A little direction, much appreciated!

[dfounds]

Looking for a gaming PC, here are my prefered specs

Preferably Quadcore, will settle for dual.
4 gig ram
HD Not very important so i'll say 160gb, preferably 250.
Windows 7
& Looks are very important!

Im not looking to spend more than 450$. Forgive me if this is lowball. Im not exactly a techpro or a millionare.

Im not sure where to get started.

1. Ive considered buying a PC with the spec's i like and OS already installed then transfering it into a nice case, (since most of the PC's i see on ebay with these specs/price are ugly) However, Im kind of reluctant to do any hardware mods as i have basic building knowledge, the most ive ever done is replace drives.

2. I assume this price may be achievable if i were to build it myself. I can use a screwdriver and read a manual. Does it take any more than that? My concerns are things not fitting, or parts not being compatible. Also buying windows will almost ensure my preferred price to be unreachable, which is another reason #1 appealed to me.

3. I could wait around for a used deal to pop up on ebay or craigslist, which could be never.

Am i asking for too much? I've seen a few sell for less this price.
Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[jasonalwaysready]

buying a prebuilt machine with windows on it isnt going to save you money. theyll just choose cheaper parts elsewhere.

i think your pricepoint is a little low. you may need to just save for longer. you can build a computer for that price easy enough, but it might be difficult to consider it a gaming computer (a dual core cpu with a 5770 gpu). what games are you playing or want to play?

 

[MyGodAL3X]

the 5770 is ok for lower end gaming, if you give us an idea of what games you want to play then we could help more

 

[dfounds]

I play a low quality mmo that runs smooth on a single core with 1gb of ram. What im asking for is more than enough to play my games, I guess I don't NEED quad core but I like the way it rolls off the tongue, I think im gonna try and put a build together on newegg ask we'll take it from there.