I made it better in every way without increasing the price
PCPartPicker part list:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G4r9yc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G4r9yc/by_merchant/
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($168.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($61.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($82.79 @ OutletPC)
Total: $649.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-24 22:18 EST-0500
$15 more gets you a R9 280
$25 more gets you a R9 285
I would drop the dvd drive and get the 280 or 285
The i5 is very strong and would outperform any AMD chip 90% of the time. I don't like the cheap H81 motherboards though. The H97 is much better.