Is this a good computer build for around $500?

Don't get the Thermaltake PSU. I hear terrible things about it (it's the TR2 series and those are manufactured by HEC, a company that makes shit PSUs) and mine personally broke (albeit after 3 years of use). Get a Corsair equivalent. It will be more expensive but will be more reliable and use less power.

You can go even cheaper with G Skill ram I think. EDIT: I researched and I apparently lied. Go with what you got.

As for the GPU, you can get a 650 Ti Boost here. It's better.

As for the Case, your case is fine but I hear good things about the Cooler Master HAF series. The problem is, are you willing to drop another $10?

what games are you going to play on it? and what's your budget?

If it were me I would get a higher powered processor. I right now have a 2.2 Ghz Dual core and it holds back more games than any other part of my computer and my graphics card is only a 460GTse.

buy a western digital caviar blue WD10-EZEX 1 TB harddrive for 59.99 usd

MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard has an onboard USB 3.0 header, but the Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case does not have front panel USB 3.0 ports

To salvage parts is always a good idea when building but that means that your old PC will be unusable. It's nice having more PCs.

I'd recommend getting an i5 processor. It'll take a chunk out of your budget, but if you have a Microcenter available you can walk in, get an i5-3570k + motherboard and get the lowest possible price on the processor + $40 off any motherboard you pick.

I'm going to say something somewhat counter-intuitive here, but you don't need a Z77 chipset on the motherboard. I don't think you're going to be trying to overclock, so why go Z77 when you can go H77 and save a few bucks in the process?

The CPU and the video card are going to be your two biggest bottlenecks in a PC build. Get the best possible of each of those or get the best CPU you can afford and skimp on the video card until you can afford a decent one.

One of the earlier repliers mentioned the USB 3.0 thing. That's going to be important down the line--if you are going to have this PC for a few years find a proper case that will allow you to utilize a front USB 3.0 port. Who wants to have to plug in their thumb drive in the back of their PC?!?

Bump for 2 hours left on hidey giveaway.