| Soleron said: Also most of his recommendations seem overclocking focused, and unless you have a desire to I would say don't do that, and therefore the cheaper motherboard, RAM and non-K CPU are good choices. |
My recommendations are focused around getting the most value for the $, which involves overclocking. Also, getting a bullet-proof power supply is a MUST for long-term upgrades and general system stability. Would you risk $800 worth of parts with a crappy PSU? The recommendations I suggested such as better case with higher quality materials, or RAM that costs less and is still better are not simply overclocking focused. You might hate the idea, but all it takes is moving the slider in MSI Afteburner to get HD7950 to perform faster than a $450 GTX680/HD7970Ghz. Overclocking is not difficult like it used to be in the past. Same for i5-3570K. It just means moving the multiplier up and increasing the CPU voltage a bit. That's it. Besides, these small additions can be used in 2 years to add cheap performance.
If you looked at my suggestions, the parts I recommended are simply better with or without overclocking. I also recommended HD7950 not only because of overclocking but because it comes with a free Far Cry 3 game and it performs better with mods in Skyrim. The OP mentioned he is interested in both of those titles.
