AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0 GHz 2x1 MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor – Retail ADX250OCGQBOX	The Athlon x2 250 is a great performing CPU from AMD. It is a fast dual core and has great overclocking potential. Even at stock speeds, though, this CPU is fast enough to run the most demanding of games out there.
	MSI 770-C45 AM3 AMD 770 HDMI AMD Motherboard – Retail	The MSI 770-C45 isn't a top level "over clocker" recommend motherboard. But, it is a good solid choice with nice bios features. It has all the features most user will need and will run nice and stable for you. Mild over clocks can be achieved with little fuss.
	Corsair 4GB Dual Channel Corsair DDR3 Memory (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)	We went with a DDR3 memory running at 1333 mhz. While this isn't ideal for extreme overclocking situations, it will work perfectly fine for this PC (with or without a mild OC). Corsair memory is some of the best out there and provides excellent stability. Four gigs will leave plenty of headroom for the most demanding games on the market.
	Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1 GB GDDR5 PCI-Express Video Card	Since gaming is a high priority for us, we wanted to include a GPU that could muscle through any game we would decide to throw at it. Enter the new mid-level GPU solution from AMD, the Radeon 6850. It has 1 gig of super fast GDDR5 memory and support for Eyefinity. If Physix processing is more important to you, you may prefer the similarly priced Nvidia GTX 460.
	Corsair 430-Watt Power Supply CMPSU-430CX	The power supply is a very important component in any PC build. You want to match your power needs with the output achieved by your PSU. And while it seems like a boring component to waste funds on, you want to make sure you get a stable PSU. Especially in gaming situations, where most of your components will be running full bore for possibly hours on end. This is why we chose the Corsair 430 watt PSU. It isn't huge (so no SLI or CFX), but it brings reliability and stability to the table.
	Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case	The case choice was easy for us, the Antec Three Hundred. This is a solid, well built case with great ventilation. While it isn't flashy or super feature rich, it is well laid out in the inside (for easy installation). With 2 big fan ports in the front, and a top, back and side exhaust ports, you can feel very confident that your components will get the air they need to keep running cool.
	LG Electronics 24X SATA DVD+/-RW	Every PC needs an optical drive of some sort. But, to stay well under budget, we opted against a Bluray drive and went with a standard DVD writer. The model we chose is SATA, so you don't get stuck with the wide (and old tech) IDE cables in your case.
	Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB	For a harddrive, we went with a 500 gig Western Digital SATA drive. If you need more (or possibly less) space, you could choose another drive here. But, 500 gig is a pretty decent amount of storage. Barring using this PC as a media storage or video editing station, we don't think the average gamer will run out of room with this drive.

So, as of pricing at the time of writing this article, this PC would set you back a mere $650. Now, remember to factor in a copy of Windows (approx $100-$200) if you don't have one. You could also step up the cooling on the CPU with an aftermarket cooler, though we don't really think it is a need for this type of build. The AMD CPU comes with a stock cooler which works great at stock speeds and mild OC's. The one thing that we really like about this setup is the quality of each of the parts. Each part used is from respectable manufacturers and should help lend to a long system life for you.

Let us know what you think of this build. If you give it a shot, we'd love to see some picks of the finished product posted in our forums.

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