New Rig Build Evaluation - Birthday Present to Self!

[RIPOldYeller]

Hi everyone! It's my birthday today and in celebration I'm Building a new rig! Any suggestions for alternative parts that keeps me in this price range or that are significant upgrades for just a bit more money would be appreciated. This PC will be used almost exclusively for playing games. Unfortunately I am not allowed to post links yet, so sorry about that. I will be buying everything from newegg unless there is a significant price differance somewhere else. Thanks in advance everyone!

The Build:

$180 - Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80637i53350P
$140 - ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
$210 - XFX Double D FX-787A-CDFC Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
$65 - COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-550-PCAR-E3 550W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply
$40 - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel
$110 - SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$70 - Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
$70 - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
$60 - COOLER MASTER HAF series RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$20 - ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM[/INDENT]
__________________________________

$965 - Grand Total

[tielknight]

Budget? What games and what settings would you like to play at? Do you need any peripherals(mouse/keyboard/monitor)? Do you need a OS? Do you play WoW alot? Do you want to overclock?

Answer those and we got a MUCH better idea of what examples to give to you.

[RIPOldYeller]

Budget- Around $1000 as listed in OP. Settings? Max that the hardware can run with good frame rate obviously. Peripherals? Nope. Don't need an OS either. I do not intend to overclock at the moment, but am not completely opposed to the idea. As far as the rig itself it will be primarily a gaming machine playing games in general. Games I've played recently: Wow, Borderlands 2, Skyrim, Diablo III, Counter Strike: GO, Path of Exile, League of Legends. I wouldn't rule any games out going into the future, but right now I am primarily playing wow, poe, and league of legends, which I know do not require massive hardware to run. Any further advice appreciated. Basically looking to build the best general performance gaming machine for under $1000

[Deleted]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($238.32 @ TigerDirect Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($54.99 @ Canada Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($104.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.00 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($110.40 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($224.99 @ NCIX)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Canada Computers)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Canada Computers)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($15.79 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $970.44
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-06 11:46 EDT-0400)

Comes to $1020 Canadian before rebates, but you get an oveclockable CPU, better quality GPU and a good quality PSU. Not much of it is from NewEgg, but there ya go.

[chazus]

For just a smidge over a grand, you can move that to a 4670K, and a geforce 760. I feel like that's worth the extra $50, however the build tenangrychickens posted is a solid pick if that price is firm.

[RIPOldYeller]

Thanks for the suggestions! I was not aware of that website you listed. I will take a look at everything listed. Thanks again!