Need Advice on $1300 or under budget/gaming pc

Approximate Purchase Date: By the end of July (Before I return to school)

Budget Range: 500-1300 (total cost of pc+keyboard+monitor+mouse)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, School work, Video/Audio applications, Internet

Parts Not Required: NEED EVERYTHING! (Except speakers, and I do have a 40 in tv but do not know if want to use as monitor)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, amazon.com

Country: U.S.
Parts Preferences: I've been raised on Intel, so I don't know much about AMD (I'd prefer the latest Intel) otherwise no preferences.

Overclocking: Maybe? I'm new at this so I'm not entirely sure what this means.

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe? again chalking it up to I have no clue

Monitor Resolution: the best I can get for my money

Additional Comments: I've been researching getting a new pc for quite some time been looking at reviews (pcmag.com, cnet, toptenreviews, etc), asking more tech savvy friends for suggestions, looking everywhere to see my options.

I need a personal computer, my school bought laptop didn't live up to my expectations and it kicked the bucket at the end of the past school year (tech guys said the motherboard got fried, hp elitebook 8530p if you must know).

I'm a gamer, and soon to be audio/digital media graduate with a tight budget. Bottom line I don't want a new laptop, with the research I've done the performance I want in a small package puts the price tag way up. I'd like to be able to move the computer though so I can take it with me to college next year.

Right now I'm pretty much utterly confused, should I build my own? Or should I buy an all in one pc (I'm not a big fan of the mac's limited gaming capabilities a la steam)? Or do I buy and try to configure something from Ibuypower, cyberpower, or another company? And if I do build my own how much will it cost me to add programs onto the computer for school (office,windows 7, etc)?


My tech savvy friends emailed me a bunch of parts as well, but I'm stuck at the crossroads of buying them because I'm not sure if I'm going to get the most for my money? (and that the combination of them plus office or windows 7 puts me over my budget)

ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED I AM SO LOST!!!! And I need need need a new computer that actually works (can game witcher 2, total war shogun 2, audio/music tasks, movie tasks, and type word docs) soon


////////Here is the list of parts they (my friends) suggested:////////
ZOTAC ZT-60301-10P GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $399.99
Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 $319.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$129.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Desktop Memory Model $82.99
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$99.99
Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W Bronze W0382RU ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
$114.99
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$69.99
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler
$39.99
Acer G235HAbd 23'' WideScreen LCD monitor
$179.99
Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard

///////and then alternatively suggested these other ones///////

Intel Core i5-3450 Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.5GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD $199.99
ASUS HD7770-2GD5 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 2GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready $159.99
EVGA 02G-P4-2643-KR GeForce GT 640 2GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $109.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$119.99
CORSAIR Gaming Series GS800 800W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply


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