Help choosing video card, power supply & case for $1000 i5-3570k gamer

I had been pretty down on the 7870 for the past few months because I didn't think it offered enough over the 7850 to be worth it. But there's a $270 post-rebate 7870 on Newegg now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... The Twin Frozr has historically been a pretty decent cooler, too, so you can probably OC that thing quite a bit.

And then coming it right at your maximum price, post-rebate, is the Twin Frozr 7950: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... Again, it's that same pretty good cooler, so you can probably OC this thing (and the HD 7000 series runs cool anyway).

Unless you go up to ~$400 to get a 670, which would be a good choice, I think you have to go AMD. It just doesn't make sense to get a 570 (or a used 580 or something nutty); they're too hot and too little VRAM.

As for lower price options, you could also get a 7850 and anticipate getting a second one in the not too distant future. But I abide by the old axiom that you should get the best single card you can afford and save SLI/Crossfire as a future upgrade path. I think we agree on that, though.

What he said.

Recommending a case is hard since I have no idea what you like.

As for PSU a quality 700W ish unit will do great for xfire in the future.

Thanks for the responses.

What's the difference in performance between the 7850 to 7870 to 7950?

Also can you suggest a good PSU for future SLI/crossfire with whatever of these cards I get?

For a case just need usb 3.0 and 2.0 ports on it plus cooling is my main concern. thanks

Carbide 500 and 400 are great, solid cases and well ventilated. If you have the room, the Thor V2 has outstanding airflow and is quiet.

Case reviews: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/eleven-hundred-storm-enfo...

AMD GCN: http://media.bestofmicro.com/Q/A/328834/original/M2033%... from article http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-7870-review-ben...

Good PSU: Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, XFX

Here are some good benchmarks too, a bit broader:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/548?vs=550 (comparing 7870 to 7950)
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=548 (comparing 7850 to 7870)

The notable thing about the 7850 and 7950 is that, relative to the 7870 and 7970 (respectively), they differ more by clock speed than by silicon. But there is no reason you can't make up that clockspeed by overclocking. So the 7850 and 7950, once overclocked, are sort of better values than the 7870 and 7970. That isn't to say the 7870 isn't a good card, especially if it's pretty close in price to the 7850. But the jump to the 7950 becomes more dramatic once you factor in OCing. So if you can do it, I'd go to the 7950.