Highest gaming performance for $450

[dscudella]

I need a mock up of a $450 max gaming performance rig. The reason it's $450 is because all components must be bought from Newegg, Mac Mall or Tiger Direct and the budget is a FIRM $450 to allow for the 7.75% sales tax and shipping. No OS (he's a student), keyboard, mouse, monitor or speakers are needed. The Optical Drive is a must.

This is the best I could come up with. Tax is added into the prices.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($107.73 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($59.25 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($31.23 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.86 @ Newegg)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card ($132.27 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill REDBONE U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($53.86 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX12V Power Supply ($43.08 @ Mac Mall)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.22 @ Newegg)

Total: $498.50

I've omitted a decent CPU cooler ($30 later on down the road for a Hyper 212) and I would have liked to get 8gb RAM but just couldn't afford it.

Any suggestions or tweaks?

 

[dscudella]

Didn't want to edit my original post, so I'll just put this in a new comment. If I really skimp on the case & mobo I can fit a GTX 650 Ti into the build.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($107.73 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($53.86 @ Mac Mall)
Memory: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($31.23 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.86 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($150.83 @ Newegg)
Case: XClio 320 ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.70 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX12V Power Supply ($43.08 @ Mac Mall)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.22 @ Newegg)

Total: $495.51

 

[Azn Cracker]

You can get a cheaper case and this psu

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

and this gpu instead

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202011

 

[dscudella]

I'll take the GTX 650 Ti over a 7770 any day, unless something happened in the last month with drivers that gave the 7770 the edge.

Edit: Also, the Corsair CX430 is more expensive than the VP-450.