$500 budget for student

BUDGET: $500
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: A week from now

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, and some programing for school.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard/Mouse, speakers, monitor, psu, case

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg, or tiger direct

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US

PARTS PREFERENCES: would prefer AMD

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: (e.g.: 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1600x1200, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: My motherboard died and its time for an update anyways. I need a CPU, RAM, Motherboard, HD, OS, and video card for 500 or less.

I was thinking of this:
MB: GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128392

CPU + RAM
AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core +
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.285928 $172.

HD:SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152181

OS:Win7 Home premium 64 bit $107
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116754

Gfx Card: Unsure....I have heard students can get windows 7 for 30 dollars, which would free more room for the VC.

Thanks!

My resolution is 1920x 1080 and my left over budget is 125 for VC without the student discount...but if I can pull off the student discount, it will be 150-160...

Being that you are a student, you can get Windows 7 Professional for $30. You do not need to spend $107. Go to: http://www.win741.com/

There you can find Windows 7 Home Edition for $30 but if you click on the small link that says something like "On campus and need to connect to the network?" it will let you get Windows 7 Professional for the same price. I have done it and it works. I have already installed it on my desktop (clean install since I had XP previously).

Also, whatever motherboard or processor you decide on, think about the future. By this I mean, make sure you choose a socket that offers upgradeability. When I purchased my motherboard, it had a socket that was on it's last days and as a result, if I want to upgrade my CPU now, I need to upgrade my motherboard as well.