Bless this build, por favor.

[brthurr]

Purchase date: This week
Budget: $550
Usage: VM host
Parts not required: KB/mouse, monitor, OS, speakers
Preferred Vendor: Newegg
Parts Preferences: Open
Overclocking: Don't know if I should based on my usage

I'm looking for a budget PC to run VM's only. Think of it as a home lab machine. I do all my gaming and home theater on appliances, so I doubt I'd ever use this for anything else. I've cut about as many corners as I can and gone with combos, open box, etc. to get the price down. Can someone give this a final walkthrough and anwser two important questions for me:

1. Per component, based on my usage requirements and budget, can I do any better ?
2. Is there anything else I should add to this list? Not in terms of "it would be nice" but more along the lines of "if you don't do this your machine will melt".

Thanks everyone!

Link Depot 3 ft. SATA II WITH LOCKING (90 Degree) cable Model SATA2L-3-UVR <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189145>: $1.99

Open Box: SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model SH-S222L LightScribe Support <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151176R>: $13.99

COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-OWR460 Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case RS-460-PSAR-J3, Elite 460W Power Supply <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119218>: $69.99

Western Digital Caviar Green WD15EARS 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136513>: $84.99

Open Box: ASRock M3A785GXH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard <http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157167R>: $62.99

---- Combo ---
OCZ Gold 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1333LV8GK <http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.515146>:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX <http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.515146>
--- $324. 98 ---

 

[Outlander_04]

Might as well replace the phenom with an athlon quad and save $125

The processor cores are identical , so if you dont need the performance why pay the extra?