Building First PC, is last months ''Setup of the Month'' still viable?

[erlang]

I only have around 600 dollars to spend and with that, the ''puppy'' build last month seemed like the best way to go. Would that still be the best build for my 550-600 bucks? thanks so much for any help.

The build is on page 7

[Toffie]

I'm not sure which build exactly your reffering too, is that including a monitor/windows7?

[erlang]

I'm not sure which build exactly your reffering too, is that including a monitor/windows7?

No not including monitor, just the ''puppy'' build. it is on page 7 of mmo champion towards the bottom

[Toffie]

If you extend your budget abit you could get a much better system than the one you listed. 7770 is pretty bad.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($48.58 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($73.52 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Gigabyte GZ-F5HEB ATX Mid Tower Case ($27.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $596.02
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-02 09:24 EST-0500)

[Deleted]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.79 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-E33 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.48 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.86 @ Compuvest)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Enermax 450W ATX12V Power Supply ($43.98 @ PCM)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $615.06
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-02 13:09 EST-0500)

So around $15 overbudget. It has a weaker GPU than Toffie's build but with the Enermax PSU you could upgrade to a beefier GPU in 2-3 years. It does however come with a significantly stronger CPU which should help with good minimum framerates in MMOs compared to the AMD 6300. Back to the GPU if you sacrifice some settings on the 7850 your games will still look great. My AMD 6870, which is weaker than the 7850, still performs surprisingly well in Far Cry 3 with customized settings and I'm averaging around 45fps on 1920x1080. Granted there is no AA and Shadows and Lighting have been turned to medium.

The HDD is arguably weaker than Toffie's. It terms of speed you'll not notice much difference between the drives if at all. Western Digital have a better reputation than Seagate. I have a Seagate HDD running on a computer upstairs atm and there is zero issues.

That build above has more RAM, more CPU speed at stock and has a more powerful GPU than my build. It should serve you well. If you want it under $600 you could go for the Corsair CX 430W but this will severely limit your GPU upgrade options in the future.