I don't know much about it, but I was watching attack of the show and they had some computer about 3 feet long and 2 feet high that cost $600. It could run most of the highest games out there. Might be worth checking out.

To run most of the games out there you need a:
pentium dual core or athlon II ($60+)
motherboard ($50+)
8800 GT rebrand or 4770 ($90+)
Hard drive ($40+)
2 GB Ram ($40+)
Monitor ($100+)
PSU ($10+)
It will get you a piece of shit quality computer that is likely to blow up or fail, but hey, it only cost $400+. Note that this computer would be better than most prebuilts as well, which probably charge ~$1000+ though you would have to assume none of the parts fail.

Alright guys! Computer is built. All parts got delivered two days ago (and actually a day earlier than newegg said they would.). However, the Phenom II X2 came with bent pins.. So we had to send in for a replacement =/

Rockz, I think that it's a gross over-exaggeration to say that a $400 self-made is better than a $1000 pre-built. My Dell XPS 430 computer cost ~$700 and came with 2.5GHz quad core, 6GB DDR3 RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. Granted, I replaced the video card (with an old 8800 GT), the power supply (probably unnecessary, but I had a nice one lying around) and the monitor (which it didn't come with), but even with that extra $230, that's $930 for a vastly superior computer to your $400 one (which doesn't include a case). Though not that much better at games, since that mostly relies only on the graphics card.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033733&id=1278067011&l=14164cf1b2

Pictures, if you wanted.

You're right. $700 then.
That was the point. Prebuilts jip you on the graphics, period. You'll notice the most expensive parts were the graphics and monitor. You don't *need* a case either. If you do, go down to a thrift store and get one. 2.5 GHz quad core really doesn't tell me anything either. A 2.7 GHz propus used to be all of $80 on newegg. It's much worse than a 2.4 GHz kentsfield. However, for $90 you can unlock a callisto to a deneb, which is better than most 775 quads (you'll need some luck, though).

I just mock built a dell inspiron with similar specs as to what I could get off newegg + exploiting my resources as a student: $758 was the final price. Now, I suppose if I just bought the base system ($400) and then got the $90 graphics rather than the $160 graphics, and the $100 monitor rather than the $200 monitor, I'd save $170. It's still $190 more for the prebuilt. Add in an OS (free-$30) and it's $150 more. To even get a 4770 through dell, I'd have to spend $1000, I'm sure.

Fix that godawful cable management Harry. Doesn't the 690 have a removable motherboard tray so you can tuck some of the wires back there?

You better manage your cables, but aside from that, good job kiddo. I'm proud of ya.

Haha the case actually has little hooks for cable management. I'm just wayy to lazy to fix them. Maybe when my processor comes back I'll ass myself to fix them.