Finally Building a Gaming Rig

I've shied away from PC gaming for the past 8-10 years mainly because of the surge in console gaming and the ease and accessibility of it. Xbox has probably been the single biggest killer to the PC gaming industry, because it is essentially a decent speced computer at the time of build, and can last for years under minor updates to the software, hardware refreshes, and the ability for developers to get the most out of the system.

I've been wanting a home theater PC for quite some time, and I have since settled for a Roku 2. But, I still have the desire to have a PC that is capable of 1080p output, 5.1 (or higher) sound output, and the ability to store a lot of full movies/TV shows, stream content, and also play some new FPS games (because they are much better on PC), as well as the library of Steam games I have acquired over the past few years.

So, I ventured out to newegg.com and looked for parts.

Part	Price + Shipping
AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz Quad core processor	$124.99
ECS A885GM-A2 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s ATX Motherboard	$79.99
G.SKILL Value Series 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Memory	$39.99
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 ATX Mid-tower	$60.98
XCILIO GOODPOWER 500W PSU	$39.99
ASUS VH232H Glossy Black 23" LCD Monitor	$169.99
VisionTek 900357 Radeon HD 5670 2GB PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card	$83.97
Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard + Dell Laser Mouse	$62.97
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit	$99.99
Total:	$767.86

Just a few caveats: I wasn't looking to surpass $700 (all-inclusive) so I missed that mark by about $80. I am aiming for a middle-of-the-road rig, so the best $700 can buy. A few of the parts (GPU, memory) are budget-cutting choices, but I am hoping all the components will work together well. If you have any recommendations on my gaming PC venture, please comment below or hit me on Twitter (@kenosando) or Google+ (gplus.to/kenosando) or if you are old school, email me (kenosando@gmail.com)