1st build ~$400

If you could perhaps come up with another $75-$100 or so, I'd look hard at an i3-2100/H61 based build with MUCH higher gaming performance than the older Athlon X2 builds...

The case and individual items will come with all the cables you'd need.

That mobo will support phenom II but not bulldozer.

i was trying to find a better gpu around that price but can't  

If you can stretch your budget. I'd say go with this.
http://www.amazon.com/Diablotek-Express-CrossFireX-VX48...

Or this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Stretching further, I'd get this card.
http://www.amazon.com/XFX-6670-800M-Video-HD667XZHF3/dp...

Swap the Antec 380W for a Xigmatek 400W and save $5.

Otherwise it looks good.

If you want to spend an extra $20-30 for more performance I'd suggest the following:

Spend an extra $20 over the X3 450 and grab a Phenom II X4 925 for $99 which is around 20-25% faster. Its priced exactly the same as the X4 640 which Toms Hardware currently recommends at the price point, but is a proper Phenom quad core with a full 6MB L3 cache so it will last you a lot longer and let you skip upgrading to Bulldozer platform.

For a remaining $10 I'd upgrade to a Radeon HD 5670 1GB for $69

I think that puts you at just over $400.

However if your on a strict budget then your initial build outline looks very good and i see no problems with it.

Looks pretty good.

Thanks for some awesome suggestions. You guys really do your homework.

@General M00n- Good point on the Phenom vs Athlon. I totally missed that the Rana was Athlon! I will definitely plan to go with at least the Phenom II 925 or possibly even the 955. I want the extra stable core and the L3 cache!

@michxymi- Some awesome finds! Unfortunately, I already got a power supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028- shell shocker deal for $37 after MIR!) on the way so I can't use that combo deal you found. Otherwise I'd have jumped at that. However, the GPU/CPU combo you found is PERFECT. I think I will be jumping on that one as well! Also a great suggestion for the 4GB ram with MIR. I'm still thinking about that Mobo you listed... thats the final piece of the puzzle for me to put this together.

Thanks to all for the suggestions and recommendations!

Best answer selected by christoj.

Thanks again for all the suggestions and help. I've bought everything except the graphics card at this point. I have the computer about half assembled right next to me and I'm definitely looking forward to having the system completed soon.

Honestly, the General Moon and michxymi both gave EXCELLENT suggestions. Unfortunately I missed out on some of those best combos or had already orders some parts.

Just for the sake of seeing my (nearly) finalized build I will post it here along with final prices.
I went over my original budget by a bit, but I feel I have a very solid computer that I will enjoy for a number of years to come.

Case- Rosewill Blackbone- $37 (memorial day promo@ newegg)
PSU- Corsair CX600- $37 (shell shocker promo@ newegg + $20 MIR)
CPU- AMD Phenom II 965 BE (3.5Ghz)- combo with mobo
MOBO- MSI 880G-E45- $150 (Microcenter combo + $20 MIR on MOBO)
RAM- Patriot G2 8GB- $65 (shell shocker promo @ newegg + $25 MIR)
DVD/CD- Liteon- $21 (promo @ newegg)
HDD- WD Caviar Blue 500GB- $36 (memorial day promor @ newegg)
O/S- Windows 7- $29 (student/educator discount)

So the build is at $346 (minus the O/S) at the moment. I went a bit cheaper on the MOBO then suggested. The combo deal was too good to pass on. Its a nice MOBO, although not as high end as I thought I might go. Still, it will serve my purposes nicely. I'm still bummed that I missed that GPU/CPU combo that was suggested. That would have been a nice deal.
I'm really happy with the build and can't wait to get it up and running. I upgraded a number of items (the 8GB ram is way overkill, but at $65 I couldn't pass it up). I know I didn't get a MOBO for the future, but I'll live with it.

So I'm down to the GPU now. The MOBO I got does have onboard graphics so I can afford to be a little patient and pounce on a GPU when the right one comes along. I'm looking to spend ~$80-100 for the GPU at this point.

The short list for cards I'm considering-
Radeon 5770 (I see these around $100 right now (after MIR))
Radeon 5830 (I've found one of these for $100 right now (after MIR))
Nvidia GTX 460 (This is the card I'd like, but I can't hit my price point right now)

Should I hold out for the GTX 460? I don't have an uber monitor (ACER H203H- 20.5inch) I don't even know what my highest settings available are (I do little gaming at the moment).
The game of the moment I'd love to played on maxed settings is World of Tanks MMO. I'd also like to play Shogun Total War II and some like Crysis 2 or along those lines with high detail. I suspect the 5770 is more then enough, but I keep looking at the FPS and processing power of that GTX 460 and I keep telling myself that if I wait I might get it @ $100 with a shell shocker or something along those lines.

So?? Get the 5770 which a very decent card, get the 5830 which is even better and I can get at the same price but also has a bigger power draw, or try to be patient and get the all around best card of the 3 for (hopefully) nearly the same price? Or is trying to get the GTX460 at that price a pipedream?

Hey christoj, I was looking at the same cpu/mobo combo. I was wondering about what you thought of the mobo. I see it's AM3, not AM3+. Do you forsee this being much of a problem down the line? How long do you expect this build to last you? Sorry, kinda new to all this.

Howdy Sunglee,

I think the MOBO is just fine. Not great, but fine. I just fired up my assembled computer for the first time last night (finally had enough of my parts arrive!). There is no 6gb SATA, no USB-3. No worries there for me. I doubt I'll be missing those features for the foreseeable future.

Not having the AM3+ socket was a little bit of a drawback, but the honest truth is that I was not likely to upgrade in any reasonable time frame. I am not a hardcore gamer and I doubt I ever will be. I'm generally at least a year or 2 behind the curve for what I am currently playing so following that logic I believe that this build should easily last me 2 or 3 years and likely more like 4 or 5. Even if I'm itching to upgrade in 2 or 3 years the advances that are likely to be seen over that time would probably be enough that I'd will want to upgrade the MOBO as well.

Seeing as how this MOBO really only cost me $20 after rebates I am VERY pleased with the board. And in 2 or 3 years, Microcenter will likely be having the same awesome deal for Bulldozer CPUs and today's $150 AM3+ board will be $20-40 bundled with it!

If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't think twice about buying the same combo. That being said, the combos listed online didn't exactly match with what was really available in store. I swear you had more choices in the store then what they show online. If I were you I'd make sure your local micro center has the CPU want and a MOBO bundle you'd be happy with then show up and see if there might be a better deal anyway. Maybe you could land yourself an AM3+ socket for a bit more anyway!

The MOBO is solid and I'm happy with it. Unless you see yourself being/becoming a heavy gamer and don't become obsessed with upgrading to bulldozer in the near future I think you'll be fine. It certainly helped me stay on budget! And it freed up money for me to get a better graphics card!

Sounds awesome! I was looking at Newegg, and looks like they have the same board for 110$?? If that's the case, this bundle is a steal! I'm pretty much the same as you, light to moderate gaming and don't need the blazing speeds especially with SATA and USB-3.

For the GPU, personally I'm leaning towards a Radeon 5770...less power consumption, cheaper (at least that I can find), and still quite capable of running games just fine.

That is exactly the GPU I ended up getting. That will be arriving at my house today! I got an excellent deal on newegg for the HIS 5770. I think it ended up being around $87 shipped after sale price, newcustomer promo, and rebates.

I'll let you know how it works out!

update- Put my graphics card in last night and now my games FLY! My onboard graphics (Radeon 4250) allowed me to play World of Tanks at ~20 FPS on low settings. With the 5770 in I'm playing highest settings averaging ~60-70FPS. I'm hoping to get a more recent game to try out and I'm very interested to see what kind of FPS/details I can get on it.