[quote name='Porygon']Hi, trying to help a friend who wants to put together a gaming PC under a budget. We were considering going with this build in the OP:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10287205[/QUOTE]
[quote name='Porygon']Is there anything in general that should be known about this hardware? (I would have done AMD vs. Intel, but there was no AMD linked in the OP. So I guess for the budget we'd probably need to go wit this?)[/QUOTE]
On the low budget CPUs, I think AMD and Intel are head to head in terms of price and power, so you can swing both ways. Socket 775 is at the end of its life in terms of future support, but there are still plenty of powerful 775 CPUs that would be sufficient for many users for another 3 to 4 years.
[quote name='Porygon']How well would this run TF2/L4D.[/QUOTE]
Probably high details @ 1680x1050. It will run those games well.
[quote name='Porygon']Would this likely be good enough for L4D2?[/QUOTE]
Probably the same, L4D2 runs on the old HL2 engine as well.
[quote name='Porygon']What are the highest-end games it can run on the lowest possible settings?[/QUOTE]
Any game, including Crysis, but why torture yourself with low details? It should run the upcoming Diablo III and SC2 too, maybe at medium details.
[quote name='Porygon']How upgradable is this machine?[/QUOTE]
For CPU, you can upgrade to a Quad core in the future, like the Q9550. For video card, you can basically install any video card at your disposal, 4890, GTX 275, etc. You can always replace the power supply to something more efficient and with more wattage. You won't be able to upgrade the memory very much, however, but 4GB is plenty enough.
[quote name='Porygon']What changes should be made to let the upgrade process go smoother down the line?[/QUOTE]
Not much you can do with that budget. Maybe get a full ATX motherboard
such as this instead of a micro ATX, but that's strictly for spacing and expanding issues (more available SATA ports, more expansion slots) than functionality. Of course, that'll also mean you have to pay more.