Need advice $500 gaming rig

[HFD]

Hello All, new member here. I haven't built a system in 5+ years and I'm way overdue and overwhelmed by the new tech and options available. My current system is a Pentium 4 (socket 478) / GeForce 6200 if that gives you a hint where I'm coming from. I recently reactivated my Warcraft account in preparation for Cataclysm, and can only play at the lowest video settings.

I've been reading these forums off and on the past few weeks, in preparation for buying new parts for a budget build. I'd like to keep the new purchase around $500, which will still give me a huge boost over my existing system. I basically want to make sure the parts I've selected below are compatible and a good value.

Approximate Purchase Date: Immediate.
Budget Range: ~$500
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, internet.
Parts Not Required: Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg
Country of Origin: U.S.
Parts Preferences: Intel, Asus.
Overclocking: prefer not to.
SLI or Crossfire: preferably not.
Monitor Resolution: basic 1024x768. I'm ok with that.
Additional Comments: Just looking for something to improve my Warcraft experience. In a year or two I might revisit my options with a new build and pass this machine onto one of my sons, so I prefer a budget build at this time.

Here's what I'm looking at so far:

CPU (i3-550) $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115065]
Comment: I know I can probably do better with AMD dollar-wise, but I'm old school Intel since my first 486 almost 20 years ago.

Mobo (Asus) ~$105
P7H55 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131662]
P7P55D-E http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131634]
Comment: I'm at a loss as to the differences and which is the better between these two. Your thoughts?

GPU (ASUS ENGTX460) $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121390]
Comment: Decided on this card based upon the forums here, I'm an Asus fan, and it's a good bang for the buck. Not comfortable with SLI or Xfire builds, so hoping this single card will do the trick.

RAM (G.SKILL) $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ILL_Ripjaws_Series_4GB-_-20-231-277-_-Product
Comment: wide open to suggestions on the best ram for this system.

HDD (Barracuda) $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433]

Case
Comment: My current case has a 420w Raidmax PSU, I'm concerned whether this is good enough for this proposed system, or if I need to upgrade. I'm also concerned about cooling, so getting a Cool Master case isn't out of the question.

Thanks for any feedback and suggestions!

 

[mianmars]

HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

CASE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137

MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131634
difference: above mobo have Sata 6Gb/s which aint available in the other

 

[ScrewySqrl]

the 429W would probably do, except its 6 years old. It will be aging by now, and won't have the right connectors.


Get the Seasonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze. it'll run that 460 just fine

 

[batuchka]

The Game Rundown: Finding CPU/GPU Bottlenecks, Part 2
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/game-performance-bottleneck,2738-16.html

Conclusion: A Trend Toward 3+ Cores

The average optimal number of CPU cores suggested by the test results is 2.75, showing a clear trend towards at least three CPU cores.The question of whether the CPU or GPU is most important is easily answered. If you don't have a multi-core CPU, then upgrade it. If you have a dual-core CPU at around 3 GHz, then invest your money into a graphics card, as most games are GPU-limited. This is not something that will change with new DirectX 11 games.

So $437AR with X3 + 1GB/256 bit GTX 460 + after market cooler, remove any h/w u have on hand ^^