there have been odd issues with if and nVidia gfx cards performing poorly . Perhaps that was a driver issue and has been sorted now?

The samsung f3 is currently the fastest 500 gig mainstream hard drive available , followed closely by the seagate 7200.12 . The WD is older tech and slower , and not cheaper

Ah, that's a bummer. But on the bright side, you have between now and then to learn as much as you can and be sure to get the best performance per dollar, so it isn't all bad. I know often I will make a general plan and then ait months for the best price or the best hardware to come out. And also, Windows 7 should be out by then and you can just start with the best (or so they say) right from the start.