Non Gamer build suggestions

for the amount you want to spend you can find a decent laptop that will handle your needs...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Thanks for your reply.

I'd rather not go with a laptop. I built the system I have now back in 2001 and other than replacing the HD, it's been a good system.

I'm just not familiar with all the new components and would like to get some suggestions. Do you not think I'm being realistic with the amount of money I want to spend for a good desktop system??

Thanks very much for your reply. The following is what I came up with on my own and I'd appreciate very much your opinion. I'm thinking of being able to upgrade or update the system in the future if needed and as you can see it's a little over the $600 limit but I'm looking down the road.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Parts for build

Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 AM3+/AM3 AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $94.99

AMD Phenom II X6 1075T 3.0GHZ Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $159.99

Antec 300 ATX Mid Tower case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $59.95

Antec EarthWatts Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $69.99

Cooler Master CPU Cooler :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $26.99

G.Skill Value Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM (2ea @ $21.99 ea):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $43.98

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB Internal HD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $44.99

Windows 7 Professional:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $139.99

Total: $640.87

Alright, let's break it down.



I prefer ASRock but that's a fine choice  



Do your programs use 6 cores? If you're overclocking, get the 1090T which is unlocked. The fact you're buying an aftermarket cooler suggests you might be.



Antec's a great brand. The choice of case is obviously pretty subjective so I'm not commenting further.



That's ridiculous overkill. You're going to be running that thing at 10% load   Get the Earthwatts 380W PSU.



If you're not overclocking, there's really no need for aftermarket cooling.



Pretty nice. Generally it's considered the 1600MHz is the sweet spot for price/performance but it's not a huge difference  



The SpinPoint is much better value for money.



No comment  

I'm not sure when you are going to buy this but when amd's new cpus come out in the next month or so, the phenoms should drop in price. You will not see a difference in performance from x4 vs x6 unless you are video encoding/rendering since those programs are all single threaded. Ram is cheaper when bought in pairs. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... I doubt you will need the extra features in pro vs hp, and you want 64bit. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... 32bit programs have no issues running on a 64bit os.

Best answer selected by erix620.