Gaming PC $400-500

Approximate Purchase Date: Between now and the end of September.

Budget Range: $550 Max before <$500 after preferably <450

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (SWTOR, SC2, BF3, D3)

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, OS, Case

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg

Country of Origin: United States

Parts Preferences: Mobo socket AM3+ or LGA 1155. Partial to AMD CPUs but not attached.

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe (not likely until stuttering is no longer an issue)

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050 & 1920x1080


Additional Comments: I would prefer to get a lower end AMD CPU and upgrade to Bulldozer down the line.

I would like to run SWTOR (I know it isn't out yet) on highish settings with good framerate. Performance in other games is less important.

This is what I am looking at so far.

CPU Athlon II x3 445 Rana $75 ($65 w/ promo)

Try to unlock a core/L3 cache with possibly a slight OC

Mobo MSI 970A-G45 $105 ($85 w/ rebate)


Graphics Card XFX HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 Free Shogun & Deus Ex $185 ($154 w/ rebate)


Ram Wintec AMPX 4GB 2x2GB 1333 $27.99


PSU Antec NEO ECO 620C 620 watts $60 ($30 w/ promo+rebate)


Optical and Hard Drives Seagate Barracuda 500GB & Samsung CD/DVD burner combo $53.48


Case: Old modded Lian-Li PC-65USB Free

Monitor: Samsung 226BW 22" (1680x1050 max resoultion) and Panasonic TC-P42U2 42" HDTV (1080p) Free

Total+shipping before promos and rebates: $515 w/ $415

Any input or commentary is appreciated. I haven't built a computer since 2004 and haven't played a PC game since 2008. I'm not caught up on current trends and performance; last time I did this consumer mutli-core processors didn't exist