Viable Gaming Build?

Hello,

I am a student and I'm looking to upgrade my 4-5 year old computer which has held strong up until now. Currently I'm running a dual core 3.6 ghz processor with a GT 520 and 6gB RAM in it. It's a Lenovo prebuilt and I've put some parts in it as well.

My budget is around 700-800 dollars (the lower preferred) and I've made 2 build online.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nFMB99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nFMB99/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($78.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($107.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($19.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($80.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.75 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $614.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available


PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YPH6Lk
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YPH6Lk/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($164.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($78.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($124.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($123.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($19.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($80.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $742.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

I live in Canada, so I am not too sure how many of these will turn out for shipping costs and what not, so I went safe and had the prices a little bit lower.

I intend to install Windows 7 (or 8 if I can get my hands on a copy) through USB.

My questions are:

Are these builds good (I do not plan to expect to play full graphics on graphic intensive games for the next 4 years - but moderate graphics in the future and high graphics now)?

Will this last?

Will all the parts fit? My case seems to not have front USB which could be an issue, if it is, any suggestions?

Is the graphics card I've chosen really that good? I've read reviews on it and it seems to be good, however usually over priced (on PCbuilder it was lower than I had expected). Also, the higher end graphics cards that seem to be above this one are much too far out of my price range, so I feel that this would be a good option, especially because it has better performance than the regular 750 version.

I don't expect prices to be completely accurate, as I'm in Canada, and many of them include mail-in rebates (which to be honest I would not mind doing to save that extra $60-80.

Let me know what you think and if this helped you out then great!

Will