I've been without a computer for a little over a month now. Just replacing the power supply could've solved the problem easily, but I figured that there could not have been a better time for me to get a new computer. Or more specifically, build one.  
 
Thanks to the handy PC Build thread on the forums here (much appreciation again, Geno), I went with the $600 build to start, and over the past few weeks went through different vendors until I had all the parts I needed. My dad is the VP of a computer store, so he was able to find what we needed, while having to contend with whatever shipping cost to Alaska there was, since "free shipping" on Newegg doesn't apply up here.  
 
I spent about 3 and a half hours yesterday with one of my dad's coworkers and put together my brand new machine. It was very fun, though I was a bit nervous at the start because of the whole risk of frying the motherboard from ESD. That didn't become a problem at all since I was constantly moving and hold parts of the case, so that kept me grounded. Everything just went right into place. 
 
The final specs for my computer are close to the original suggested build on the PC Build thread, but with some different brands and a slightly different motherboard. Tech wise, it's pretty much what I had in mind from the start. 
 
Motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD/USB3
Processor: AMD Athlon II X4 640
Video Card: Visiontek 1GB Radeon HD 6850
RAM: Kingston 4GB (2GB X 2) DDR3 Memory
Power Supply: Antec 550W Continuous Power
Hard Drive: Western Digital 500GB SATA
Disc Drive: Sony 24X SATA DVD Burner
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5

OS: Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium 

 
The above components and OS are the only things new. My monitor, mouse, and keyboard are all the same from my last computer and work well. 

Also, I have my old computer's hard drive, as I have some important files on there like my music and Touhou Project games. I've yet to transfer them over to the new HDD, but whether or not I can keep myself from playing games on Steam for just a little bit, I'll move them over to the 500GB Hard Drive and clear the rest of the junk off the old one. 
 
And speaking of Steam, it feels so, so good to it back. I've already reinstalled Half Life 2 and Beat Hazard, and just installed Super Meat Boy and Poker Night at the Inventory (which I have yet to play as of this writing). I went ahead and put HL2 at highest video settings for everything, and motion blur just because I could. Looks so much better, running it at a native resolution of 1280 x 1024 with high texture quality and 8x MSAA. And running at a smooth, fast framerate. Same for Beat Hazard, which doesn't have the video options like Half Life, but it also runs at a fast framerate as well. 

 
And I finally got to playing Super Meat Boy. I was originally bummed that I wouldn't get my computer built last weekend in time for the game, but after hearing the problems people were having, kinda glad I ended up waiting. Runs very solid, and I have installed Motioninjoy for my PS3 controller, letting me use it in place of 360 controller wherever a game supports it (so this applies to Beat Hazard as well). 
 
Gonna get to playing some Poker Night soon, but man, I am just so happy to finally have a computer again, an even better one. For an upper midend build, I am very impressed. 

 
Life is beautiful.

I've been without a computer for a little over a month now. Just replacing the power supply could've solved the problem easily, but I figured that there could not have been a better time for me to get a new computer. Or more specifically, build one.  
 
Thanks to the handy PC Build thread on the forums here (much appreciation again, Geno), I went with the $600 build to start, and over the past few weeks went through different vendors until I had all the parts I needed. My dad is the VP of a computer store, so he was able to find what we needed, while having to contend with whatever shipping cost to Alaska there was, since "free shipping" on Newegg doesn't apply up here.  
 
I spent about 3 and a half hours yesterday with one of my dad's coworkers and put together my brand new machine. It was very fun, though I was a bit nervous at the start because of the whole risk of frying the motherboard from ESD. That didn't become a problem at all since I was constantly moving and hold parts of the case, so that kept me grounded. Everything just went right into place. 
 
The final specs for my computer are close to the original suggested build on the PC Build thread, but with some different brands and a slightly different motherboard. Tech wise, it's pretty much what I had in mind from the start. 
 
Motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD/USB3
Processor: AMD Athlon II X4 640
Video Card: Visiontek 1GB Radeon HD 6850
RAM: Kingston 4GB (2GB X 2) DDR3 Memory
Power Supply: Antec 550W Continuous Power
Hard Drive: Western Digital 500GB SATA
Disc Drive: Sony 24X SATA DVD Burner
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5

OS: Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium 

 
The above components and OS are the only things new. My monitor, mouse, and keyboard are all the same from my last computer and work well. 

Also, I have my old computer's hard drive, as I have some important files on there like my music and Touhou Project games. I've yet to transfer them over to the new HDD, but whether or not I can keep myself from playing games on Steam for just a little bit, I'll move them over to the 500GB Hard Drive and clear the rest of the junk off the old one. 
 
And speaking of Steam, it feels so, so good to it back. I've already reinstalled Half Life 2 and Beat Hazard, and just installed Super Meat Boy and Poker Night at the Inventory (which I have yet to play as of this writing). I went ahead and put HL2 at highest video settings for everything, and motion blur just because I could. Looks so much better, running it at a native resolution of 1280 x 1024 with high texture quality and 8x MSAA. And running at a smooth, fast framerate. Same for Beat Hazard, which doesn't have the video options like Half Life, but it also runs at a fast framerate as well. 

 
And I finally got to playing Super Meat Boy. I was originally bummed that I wouldn't get my computer built last weekend in time for the game, but after hearing the problems people were having, kinda glad I ended up waiting. Runs very solid, and I have installed Motioninjoy for my PS3 controller, letting me use it in place of 360 controller wherever a game supports it (so this applies to Beat Hazard as well). 
 
Gonna get to playing some Poker Night soon, but man, I am just so happy to finally have a computer again, an even better one. For an upper midend build, I am very impressed. 

 
Life is beautiful.

Excellent choices. People may think down on the AMD CPU you chose, but who cares if it works fine right? Have fun dude.

Welcome back.

It's time to get a new X1080p or higher monitor.

Just spotted this. It's a very similar set up to my own, I like Kingston RAM, the HyperX performs really well and looks great too.
 
Graphics card! So jealous, could only afford a 5770 myself.
 
Enjoy.

In the future, you can add another 6850 in crossfire.  6850s in crossfire scale very well in most games (as long as your drivers and profiles behave).