Budget gaming build - Need some help please!

[SuBw00FeR]

So my cousin is after a PC finally changing from his Mac because he wants to start playing more games. He wants to keep the cost as low as possible as he'll be travelling to Croatia for 2 months in a few months time, so he can't spend too much. He wants to try keep it under $700 but still be as good performance as he can get, this is a little struggle for me as I've only ever really dealt with Intel and ~$1000 budgets, nothing really a third less. I'm also new to AMD ( Went with AMD as it could keep the cost down a bit) and this is what I have come up with, any changes would be greatly appreciated, I use the site www.pccasegear.com.au if you wanted to have a look around for alternatives. He basically wants it as a little portable gaming PC so he can bring it around my house with ease.

BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case Orange - $99.00

AMD FX-4300 4 Core Processor - $135.00

HIS Radeon HD7850 1GB - $189.00

Patriot Wireless N LAN USB Adapter 150Mbps - $19.00

Gigabyte GA-A55M-DS2 Motherboard - $49.00

Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST500DM002 - $60.00

Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX (2x4GB) DDR3 - $49.00

Corsair CX-600 Modular 80+ Bronze Power Supply - $99.00

$699 + Shipping (It's like $20 to where I live)

My main concern is i've never dealt with AMD CPU's so I'm not sure really (Have done some research though) where the FX-4300 stands, and will it bottleneck the 7850. From reading around it seems that it wont, but I trust you guys more! :D

Thanks for any help.

[King Nothing]

First off the Prodigy is pretty big for being a itx case. You might look into the Cooler Master XB or the Silverstone Blah....I can't remember what. Sorry. Secondly I have been running AMD for quite some time. I'm still running a Phenom II x4 955 BE @4GHz. I use that PC for mostly games and the only reason I haven't upgraded it is because games are still pretty much GPU bound and the few games that use the CPU the Phenom has no problem with. I would go with a 965 or similar and spend more on the mobo in your current setup.

[SuBw00FeR]

I've actually revised the build to this currently:

BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case Orange – $99.00

HIS Radeon HD7850 1GB – $189.00

Patriot Wireless N LAN USB Adapter 150Mbps – $19.00

Seagate Barracuda 500GB ST500DM002 – $60.00

Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX (2x4GB) DDR3 – $49.00

Intel Core i3 3220 – $119.00

Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 Motherboard – $89.00

Antec High Current Gamer 520W HCG-520 – $89.00

Only $14 more, i'm sure he can afford that. ;p

My only problem is that I wouldn't mind having a modular PSU, cos it's gonna be a tight build inside this case, and less cables = better.

I was thinking of this one? http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_305&products_id=11225

It's the OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W. Brings it back to $703 as well, but i've never really used an OCZ PSU before, does anyone know much about them? it's 80+ Certified, just not bronze (2% below threshold for bronze). so I assume it's alright?

Thanks for the input, but he really was keen on the case, and the handles on the bitfenix will be a real help as he'll be moving it around a lot.

[Dim]

That PSU will be fine, although you can also look at the 550W for like $4 cheaper (if it's that big of a deal :P)

80+ Cert. is fine, OCZ is okay.

Good luck building it! I'm from Australia as well, but honestly I would never pay the $135 build fee or whatever it is >.

[SuBw00FeR]

Yeah, I plan on building it myself, like all my PC's I do. Think that's the way i'll go. At least this way, if he ever needs to, he can just upgrade the i3 when he gets more money or if it's not performing with later games or whatever. And the 7850 is another easy upgrade if needed. Thanks for everyones help. :)

[soupistasty5]

First off the Prodigy is pretty big for being a itx case. You might look into the Cooler Master XB or the Silverstone Blah....I can't remember what. Sorry. Secondly I have been running AMD for quite some time. I'm still running a Phenom II x4 955 BE @4GHz. I use that PC for mostly games and the only reason I haven't upgraded it is because games are still pretty much GPU bound and the few games that use the CPU the Phenom has no problem with. I would go with a 965 or similar and spend more on the mobo in your current setup.

Silverstone Fortress FT03 Mini, nice ITX case, about $80.

[soupistasty5]

Best small, but quality, PSU's are made by Silverstone.

Lots of really good power supplies out there but most are 150-180mm long. Silverstone makes the shortest PSU in almost all the different wattages. For example, their 650W Strider is only 140mm long, shortest on the market. Not a big deal if your building a Cosmos II or a Corsair 900, but doing a SFF build, it makes a big difference.