Good budget gaming build?

tacosauzee

Honorable
Sep 27, 2012
3
0
10,510
So I'm looking to build a computer for more casual gaming (Minecraft, DayZ standalone when it comes out, etc). Currently I've made up a wishlist on newegg, and was wondering if I could get some better components and stay within the $550 price range. I'm not an expert on building computers, so I don't know what's better than what.

Current build:

MSI 970A-G46 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

AMD Athlon II X2 260 Regor 3.2GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX260OCGMBOX ($57 dollar dual core at 3.2GHz caught my eye)

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card (11202-00-20G )

Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model BLS2KIT4G3D1339DS1S00

COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W ATX12V v2.3 Power Supply

Thermaltake V4 Black Edition Gaming Chassis Mid Tower Steel Computer Case Fully Black Powdered Interior VM30001W2Z

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

Total cost without shipping: $520.91
 
Solution
This will give you much better results in gaming and everything else.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-P45 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card ($106.97 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 371 ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.20 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply:...
This will give you much better results in gaming and everything else.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-P45 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card ($106.97 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 371 ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.20 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX12V Power Supply ($30.95 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $551.05
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-07 03:31 EST-0500)
 
Solution