$1000 Machine

[phillylol]

Approximate Purchase Date: 1 week

Budget Range: $1000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, video watching, internet surfing

Parts Not Required: monitor, mouse keyboard

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: none

Overclocking: no

SLI or Crossfire: no

Monitor Resolution: 1080p
Additional Comments: I have both $1000 build and $800 build for two friends of mine. Just clarifying for anyone thinking that im double posting for no reason.

 

[phillylol]

Also, we are first time builders so any help would be nice.

 

[thornempire]

Hi, always glad to help a first timer,
I don't have exact prices, but heres a rough guide to a build for around 800-1000usd
mobo: gigabyte z77 ud3 or gigabyte z68 ud3
ram: any generic ram without heatsinks, the ones with heatsinks dont provide any noticeable benefit since ram isnt that hot. However, look at the well known brands, such as Adata, Kingston, Corsair, etc.
cpu: i5-2400 or 2500 is the best price/performance wise, and it's very good for gaming, get the 2500k if you're going to overclock
cpu cooler: just get one if you're going to overclock, since generic coolers should work fine at base clocks. The important thing here is that coolers with a tower shape (heat pipes on both sides with rectangular tower of fins with a fan on either/both sides, such as the noctua coolers) seem to have the best performance.
psu: just look for any psu from a reputable company (corsair, seasonic, antec, coolermaster) that's at least 650W for breathing room. DO NOT get a cheap knockoff model, since this jeopardizes your entire rig
hdd/ssd: if getting an ssd, just get any second gen sandforce ssd, because they generally will have very similar specs, and the most expensive has no real benefits. for hdds i recommend seagate barracudas, higher performance rate than wd hdds at a cheaper rate
odd: any cheap sata dvd burner works just fine
case: this really depends on what you think looks nice. Personally i like lian li and coolermaster/cmstorm cases. It just matters that you get a case that fits the mobo/gpu, so look at upper end mid tower/any full tower
gpu: just spend the rest of the money left on the best gpu you can.
Im thinking a gtx 670, 580, 7950, etc.
ps. I'm just posting this off the top of my head, so you may want to research a little more for prices and such

 

[Thomas_89]

This build would crush all your games with ease:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($107.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($399.00 @ NCIX US)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 620W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $959.49
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)

Some points of interest:
This build does not allow for CPU overclocking. Shouldn't be a problem since you said you don't need to OC.
The GPU is truly awesome but consumes almost half of your budget. With a cheaper HD 7950 ($340) you probably won't notice any difference yet (in the future with games to come you will though) on 1080p. If you would also get a cheaper case (Antec 302 for example) you can use the savings to get an Crucial m4 128GB SSD. Personally I'd get the SSD but I'm not a hardcore gamer and love the speed of an SSD.

edit: typo

 

[phillylol]

Thank You! I have to talk to my friend because this is for him and not me. Otherwise i would pick the suggested build/builds above almost with no modification. I know that the 670 seems to be damn near the best at a great price point for higher end gaming!
Will get back to you after speaking to him.