What GPU should I get for my first build?

[epicbobman52]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: within the month

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming, recording, light editing, HD movies/blue ray

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: Intel HD 3000 ( im using it temporarily), seasonic 650 watt

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS: Biostar TZ77XE4, 8 GB DDR3 1333, Intel i5 2500K O.C. to 4Ghz

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg, but im open to anything

PARTS PREFERENCES: Ive had good experiences with nvidia, but i want to go with ATI/AMD because of price

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: eventually ill throw in a 2nd card.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 ( 39" LCD TV)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I want to run as much eye candy as possible ( AA, hi- res textures, ect), Im going to be playing Crysis 1, 2, and warhead, battlefeild 3, and minecraft ( with all the shader mods, and 512 bit texture packs) my budget is 300 ( 320 AT MOST).

I was thinking of getting an GD 7870 for 260 and spending the extra 40 on some better CPU cooling ( i have some cheap heat sink my friend gave me, it works for my 4.0 OC but I want to get my CPU to 4.5 or even 5).

Thanks for reding

 

[devilofdeaths]

get the 7950 if you play crysis more or get 660Ti if you play bf3 a lot but the 2500k isn't possible to get to even 5Ghz on a $40 cooler just get the better video card because if you do overclock the cpu you will only see a 3-5fps difference but if you get the 7950 or 660Ti over the 7870 you will see a 15fps difference

 

[diec4st]

7950 huge overclocking headroom and that Sapphire cooler is great.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

 

[jemm]

^ +

The HD 7950 is your best choice!

For $289.99 after $20.00 rebate (free shipping) you can get SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

Then get a better cooler Hyper 212 EVO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

 

[epicbobman52]

Thanks everyone, and I know the 5Ghz isint possible on a 40$ cooler, I just ment that 5Ghz is one of my goals ( Im going to invest in a water cooling loop later on...)