~$750 HTPC/Gaming Build Advice

Is $900 the most you're willing to spend, including taxes and shipping? If not, what?

Do you play any first person shooters through Steam? If so, what?

Which resolution would you prefer on the monitor?

Why do you need a Blu-ray drive?

When will you have the funds to buy everything at once?

Which version/edition of Windows do you have? Is it 32-bit or 64-bit? OEM or retail?
 
Let's assume for now that you're waiting for the weekend. Here's what I recommend:

$190 - Intel Core i5-4570 quad-core processor
$80 - MSI B85M-G43 micro ATX motherboard
$53 - Kingston HyperX 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM (deal expires 9/18)
$250 - EVGA GTX 760 2GB video card
$69 - Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD
$74 - ASUS BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-ray burner (retail package)
$60 - Corsair CX600 600W PSU
$44 - NZXT Source 210 Elite ATX mid-tower case
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$820 - Subtotal (not including shipping, tax, or rebates)

Buy the RAM first, if nothing else, but buy everything else by this weekend. The prices of most parts fluctuate as often as daily, so I can't guarantee that everything I listed above will stay around $820, say, next week.

I went with a retail Blu-ray drive as that comes with some media playback software. The OEM or barebones versions don't come with any software, and (good) Blu-ray software can cost upwards of $80.

I didn't include an SSD because a good SSD can cost upwards of $100. Plus, I normally recommend an SSD with at least 250GB of space, which costs over $150 for each of the more popular models. An SSD loads Windows and programs much faster than a hard drive, but it doesn't improve gaming frame rates as much as a good video card.

If you want to increase your budget to cover the costs of an SSD, I recommend the following:

$170 - Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD

The GTX 760 is a great card for 1920x1080, but it may be overkill for the majority of the Steam-based games you play. If that's the case, consider either the GTX 660 or the HD 7870 instead.
 
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