~$450 new build

[TheChosenJuan]

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: next week

Budget Range: 400-500 preferably lower so i can spend more money on games

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming and school

Are you buying a monitor: no

Parts to Upgrade: everything but optical drives i got me some of them

Do you need to buy OS: nope

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: uhm wherever

Location: South Carolina USA
Parts Preferences: by brand or type I really don't care much whatever you guys are biased too

Overclocking: nope

SLI or Crossfire:nada

Your Monitor Resolution: planning on buying a new 1920x1080 monitor in the next few months so i want to be prepared

Additional Comments: i want to be able to play those high end big graphics games on medium to ultra

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: my computer can barely handle solitare and i want to play some of the newer games

 

[mikerockett]

Ultra isn't going to happen on a rig in this price bracket but medium-high maybe.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($98.24 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($49.11 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.56 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 400W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.98 @ Outlet PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $466.84
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-15 10:31 EST-0500)

 

[cball1311]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($68.76 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-E33 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($65.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Other: HIS IceQ X H785QN1G2M Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card ($169.99) (plus BioShock and Tomb Raider FREE!)
Total: $502.69
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-15 10:41 EST-0500)

You can always upgrade the CPU to an i5 later. The 7850 has a big performance jump over the 7770. You can run most games with this at medium to high settings.

 

[TimeLass]

Consider this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DGCl