$1000, First Time PC Gamer

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1

I'm new to the whole PC building thing, but I don't think it's going to be worth my time to invest in console gaming for at least the first one or two years of the next generation. I may just start flip flopping between console and PC for each generation. I set my bar at around $1000 for this build and this is what I came up with. The benchmarks all fall at the high/good end but seeing as I'm new to this business I'm not sure just how good the performance will really be. I'm willing to be flexible, but I don't want anything that ups the price significantly added on. One clearly superior part that is roughly $20-$30 more is about all I would be willing to add as far price is concerned. I don't want to wait too long unless it's certain that a price is going to drop, that means no Intel is supposedly doing blah blah blah in N number of weeks. Of course, cheaper better performing options and any insight into exactly how well this thing is going to run would be much appreciated.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/weje

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/weje/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/weje/benchmarks/

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor 
  • Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard 
  • Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory 
  • Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk 
  • Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  
  • Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card 
  • Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case 
  • Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 

Any insight into the progress of Steam's move to Linux would be great as well, the games list looks real short but I haven't been keeping up with it. I'd love not to spend almost $100 on an OS.

  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) 
2

I would suggest to save on operating system and get win 8. Then with the money left over I would invest into a decent sound card. I would get the best ASUS Xonar sound card you can possibly get for however much money you have left. Also If you can find an i5 2500k for less than the 3570k it performs almost as well and can overclock better unless you get a dud chip.

3

It looks like a perfect build personly I would say the 3570k is better then the 2500k even though it does not overclock as high and I like my windows 7 pro 64bit better then windows 8 for desktop use.  On a side not may I suggest the windowed version of you case it my favorite case out there then you can see your expensive components lol

4

I think you should upgrade to 16 GB of RAM only because it's just about $40 more from what I've seen. I have that case and It is amazing, plenty of room, cooling options, ect. and if the start menu is holding you back form windows 8 you can install one very easily, and it has faster boot times ect. (I thought the same thing about it and now I've come to love it!) And you might want to check out the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti FTW Signature 2 Edition GPU, its amazing and EVGA is a really solid company. :) 

5

make sure its speedy ram too, the extra speed never hurts if your gaming

6

looks good to me if you could id change the 128 SSD to a 250GB as iv found after i bought my 128 that it filled up VERY fast but thats just if your budget can afford it