1000 dollar build soon

Approximate Purchase Date: Within 2 weeks, probably less

Budget Range: 1000ish, lower is better, no more than 1100

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Internet, Word Processing (the big power user in the bunch )

Are you buying a monitor: No



Parts to Upgrade: I am not reusing anything, with one exception. A friend gave me a brand new 60gb SSD that I want to put my OS and such on. I still want a big spinning disk.

Do you need to buy OS: No. My school has a upgraded subscription to Microsoft Dreamspark and so I get access to all their OSs for at least 4 more years.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg mostly, will do others as long as they are reliable and cheaper.
Location: Wilsonville, OR. I have a frys nearby, but there isn't a Microcenter even close.

Parts Preferences:I have gone AMD for my first build, and so I am thinking Intel for this one.

Overclocking: In the future.

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe yes, Maybe no.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1280x1024- I hope to move up to 1920x1080 or something similar in the near future.

Additional Comments: Games will be many past titles (Mass Effect, the Fallout series, ect. I have been out of the loop for a while). I would like to be able to play most games that come out in the next 3-4 years. I do not care about graphical quality near so much as I care about longevity.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Because my old computer cost 450 bucks about 4 years ago and only gotten a marginally better graphics card since then, I went with 32 bit windows XP so i'm limited to 3.25 Gb of RAM etc.

A little backstory- I built the computer I am typing this on a few years ago for as little as possible. It had a HD 4650 and still has an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+. It still works pretty well. However, I have had a rather large influx of cash recently and I want to upgrade. There are a few things I am not asking for help deciding on.

For example, I will be going with an i5 3570K or whatever comparable processor Haswell brings to bear. However, I would really appreciate a bit of help on the
graphics especially, because I am not sure what I need.

Notes:
1. I am not particular to AMD or Nvidia, but if the race is even in all other respects I will go with Nvidia because it seems like an eventual SLI would be slightly less of a hassle than Crossfire. However, this is the least of my deciding factors.
2. There are a few pieces of my build that I am not interested in changing. The main example of this is the case. I like it, and so I'm buying it.
3. I know you want to get rid of the wireless, but it is the only option and our internet is fast enough that it really doesn't bother me. The 50ish ping i normally get doesn't bother me.
4. I am significantly more interested in raw performance than most other things. I sure don't care if everything is perfect as long as it all works and pumps out the frames. I am also willing to do a little extra work to save some dough.

Without any further ado, here is the build.

Intel Core i5-3570K-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 - $220

NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Newegg Exclusive Black Finish w/Orange Trim Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146073 =$120

APEVIA ATX-AQ700W-BK 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148040 -$65

Rosewill RNX-N300X IEEE 802.11b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 PCI Wireless Adapter (2T3R) Up to 300Mbps Wireless Download Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, WPA PSK and WPA2 PSK (TKIP and AES) Vista/Win7-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166051 -$25

ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837 -$140

Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G - OEM-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007 -$8

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314- $65

Also included- a 1TB HDD from either WD Caviar Blue or Seagate-80

A DVD reader/writer -$20

What's left? Graphics, of course!

My original plan was to do a 650ti boost 2gb SLI because of the reviews I had read about how well they did together. Then the GTX 770 rocked my world. I would love one, but it is a bit out of ye olde budget.
Possibilities
-A 7950- because of the amazing overclockability
-A 670 when they come down in price
-A 760ti, depending on what performance numbers it is getting.
-??? something I haven't thought of?

I would like to go with the most powerful card possible because I am hoping not to touch this build for several years. I am a broke college student and this particular influx of cash will not come again soon, I think. We have to make due with what we have, don't we?

Thanks all for the help. I have spend many hours at this and I am still having trouble figuring out what I should be doing.

Ehhh , If OCing isn't your hobby and you will do it for good performance , Instead leave it and get a Xeon Rig like this -

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($102.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: Intel 62205ANHMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1092.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-02 02:39 EDT-0400)

Thanks very much. I like the 7950. Funny enough, this was the one I chose not that long ago a the beginning of this whole researching process.