Gaming pc on $800 budget

[oxycontiin]

Hello community, I'd really like to put together my own gaming pc, but I'm worried how all the individual parts are going to come together. I'm not new to computers, but I've never built a pc from the ground up before. I have a rough idea what I want, but the more I read online the less sure I am of all my choices. My current purchase list looks like this:

CPU - Phenom II X4 840 http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0357031 or Intel i3 2100 http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0359809 (Thought I wanted an AMD chip, but I've seen a lot of mixed reviews. $99.99 for either chip)

MOBO - Asus M4A88TD - V http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0334891 or Intel BOXH61BEB3 http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=40967&CatId=7162 (My only concern with the mobo is that its compatible with all the other hardware I'm looking at. $129.99 for Asus and $112.99 for Intel.)

GPU - EVGA GeForce GTS 450 http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0347361 ($122.99, this runs Direct x 11 and its got an hdmi port so I think I got everything I need in a card like this)

RAM - two 2gb Crucial cards at 1333Mhz, dual channel http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0307440 ($42.99)

HDD - WD Caviar Blue 500gb 3.5" 7200rpm Sata 6.0gb/s 16mb cache http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7281716&CatId=2459 ($39.97, this is more than enough space for me. I just want cheap and fast)

DVD - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0293535 ($24.99, not much to say, it does the trick)

CASE - I'm looking at an antec three hundred for $59.95, http://store.antec.com/Product/benclosure/three-hundred/0-761345-45003-4.aspx but if theres something cheaper that'll work I'd take it over this

PSU - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0342504 600W 12V V2.2 for $35.99, did a quick check online for the wattage demand from this build and got 450W so I hope this will be sufficient.

Thats it. I hope to be able to max out most modern games. I realize it's not completely top of the line so I'm not expecting crysis 2 on ultra high, but if i'm dropping all this money I want it to do the job, so if theres something in this build you find to bottleneck my performance I'd upgrade no problem. I guess if anyone sees any compatibility issues or any poor choices I'd love to hear about it. Thanks in advance, Kyle.

 

[mdd1963]

A dated GTS450 is not going to allow you to 'max out' most modern games; for $40 more or so, I'd be looking at a minimum of the GTX460 (1 GB).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4221/nvidias-gtx-550-ti-coming-up-short-at-150/10

 

[jednx01]

Definitely agreed with what mdd1963 said. You should look at getting a better video card. All dx11 cards are not created equal. Not even close. You take a gts 450 and compare it to a gtx 590 and you will not get even remotely close results for gaming. Yeah, both are dx11 and can run the same games, but the gtx 590 will run it vastly better. (not that I'm suggesting that you get a gtx 590. I'm just using that as an example). I would go for at least a gtx 460 if you want to do any real gaming. I would consider going up to a 6870 or 6950 if you can afford it. The gaming difference would be HUGE.

 

[Subidoo]

I currently use a i5 2400 with a EVGA 1gb 460 and it plays both WoW and ScII on Ultra with no problems. I would suggest both of those for Gaming, if you dont plan to OC