Build me a PC good enough for the next 3yrs for under $600

[avg1joe]

I have fun looking around on pricewatch.com but have never bought anything from the vendors there. I was looking at this system under desktops with no os:
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Phenom x6 1055t
6gb ddr3 3x2gb for triple channel
500gb
9400gt 1gb
dl dvd
650w psu
The way I customized it came up to $620 but you could tweak it way down (or up). The system started out at about $340 before I started customizing it.

Has anyone done business with ascendtech? I'm always skeptical of the companies that start you off with a low system price and give you the option of customizing it.

 

[mdram]

my preference is always a local shop for parts.
its easier to echange if you get somehting bad.
and yes you get new bad parts from anyone
some ram can be picky and not work with certain boards, hd's get bumped during shipping, ect
ive built a decent relation with one local shop and get no questions anymore on bad parts.
you pay a little bit more, but its worth it for the service

 

[Kevinw]

Is this cheap enough for you
AMD Complete DIY Kit - Asus Mobo, AMD Phenom X3 CPU, CPU Cooler, 2GB DDR2 RAM, ATI Radeon HD 4350, 1TB Seagate HDD, 22X DVD-Writer, PowerUp ATX Case, 400W PSU, Keyboard, Mouse at TigerDirect.com

I would bump the memory up though for an extra 50.
I agree with Dell outlets if you don't feel like putting one together I got this for about 400.00 last April

Dell Inspiron 546s

AMD Athlon II X3 400E (2.2GHz, 1.5MB)
6 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (4 DIMMs)
640 GB SATA Hard Drive
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
MSI R4550-MD1GH Radeon HD 4550 1GB 64-bit GDDR3
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit