You guys asked for it, so here it is: a cheap gaming compute build-out that is not only cost effective, but also performs well with modern games (assuming some minor graphical downgrades).

Processor - AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor. While it's only a dual-core processor, it has enough speed behind it to put up with the most grueling daily tasks as well as some of the more CPU-intensive games on the market.

Motherboard - ASRock M3A785GMH/128M Micro ATX AMD Motherboard. While it's a smaller Micro-ATX motherboard, limiting you to just one PCI-Express x16 card, it's "good enough" for our needs, supporting up to 16GB of dual-channel DDR3 1333 memory.

RAM - A-DATA G Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Desktop Memory. The current system configuration may fully support DDR3 1333 memory, but the price is still a bit out of our league right now. Once the 4GB sticks hit the market, it should come down in price. Until then, we're sticking with 1066.

Video Card - POWERCOLOR Radeon HD 4870 AX4870 1GBD5 Video Card. Again, not a powerhouse in terms of top of the line performance, but with 1GB of GDDR5 RAM, you should be able to play almost every game on the market without worry about using system memory for textures and the like.

Storage - Seagate SV35.3 1TB Internal Hard Drive. We could have gone with multiple hard drives, but the lower cost of only going with one hard drive won out on this build.

Optical Drives - We went with two drives here: the LITE-ON 22X DVD±R DVD Burner and the LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader With the price of Blu-Ray burners still sky-high, the combination DVD burner and Blu-Ray reader fits the bill for users on a tight budget.

Computer Case - We didn't suggest a power supply, because this case comes with a 550Watt supply: Broadway Com Corp 939PL-BLACK Computer Case.

Total Estimated Price: $627.93

If you have a question, send it along to lordkat@gmail.com, and I'll be glad to answer it!

Be safe,
Jason