Need help building a new tower.

Apologies. I didn't see the format:

Approximate Purchase Date: fairly soon, no rush


Budget Range: $1000 + 100


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming


Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No preference


Country of Origin: No preference


Parts Preferences: No preference


Overclocking: Maybe


SLI or Crossfire: Maybe


Monitor Resolution: 1600x1200 to 1920x1200


Additional Comments: I'm tired of my crap-laptop, and i'm ready for a major overhaul!

Sorry for the double post!

Can you struggle with your craptop a bit longer? Like 2-6 months? Intel is fixing their Sandy Bridge chipset, and AMD will be releasing their next gen CPU within 6 months or so.

If you can hold off, I recommend waiting so that you have 2 strong choices, instead of comparing next gen vs. previous gen.

Or worst case, old gen vs. old gen.

I suppose I can wait a while. I mean, it doesn't have to be top of the line by any means, but something that can get the job done, and done well. If the upgrades are worth the wait and the price, then I can deal with it. I just want something so that I can stop lagging on the lowest settings (i.e. now, on team fortress even). 6 months is a bit of a wait though.

If you wait 2-3 more weeks all the P67 boards will be available. Some are already in stock on newegg....they are starting to trickle in daily.

This build includes a factory o/c gtx 560 with the option to add another for SLI.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $79.99 - $69.99 after mail-in rebate FREE SHIPPING
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $99.99 FREE SHIPPING
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-P67-EX4&tit... $153.99
ASRock P67 Extreme4 LGA1155/ Intel P67/ DDR3/ Quad SLI & Quad CrossFireX/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard - P67 EXTREME4

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $229.99 FREE SHIPPING
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $49.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL

http://www.amazon.com/Lite--LightScribe-Layer-Drive-IHA... $22.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98 - Retail (Black)

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-N560GTX-Twin-Frozr-IIOC/dp/B0... $249.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
MSI GeForce GTX 560 1 GB DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x 16 Graphics Card N560GTX Ti Twin Frozr IIOC

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite... Combo Price: $149.98 FREE SHIPPING
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

Total: $1,036.91 *not including shipping, rebates, etc...


http://www.asrock.com/news/events/201102ex/warranty.htm... <----- Look for the B3 Stepping Chipset Logo/Sticker on the new boards

http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/article/1000116#axzz1... <---Review on that Asrock motherboard after the latest bios update

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1098/pg2/asrock-e... <---Review on that Asrock motherboard after the latest bios update

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4080/welcome-to-sandy-bri... <--- Review before the latest bios...and it still smoked the Asus and Gigabyte boards  

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P67%20Extre... <----- ASRock P67 Extreme4 Motherboard

Toms has their own "system builder marathons" periodically and they build machines at various price points. You could read these and see what components they chose for their builds, and how it worked out for them. Sometimes they discover that what they chose didn't work so well, and this is also good information. This is the most recent one, but you could search over the past year or so for previous ones:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-a-pc-core-i3-...

Except for the case (older model, with crappy cable management), Why_Me's build looks good. I also have had very good results from ASRock.
It will be hard to fit a SSD into your budget. If your only interest is gaming, the sacrifices on the GPU (down to a GTX460) and likely other areas probably wouldn't be worth it. I say that reluctantly, as I won't build for myself any more without including a SSD, but that's just how it is. In your case, considering what you have now, you may consider such sacrifices entirely acceptable.
Check out Rosewill's gaming cases. They have quiet fans, and are similar to the Coolermaster in many ways. In my experience, Coolermaster cases are likely to have minor, mostly fixable quality issues, but Rosewill will not. I have a CM690 myself, and will probably toss it when I rebuild in the next couple of months. The panels aren't quite aligned right, and cable management is poor. The CM690 II Advanced looks nice, but being a Coolermaster, I'm reluctant to risk more quality problems. Check out the Rosewill Challenger for $55 shipped: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... or the Blackhawk for $110 shipped: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I will definitely utilize this information and see what I can put together ultimately from everyone's suggestions. I greatly appreciate the help! I wouldn't quite know where to begin in constructing one myself, so this is excellent information.