I'll go with the $950 + $150 to pay a local store(they may well charge less)
It'll get you a nice spec, nicer than a $1100 laptop atleast, also here's a guide for the building of a PC:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/274745-31-step-step-guide-building
This build for paying local store:
PCPartPicker part list /
Price breakdown by merchant /
Benchmarks
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.68 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.49 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($319.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $961.08
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-22 16:14 EDT-0400)
I'll talk you through each part in brief.
Processor > Very quick processor that can easily handle DayZ but cannot overclock and has no integrated graphics(you don't need those to game, some people just like to overclock and the integrated graphics is cancelled by the GTX 770)
Motherbord > Basic but can handle your needs perfect.
RAM > 8GB 1600mhz basically the standard gaming RAM
HDD > 1TB Hard disk drive, standard stuff on a modern PC.
Case > Quality case for the price
Power Supply > Good quality and enough for your system
CD drive > Standard
OS > Windows 7 as requested
Here's the do it yourself build:
PCPartPicker part list /
Price breakdown by merchant /
Benchmarks
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.68 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.49 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($489.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1131.08
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-22 16:18 EDT-0400)
$30 over but the main difference is the Graphics card.
Here's some benchmarks: GTX 770 VS 780: http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1037?vs=1036