First time Build - $1000 Gaming PC

Approximate Purchase Date: In a week

Budget Range: Around $1000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Running applications on 2 -3 VMs

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers, OS)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com but not particular

Country: USA

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Hey Guys,

I came up with the following build of after searching through newegg.com and comparing reviews with other websites. I am hoping that you can help me finalize/ tweak this build or suggest any equally good "cheaper" alternatives. I am not very sure about the processor I have chosen since it did not have as many reviews as some of the older processors. Also I am confused about the cooling aspect, please help me understand if the cooling (i.e number of fans with the case and the one extra) is going to be enough now and for future Video/ RAM upgrades. Any suggestions on shaving off a few extra bucks without sacrificing performance would be really great


SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 100315L Video Card with Eyefinity -- $134.99

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory -- $54.99

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P ATX Intel Motherboard -- $179.99

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS -- $16.99

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -- $119.99

Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 Quad-Core Processor -- $319.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible -- $36.99

Corsair Carbide Series 400R Graphite grey and black Gaming Case -- $99.99

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom -- $74.99

Grand Total: $1,038.91

Thanks a lot for all your help in advance;

Jai