Looking for 1000$ gaming PC

[dave513271]

Hey everyone, Im planning on building a new pc (1st time!). I'm a bit green when it comes to this so any help is appreciated.

Approximate Purchase Date: This week if possible

Budget Range: around 1000$... I have a bit of leeway so im willing to go over.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, surfing the internet then movies

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, headphones, have a wifi network/router set up at home

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country: United States

Parts Preferences: Im pretty open here since im not sure of the differences between brands

Overclocking: Most likely no.

SLI or Crossfire: maybe, im guessing that I wont need a dual vidcard setup with a 1000$ system?

Monitor Resolution: 1024x768

Additional Comments: just looking for a solid all around build for a gaming centric computer thats forgiving when it comes to putting it together. Since it's my first attempt at building a comp is there anything that I should lean towards when getting components (brand type, specific hardware, tools) to make this smoother?

 

[Silvune]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3550 3.3GHz ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 CAS9 1.5V BLS2KIT4G3D1609DS1S00 ($44.99 @ B&H)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7850 2GB HD7850-DC2-2GD5 ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ($58.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer HCG-620M ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($24.97 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $953.89
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-05-14 19:15 EDT-0400)

You are correct that you won't need dual video cards, but this is because your resolution is relatively low.
I can't say that I think that brand makes much of a difference when it comes to ease of assembly.
Case choice is pretty important to ease of assembly though. TBH I haven't put that much thought into this yet. That is because it's late here ATM and I'm tired. However Corsair always seem to be praised for their ease of assembly. Lian Li cases generally have the motherboard stand-offs pre-installed, so they're another brand I'd look at for easy cases.
I'm not saying that it's not easy to build in the Antec Three Hundred Two though. See what this review says about it:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5462/antec-three-hundred-two-stay-cool-budget-enthusiasts

 

[adgjlsfhk]

I would go with a Cooler master elite 430. It is $35 and is pretty easy to put together a system in (I recently put together my first PC with it. Also you should get an H77 motherboard for an I5-3550. Here is one for $80.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138358