[Solved] Budget gaming build

Hello all,

I was hoping some could help me with a tight budget build. I want the cheapest that can run Counter-Strike Source, WoW, and Starctaft2 when it's out. I also want to look for upgrade ability so I can dump more money into it later (like more ram, better GPU, etc.)

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: next 2 weeks BUDGET RANGE: $400 to $500

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Surfing

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboad, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers, OS (I wouldn't mind getting Windows 7, but since this is such a budget build i can use XP for now which i already have)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg, tigerdirect COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US

PARTS PREFERENCES: No preference, not a fanboy of anything in particular as long as it works

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1600x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: quite PC would be nice, also at least 4GB ram for now.

I like this case, but have no idea if the powersupply is worth a darn. I don't really care if it has fancy LED's or anything, plain is fine with me.

RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811156062

I noticed that motherboard has a max memory of 4GB, so if i needed to upgrade in the future i'd probably be looking at a new mobo unless you know of a mobo with more max supported ram?

Edit: Thanks for the reply!

Also, that PSU is discontinued on newegg.

Alright, I added the new PSU, and the second Motherboard you mentioned, and upgrading the GPU to
XFX HD-485X-YDFC Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150337

my total comes to $563.92. Over budget but worth it I think. Thanks for the help Tecmo!

what's your opinion on this for $10 more?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103706

I would spend the 10 dollars more just because it's a quad core , think about it its only 10 dollars. if you can overclock it to 3.0ghz at least, would be a good boost to it
although you might not need the boost because of the games you play

yah that's why i mentioned overclocking it to 3.0ghz , but i agree with you.
the quad core will be better if he multitasks..

For $10 more you can get the 4870...which is a much better choice than the 4850 and definitely worth the small increase in price.
I would choose this upgrade before I got the upgraded cpu.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150441

I've been reading that the AMD Phenom II X2 545 Callisto 3.0GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDX545WFGIBOX - Retail actually has 4 cores, but 2 of them are locked, and can be unlocked. I think this requires a Gigabyte board to do it, not sure though. Has anyone done this, is it in fact true and if so what board would I need?

Ok, so for around the same price I found this board. One of the newegg reviews on that processor linked to this board (which they used to unlock the 4 cores). GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail
is what I currently have in my list. This is what you suggested in your first post.