I could shave off $20 and put that into the GPU to get an HD 7770.  That would easily beat the next xbox and come close to the PS4.   I was able to build something 50% stronger than the Wii U for $280 in another thread.  That thing is a turd price/performance wise lol.

Good thing we didn't.   :P

I'm planning on building my first system later this year, and I am on a budget, so... here's my (future) build. It should be pretty good, for the price, right?

Right? >_<

CPU: $150 (i5-3470)
http://www.microcenter.com/product/400664/Core_i5_3470_32GHz_LGA_1155_Boxed_Processor

GPU: $200 (HD7850)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121651

RAM: $30 (8gb Ripjaws X) I got it on sale. :)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455

PSU: $38 (Corsair CX600) Got it on sale + rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

MB: $77 (ASRock Z75 Pro3)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157304

Case: $129 Fractal Design R4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352023

HDD: $50 Samsung(250gb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152226

DVD: $20(haven't decided on a brand)

Total: $694

Bear in mind, I'll be waiting around for sales before I buy any of these parts, which is what I'd recommend anyone do. Between Newegg, Fry's, Microcenter, and Tiger Direct, there seems to be a computer parts sale almost every day. Also, you could probably shave a good $100 off by buying a cheaper case...

One big problem:  your case is WAYYY too expensive.

Get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147166 [-$95]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157315 [-$26]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147189 [+$120]

The solid state drive is crazy worth it.  It improves ALL performance a lot (Sometimes exponentially).  If you need more space, you can add one later.   Also the #1 rule to building a PC is "Buy all parts at once."   Otherwise if you wait a month or two for the last parts, all your stocked up parts will be cheaper then what you bought them for.   Also consider the 7870 LE.  It is essentially a 7950 with 1GB less ram for $240.

I didn't see that post, thanks :) Although, like I said before, if I were going full DD, wouldn't I want atleast a TB HDD? I'd imagine 250 GB filling up way too fast. And what's your opinion of solid state hard drives? Are they worth the extra $?

The reason I put so much down for the case is that I don't want to have to replace it for another 5-7 years. That, and I just really like that case... I thought about getting an SSD, but the price pushed me away. It's hard to justify spending that much for so little space--especially when I haven't seen the performance benifits with my own eyes. I'm actually tempted to just use the 500gb HDD from my laptop until I can save up for a 2TB drive.

I have really considered buying a 7870, but $200 for the 7850 is already $50 above my current GPU budget, so that might be pushing it. From the looks of things I probably should just wait a bit longer, though, so maybe I will end up with the better card.

Also, I kinda thought I could cheat the #1 rule by taking advantage of sales and Mail-in rebates...

He's not necessarily looking to get the cheapest build.  That motherboard lacks SATA 3, RAM capacity and OC options compared to what he has picked out.  Cases can be important, too: I tried to cram my parts into a micro case and ended up having zero air flow for my video card (7770), and I had to keep an eye on it and not push it, at all.  I got a bigger case with good flow and fans and it doesn't break a sweat anymore. (note: i had to push it up against my sound card, that was the problem, the case didn't allow for better spacing)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119259

That's my case, I really like it.  It's very flexible, functional, and looks nice too.

Honestly if you are starting your PC from scratch without having a ton (20+) of steam games already, go solid state.  I just ordered my first one last night (500GB), and I believe all NEW builders should get one from here on out.  

Even 120GB is enough for your first 5-10 games and you don't need to have them all installed at once.  Pluse SSD's keep getting cheaper and cheaper, so when you need more, you can get more.

As for the performance difference:

-From what I know games will load in 1-3 seconds instead of 10-30.

-NO poppin

-Slightly increased framerates in some games

-Your PC boots up in 15 seconds instead of a minute and it is instantly ready to go.  You don't have to wait a minute for all of your start up programs to be ready, they are all instantly up and running.

-Opening a program is like turning on a light.   Just click, and its on!

-They are silent and consume 10x less power.

Bottom line: At the end of the day, they are becoming the new standard.  You will want one within 2 years, and when that happens you won't want to have to move all of your data and reinstall windows.  Plus you can always get a cheap $40 500GB HDD later to store all of your music, photos, and Videos.

That motherboard has PCI 3.0, and it CAN overclock  (Read buddy), though I understand if you want a better one so get an ASROCK Extreme-4M for like $130.

 The parts in my sig are in a case SMALLER than the one I listed so what the hell are you doing to your 7770?   I have mine overclocked a lot too lol.

P.S.  You got a case THAT BIG for an HD 7770?  LOL ok...

Hahahah, here's the whole story, it's a great story about BAD PLANNING on my part lol:

I had a micro-atx sized case, so I bought a micro-atx board, thinking I could just re-use my old cheap case no problem.  The mobo has one PCI slot and 2 PCI 3.0 slots(above and below the pci).  The 7770 was too big for the bottom slot, as the case was too short, so I had to put it in the top slot.  But I have a sound card, as I do a lot of music stuff (writing, producing, etc) so I want to be sure I can handle whatever I need for that, and I don't want to rely on on-board sound for that.  So, the sound card goes in PCI and the 7770 goes in 3.0 and there was NO SPACE betweeen them.  The air from the 7770's fan couldn't go anywhere and it built up heat real bad.  It's a mid-size case (one step up from micro) and although it is kind of big, I needed that one step up.  Not just for the 7770 but also for the sound.

Now I know to think those things through.

Edit: I might mean "Mini" instead of "Micro" (seriously, mobo manufacturers, that's confusing!) whichever is bigger.