Hey guys I'm planning to build my first gaming PC, I do have one right now but I didn't build it, I bought it from a friend, so I do have a decent knowledge of the basic components of a PC. I have a budget of $1300 and I believe that's enough for what I looking for.

Anyway since I'm still a noob in the subject I prefer to have the motherboard and all that kind of stuff already build in, that's why I'm going with a shuttle barebones system:

http://www.amazon.com/Shuttle-LGA1155-Gaming-Barebone-SZ77R5/dp/B007UZO3F6/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1341615835&sr=1-10&keywords=SHUTTLE+Barebone+System

As for the GPU I'm planning to buy a Radeon HD 7970 with 3GB, it may be hard to get that GPU inside the shuttle PC but I already saw a video of someone who manage to do it 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzhmd1453Vo

As for the processor I'm planning on a normal core i7 with 3.4 GHz and 4 cores, and 8GB of RAM with 1 TB of HDD 

Those are the main things I'm looking for but if there're better components that I can get a better price make sure to let me know. 

If it's possible please put all the things for U.S sites, since I don't live in the U.S I'm having someone who can do me the favor of bringing me all the parts that I need. Thanks.

http://tinyurl.com/FalconGuide

I like using this as a general guide for what kind of parts you'd want to be aiming for. I used it to build my PC around this time last year and it works great.

I think you should build it from scratch to be honest, then you will know what components you are getting and you can make sure none will be missed out. If you do get the bare-bones system, make sure you make a checklist so you know you have everything.

I recommend getting an SSD too, especially for a system with that budget.

If you have doubts with the HD7970 you can go with the GTX670 as it has almost the same performance, it's cheaper, cooler, uses less power and more importantly for you, some models are also shorter.

boot drive should be an ssd either 128 or 256 if you can afford it, makes a big difference

if you decide to  go deeper into and build from scratch 

Ive been very happy with the SilverStone Temjin TJ08-E case

reviews

http://techreport.com/articles.x/22814

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4533/silverstone-temjin-tj08-fat-case-in-a-little-coat

and as for 7970, as long as you get a 3rd party heat sink you should be good check the reviews, some of them over clock like beasts and thats where it can challenge the gtx 680 

also be aware the 7970 ghtz edition comes out soon with a slight change in clock and a major change in memory clock. 

at stock the 7970 is better than the 670 in most games but not all. and the 670 is smaller, quitter, cooler.  

 with the 7970 OC most of the time but not all it can beat OC 680 - i might be a bit biassed due to owning a 7970 (msi lightning got it cheapish for the series) mine is OC to 1250 gpu core and 1625 memory  up form 1070 and 1400. no voltage changes using the afterburner overclocking tool 

in full disclosure the first 7970 i bought i had to send back it was unstable and ran really hot at stock, was a powercolor PCS+ (as in the 925 stock not the cards 1100 OC stock which could not even launch into stuff)

the biggest reason i went with the 7970 vs the 680/670 is running multiple high res screens and the memory that requires. i looked into the 4 gig 680/670 but they all at the time i bought mine had stock style coolers which are loud.. 

… but it was a hard decision either way you go the gpu are top notch and should be good for awhile 

An advice from me. You should search the Internet for every component you need, you can save a lot money if you check several Websites for offers. I saved more then 300€ by building mine. And you should be flexible about the components.

I don´t know how much you wanna spend. I recommend the Asus AMD Radeon HD 6950 GPU and the AMD FX 6100 CPU. With those two components you have high end performance for a very good price.