Need upgrade advice, ~$1000 budget.

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

Hi, sorry for having to bother y'all with this, here is what my current PC looks like.

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3
GPU: Gigabyte Geforce GTX560
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Case: BitFenix Shinobi Window Black Steel
Power Supply: Antec 750w Truepower Atx Power Supply
Optical Drive: Internal DVD Writer (SH-222AB)

I tried to do this myself over pcpartpicker but half of these parts don't show up on there anymore and I'm not too sure of how accurate the build would have been if I were to substitute. (I'm still pretty new at shopping for parts.)

I'm looking to upgrade the performance of my PC, within games specifically. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to what I should purchase next.

Also, if any of this is relevant:
I'd prefer to run at 1920x1080 on a single monitor (but I'm considering getting a second).
I'm in Australia.
The games I tend to play are usually big AAA dealies like Skyrim, Deus Ex: HR, Witcher 2 etc.
I'm running Windows 7.

[Deleted]

ur cpu is more than fine. if u dont already have, overclock it to a nice ~4.3 -4.5 ghz with the cooler i put in my suggestions below (if u dont already have a good aftermarket cooler). only upgrade i see that is needed is a new gpu. i would go with the r 290, but wait another 1-2 weeks until the non reference coolers are released.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.00 @ CPL Online)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card ($499.00 @ Scorptec)
Total: $587.00
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-06 15:46 EST+1100)

u could also consider getting a bigger ssd, but thats not necessary at all.

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

Thanks, this is really helpful.

u could also consider getting a bigger ssd, but thats not necessary at all.

Oh, I definitely am. At the moment, all I've got on the SSD is my OS it still only has about 2gb of space remaining.

but wait another 1-2 weeks until the non reference coolers are released.

Sorry, do you mind explaining what you mean by that?

[Cyrops]

Sorry, do you mind explaining what you mean by that?

He means the R9 290 card, they have 'stock' coolers which are 'so-so'. You need to wait a few weeks so that companies like Asus/Gigabyte/Msi/etc. release cards with their own coolers and heatsinks.

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

He means the R9 290 card, they have 'stock' coolers which are 'so-so'. You need to wait a few weeks so that companies like Asus/Gigabyte/Msi/etc. release cards with their own coolers and heatsinks.

Makes sense, thanks.

[Deleted]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X40 98.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($105.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($189.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Video Card ($679.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $973.00
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-06 23:35 EST+1100)

The GPU is a placeholder for now - either exchange it for an EVGA GTX780 Superclocked ACX or for an after-market R9-290. The cooler is so you can overclock the CPU to around 4.6-4.8, depedning on the silicon lottery, which should be fine until DDR4 becomes affordable for consumers.