Best gaming desktop for under 600

WIndows 7 alone is $100, OEM builders edition, online...

The remaining $500 pretty much mandates an X4/890 mb combo rig for about $200, find a 4gb set (2x2gb), a 500 watt PSU, and a GTX460-1gb ($160)..; find a smallish $40 HDD, 300-400 GB is plenty, and inexpensive, and more than enough to get you started....

find a DVD ROM drive for $15...should just barely make your budget goal....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- Samsung DVDRW drive: $17

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- SamSung Spinpoint F4 320GB: $43

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit: $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- Antec 300 + BP430W PSU: $95

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- ASUS M4A77T/USB3 AM3 AMD 770 USB 3.0: $85

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz: $80

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- Mushkin Enhanced Essentials 4GB (2x2) DDR3 1333: $40

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 768MB: $125 (after mir)

sub total: $615 - $30mir = TOTAL: ~$585

ASUS is the more reputable motherboard brand... plus you get the USB3.0

you also have the great Antec 300 case /w Antec PSU.. and the faster Athlon II X3 @ 3.2GHz

^Asrock is a subsidiary of Asus, They offer the best bang for your buck. I do like the combo that you have of the case and the psu. 100mhz is barely noticeable, not to mention you can overclock those chips pretty well on stock cooling (got my 435 to 3.7 stable with stock)

power supply: Corsair CX750 Builder Series ATX 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Power Supply 80$ amazon

Graphics card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 2048MB GDDR5 DVI mHDMI Graphics Card 02G-P4-2651-KR 143$ amazon

Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 - Mid Tower Computer Case with All-Black Interior (RC-430-KWN1) 36$ amazon

Hard drive: SanDisk 64 GB Solid State Drive with Low Power Consumption SDSSDP-064G-G25 70$ amazon

RAM: Corsair Vengeance Blue 8 GB (2X4 GB) PC3-12800 1600mHz DDR3 240-Pin SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B 52$ amazon

motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard 89$ amazon

CPU/processor: AMD FX-4170 4.2GHz Quad-Core Socket AM3+ CPU with AMD Virtualization Technology - FD4170FRGUBOX 125$

Total of 597 dollars

Don't get what they are recommending, they're terrible.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($118.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($53.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.03 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.96 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $604.82
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-14 21:01 EDT-0400)

This is really great for the price.