~$1,000 Budget Gaming and General Everyday Use Rig

[Erock]

I'm coming from an aging iMac and I'm ready to step back into the PC world.
My biggest priorities are being able to run World of Warcraft, Star Wars - The Old Republic ( Upon Release ), and Diablo 3 ( Upon Release ) on high settings with good FPS.

I also need to be able to stream music from my browser ( Pandora or GrooveShark ), run Ventrillo, while playing the MMO. The ability to alt-tab in and out of the running MMO while doing all this is very important. Currently, this is near impossible on my iMac and results in a lot of face palming.

I'm trying to keep the box ~$1,000 because I will need to buy all new peripherals and a new monitor. I'm trying to balance quality, name brand parts with price.

Here's a quick list. Your thoughts and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated!

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- I like this case a lot.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
- I really wanted to go Modular and get the professional series, but this saves money.

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
- From the looks, this is a really good choice right now.

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
- Seems like a good Z68 board. I don't need bells and whistles.

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
- Should I just get a 3.0 Gb/s drive and save the money? Is the 6.0 a huge difference? Will the 6.0 plug and play without adjusting the bios?

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
- Seems to be popular at the moment. I don't plan on over clocking. And I hear these run at 1333 unless I change a bios setting on the z68 board? That's fine.

Newegg.com - ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - CD / DVD Burners
- Standard Optics

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems
- Will this 64bit OS recognize all 8 gigs of RAM?

Newegg.com - EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1461-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
- This card seems like the best bang for my buck. It keeps me under 1k, but the specs look good. The reviews are decent too.

Before mail in rebates, I'm at $981.81 - $25 mail in rebates = 956.81 + shipping.

Does anyone see where I can slim down a bit but still be able to do what I'm looking for?

Thanks for your time and help!

[glc]

This may help:

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: September 2011 : Best Graphics Cards For The Money, September Update

If you are not going to be overclocking or using onboard video, you don't need the "K" series processor.

If you want a modular PSU, you could get a TX550M or TX650M. If you want to save more money with a standard unit, this is a good deal:

Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

You have chosen the best 1TB hard drive for the money. Simply connect it to one of the SATA 6.0 ports.

Windows 7 HP 64 can use up to 16gb of ram.

To get the most out of the ram, all you have to do is enable XMP in the bios.

[wade7575]

I got a 650 Watt PowerSupply when I built my first PC and I wish I would have gotten a 750 Watt PowerSupply as I'm wanting to get a new Graphic's Card and I don't think I can go much higher then a GTX 560 maybe a GTX 570 keep this in mind when building your PC because if you are going to game alot and want a stronger Card you may need to upgrade your PowerSupply depending on what else you put into your PC.

[Sourtop]

A TX650 will power any single GPU except a 590 or a 6990.

[Erock]

The i52500 non K is only $10 cheaper. I'm currently under budget with the K series. I'm willing to spend the extra money for that.

That's a good point about the PSU. I don't plan on upgrading the video card anytime soon. I only play MMOs and I plan on playing Diablo 3. As long as this video card can handle the current MMOs and maybe some future ones in the next 2 years then I'll be happy.

For another $20 I can go the from the 650tx to the 850tx
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

[Sourtop]

That's a good deal for only $20 if you can work it into your budget. The GTX 560 will max any MMO and Diablo 3 out right now. I'm running a GTX 460 right now and I can max just about any game right now except the newer FPS's.

If you're looking to overclock in the future you could also pick up a Coolermaster Hyper 212+. They about $30 and its the best bang-for-your-buck cooler on the market now. You should be able to get at least 4.5 Ghz with it.

[glc]

With a GTX 560, you only NEED a 450 watt power supply. Why are you looking at 850's now? If you want a modular, this one is very high quality and is on sale: (Note - Seasonic makes the high end Corsairs)

Newegg.com - SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Wade, your power supply can handle a GTX 580 or a Radeon 6970 just fine.