500-600$ amd to overclock

I'd suggest an i3-2120 and a better GPU. Gaming with an i3 and 560Ti is a breeze since almost all games are really limited by the graphics card. The i3 also outperforms most of AMD's processors in games and regular tasks.

I'd pass on the Kingston RAM - their modules are generally 1.65V which causes a lot of problems with motherboards. Get a decent set from Crucial, G.Skill, Patriot, Corsair, etc. that runs on 1.5V. Really the cheaper kits are ok (most of them have lifetime warranties).

ASUS M5A97 AMD970/SB950 ATX AM3+ DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 SATA3 USB3.0 Audio CrossFireX Motherboard
Coolermaster Hyper 101A Direct Contact 2 Heatpipe CPU Heatsink AM3 AM2 940 939 80MM Bearing Fan
AMD Phenom II X4 960 Black Edition Quad Core Processor AM3 3.0GHZ 8MB Cache 95W OEM
199.99$ as bundle
Mushkin Enhanced Silverline Stiletto 8GB 2X4GB PC3-10666 DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24 Dual Channel Memory Kit
41.99$
Gigabyte Radeon HD 6870 Windforce 915MHZ 1GB 4.2GHZ GDDR5 2xDVI HDMI Display Port PCI-E Video Card
189.99$ - 20$ MIR= 169.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB 3.5IN 16MB Cache SATA3 Internal Hard Disk Drive HDD
79.99$
Bitfenix Merc Alpha Steel Black ATX Mid Tower Case 3X5.25 7X3.25 1X2.5 *No PS* Top USB2.0 Audio
39.99$

Total=531.94$

I would really like to stick with amd. Everything is from NCIX.ca, I tried to price match as best I could. I believe the case can be had for 30.98$ somewhere but I can't seem to find it.

Any tips are appreciated, thanks.

Kingston SSDNow V200 128GB 2.5IN SATA3 Solid State Disk Flash Drive

would that be worth it for 125$? Will the other hdd cause a bottleneck at all? I have an external for storage already.

edit: horrible reviews, forget it

Here's a CPU comparison that was done recently. Even Intel's $70 Pentium Sandy Bridge CPUs surpass most AMD CPUs...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-a...

Ah, wasnt aware that even while oc'd, they still fall short. Thanks.
I'm gonna toss something together real quick.

Check out my $650 build here:
http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore
Switch the i5 2400 to the i3 2100 and you'll save $70 bringing the build to $580. At your current budget SSD isn't recommended.