Newcomer building a PC (around $1,000)

[ebs39]

I've recently made up my mind that I am going to build a decent gaming PC. I am most certainly a newbie at this and would like advice from the community.

I would like my build to be somewhere around $1,000 (a little higher and lower is fine). I have been doing some preliminary research into prices and have found that AMD sells the cheaper GPUs. I have also found that Intel is very popular for CPUs. I have no idea where to look for PSUs, hard drives, motherboards and the like.

So please, have at it. Any and all recommendations will be very helpful to me.

Thanks!

 

[mrdowntownkiller]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($31.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($98.03 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($55.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1013.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-13 23:19 EST-0500)

 

[boulbox]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme6 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3R 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($61.38 @ Amazon)
Storage: Verbatim 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($349.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1055.29
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-13 23:49 EST-0500)

get the asrock extreme6 at newegg instead, comes with free ram