$400 Budget Gaming PC

[BigBAWZ]

A friend of mine asked me put him together an entry-level gaming PC. He has a total budget of $400 excluding the price of his case. He does not need a OS, or disk drive. He wants at least a 650ti because he will be gaming at 1080p eventually. He also knows that he will eventually have to upgrade to get more out of his system. Hes coming from playing Xbox, so he's not a big graphic junkie like I am and doesn't mind turning down the graphic settings a bit. He just wants to get the most for his money. The games he plans on playing are mostly BF3, BF4 once it releases,Starcraft 2, DayZ, and Arma 3 once it releases. He plans on buying this coming summer. I do believe that I've found a good set up for a cheap price. I just want other people's opinion. So if you can, please give me feedback on what you think, what you'd improve, what you would throw out, etc.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PKP8
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PKP8/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PKP8/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($97.84 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock 760GM-GS3 Micro ATX AM3 Motherboard ($44.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($30.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 250GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($40.09 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Rosewill Stallion 500W ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $403.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-11 11:50 EDT-0400)

 

[Gammyduck]

Why only a 250GB when a 1TB is so cheap? The extra 15 or so dollars is worth it.

 

[BigBAWZ]

Why only a 250GB when a 1TB is so cheap? The extra 15 or so dollars is worth it.

Not really sure, i guess i was just trying to get the cheapest option but if its only $15 then i agree sure why not.

 

[Gammyduck]

I recommend buying an AMD A10-5800K w/ a Gelid Trandquillo Rev2 for cooling. It's an APU so it will probably outperform a budget graphics card. Get a Gigabyte GA-F2A85XM-D3H along with Xigmatech Midgard since you forgot a case. Pick up 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2 for RAM since 4GB really isnt enough these days. Buy a Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 530w. It leaves space for upgrading while being a very good PSU.

This should fit your budget while leaving lots of space for upgrading and giving you a great base to work with initially.

 

[BigBAWZ]

I recommend buying an AMD A10-5800K w/ a Gelid Trandquillo Rev2 for cooling. It's an APU so it will probably outperform a budget graphics card. Get a Gigabyte GA-F2A85XM-D3H along with Xigmatech Midgard since you forgot a case. Pick up 8GB Corsair Vengeance 2 for RAM since 4GB really isnt enough these days. Buy a Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 530w. It leaves space for upgrading while being a very good PSU.

This should fit your budget while leaving lots of space for upgrading and giving you a great base to work with initially.

I thank you for your suggestion, but ive never really been a fan of APU's i much rather a dedicated GPU. I will consider it, but id like to stick with a GPU. As for the case in the description i typed i stated the budget was $400 excluding the price of his case. I told him its pointless to spend less than $50 on a case. I also find that corsair RAM is a little overprices considering what else you can buy, but everyone has their own opinion. I recommended he pick his own case because he will be the one looking at it, not me.

 

[Gammyduck]

I understand your reccomendations, but I strongly reccomend you tell him about the case I stated. I recommend the APU and then upgrading to have a graphics card later down the line or as soon as he can. I was honestly suprised by what an APU could do however. There quite impressive for someone who has had a decent rig all their life. In general I would agree but Corsair Vengeance 2 is an exception to the rule. Very good value ram for money.

Best of luck