<$650 Budget gaming PC!

Welcome to the forum. This should work:
AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128392

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227478

XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150436

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] f3%20500gb

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] tts%20650w

Rosewill R901-P BK Triple 120mm Cooling Fan, Mesh Design Front Panel, ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811147125

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827118030

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116754

Regarding a laptop, you won't be able to find what I would consider a "good gaming laptop" for $500.

that gpu is too expensive for u get like a 4850 and go for intel e5200 still good

It comes to around $650, and there's a little room to cut back if absolutely necessary.

This is the link I recommend in my guide
http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13671/1

ok so how should i decide between the 3 processors for the 3 people who gave me 3 different ones?

the difference is the x4 620 performs similar to the 550BE at stock settings, depending on the app
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 414-7.html
But the 550 wins in game benchmarks, and if you unlock the other two cores to make it quad core it will perform basically the same as a PII 955. Plus it is one of the better overclocking AMD processors. So I would choose it because it is basically the same performance overall stock, but has the potential to be a much stronger chip with the cores unlocked.

is the ram good for its price?
also for the video card people say it overheats

Personally, I would skimp on the power source/case to save some extra dough. There are cases with power sources going for the less than the price of the bare case recommended above. 650W is excessive for a this set up. Just make sure the power supply has the PCIe power connector and I think you should be good to go.

Just did a quick google, and found this

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15828/35/

That is slightly lower at 73% than other stats I've seen....but I'm not going to spend all night looking for them. So, for the sake of verifiable data and accuracy, I will restate

At least 73% of these can be unlocked into quad cores, and easily overclocked to 3.6ghz.

Overclocking is clocking your processor high than the manufacturer intended. Just because they intend it to run at 2.8ghz doesn't mean it wont run fine at 3.4ghz. IT is done by going into the BIOS(Basic Input Output System) which you can get into by usually pressing delete(may be different on your mobo) at the start up screen. If you need to know more/how there are very detailed guides just do a quick google. Overclock percentage is the percent the processor is clocked over the base speed. So say you had a 2.8ghz processor and you overclocking it 20%, it would be at 3.34 ghz.

are all the parts given by jbaker compatible? also, is there any upcoming thanksgiving/black friday sale for these parts or anything similar?

Hi,
I need the same sort of machine for WoW. I have tried to follow the equipment listed but as I'm in the UK it's a little difficult.
I have the following list of items that I believe to be similar, could anyone please check through and point out any compatibility issues?

AMD Athlon II X4 630, Quad Core, S AM3, 2.8GHz, 2MB Cache, HT 4000MHz, 95W, Retail
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD [...] 95W-Retail

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P, AMD 770, AM3, PCI-E 2.0(x16), DDR3 1666(OC), SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/GIG [...] -UD3P-MOBO

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB [...] S-9-9-9-24

512MB MSI HD 4770, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 3200MHz GDDR5, GPU 750MHz, 640 Cores, 2x DVI/ HDTV, CrossFireX
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512 [...] CrossFireX

500GB Samsung HD502HJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500 [...] he-8ms-OEM

550W Powercool 80+ Green Dual 12v Rail V2.2 High Efficiency Black PSU
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/550 [...] -Black-Psu

Sharkoon Venga ATX black - Front I/O (2x USB 2.0, Audio line-out/in ports)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Sha [...] -in-ports)

Regards,
Ant

anyone know of any sales for the holiday season?

Thanks for the fast reply Sonic.

What do you guys think if I replace
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150436
with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] %201GB%201 ?

I found a combo deal that would replace both the GPU and the PSU. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.281870
it has the 5770 Radeon and a 700 watt PSU. I know, that even 650W is excessive, but if I get the deal i can shave off around 10 dollars, and get a better PSU. What do you guys think?

I don't need Windows 7, so I have room for better quality stuff up to the <$650 mark

Ok so http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] f3%20500gb
(It's the HDD) is out of stock. Anyone know of a good and cheap compatible HDD?
Also, is this combo compatible with the rest of my computer? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.281870
The computer I will build has all the parts jbaker posted except the ones I have posted right now.

Edit: lol i didnt see the link in "here"

how is the Samsung better? just wondering how can you tell. The HDD that you linked me is more expensive than the Samsung too. Is this the closest good deal/buy Ican get near the Samsung?

is http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] t=celebros the one ?

The Samsung is newer and runs with a single platter as opposed to the WD which has two platters. Generally speaking, less platters = greater performance. There are exceptions to this, of course, but in this case the Samsung is the winner over the WD in question.

any cheaper dvd drives i can get? im not really worried about burn speed or etc.

This one will save you a few dollars, plus it has free shipping; if you buy anything made by Sony, you usually pay a premium for the brand (like Mac, but not nearly as much). LG is a respected company for optical drives.

That is a burner, a plain dvd drive is cheaper, I didn't know which you were asking abou.t

Hey guys how does this loook as the final final build (lol)

Edit: Here are all the parts, as I realize the link doesn't work:
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811147125
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136319
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128392
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102858
DVD thingy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827118031
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371015
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103706
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231303

One last thing: does my mobo have a intergrated sound card? Do these parts come with cables?