April 2013 gamer budget build

My 7870 fits in to my prodigy mini case. You'll have no issue with that. The stock cooler will be fine unless you overclock. You can always swap it later on if you want as well.

Why put all that money into a gaming computer and bottle neck your processor so badly. Go with the 3570k

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/697?vs=701 Here are some benchmarks. If you were building a computer just to browse, or for basic computing i would agree with amd here but for gaming there processors are lacking extrememly.

My concern is the Apevia psu. The overall review rating looks ok, but lots of 1 star ratings. I think you'll be better off with a Corsair CX600. Same money but corsair has a much better rep in psu.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PmhF
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PmhF/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PmhF/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($164.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($42.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill Challenger-U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($5.01 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan ($5.01 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS29 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS248H-P 24.0" Monitor ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Thermaltake MO-TRN006DT Wired Laser Mouse ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Other: Aluratek AKB505u keyboard ($45.00)
Other: Fancy Pants Blue Lights Mousepad estimate ($15.00)
Total: $1227.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-08 18:09 EDT-0400)

This build leaves a good amount of money for your audio equipment which I suggest you look into other things. I can tell you the headset is lacking and you can get far better for the price. The speakers I can't say for certain I don't deal with speakers. Best place to go is head over to Head-Fi forums and post there it's filled with audiophiles just tell them what you want it for and they help you out from there. Generally just tell them intent of use (gaming, music and if so what genre, or sound you want), price, budget anything else you can think of. Trust me you don't know what you've been missing out on. I spent around $70 on my setup Superlux 668b and Xonar DG sound card and it sound phenominal, and has blown away everything I heard in audio quality (though due to pleather ear pads your ears sweat so I need to pick up velour pads to improve long listening comfort).

You have a pci-e 2.0 slot for your GPU there is enough cash to upgrade the board to something with a 3.0 slot if you want but I didn't bother as it won't give you any performance increase and to use the combo savings.

You really need an aftermarket tower heatsink to provide proper airflow direction and cooling if your overclocking, doing it on stock will get you no where.

If you were going for stock settings and not OC, I put in an i5 instead of AMD it will just give you performance stock (and OC, but amd is cheaper and can do well OC).