Planning a Winter/Spring Build

[Mart00n]

Hello hardforum! After years of dealing with subpar systems and budget gaming, I've finally found the time and money to build a decent system myself. Consider my knowledge of most recent hardware (say the past 3 years) fairly limited. I'd like to plan a gaming build a few months from now and I'm looking for a critique of everything I currently have laid out.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This PC will be used for high end games and moderate usage of various engineering CAD software.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1000 to $1500 grand total with all included.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
United States, Cleveland, OH

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case, motherboard, CPU, GPU, RAM, SSD, hard drive, PSU, optical drive.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Nothing at all.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No, I want stable temperatures and longevity without the need to overclock.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Currently just 1920x1080, I may be swayed to buy something nicer later, and I'd like to plan for running at higher.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
February, give or take a month.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
No Crossfire or SLI, and onboard video is unnecessary.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 64bit Ultimate

I'm currently planning on building around an i7-3770k with an AMD GPU, but I'm torn between an HD 7950 and a 7970. From what I gather a 7950 would be more than enough to handle just about everything I would want it to at my current resolution, but the 7970 might be a bit stronger on games for the next couple of years, and better if I get a fancy new monitor at some point; any recommendations on manufacturer or on the value of one versus the other would be appreciated. I also wonder how prices might change by the time I build in February or March, and whether I'll be able to get a better deal processor and GPU wise at that time or later. I don't want to wait for Haswell.

My other big stumbling point is how to go about buying an SSD, which I know next to nothing about. I plan to boot Windows and Ubuntu off of the one I have listed below, with long term storage on a cheap hard drive. I already have an external drive for backup. What manufacturers are good, and what speeds and size should I be looking at versus what I have below?

I've had some bad luck in the past with cooling in systems, hence the full tower, which comes recommended from a friend who has used the same one in the past successfully. Is it worth investing in a decent CPU cooler? Any good knowledge on GPU aftermarket stuff or cards that run cool would be great to hear as well.

My complete build as of right now is listed below; obviously things might change going forward several months:

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo)
GPU: Radeon HD 7950 3GB
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Unbeatable Gaming Case
PSU: SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
SSD: SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 2TB 5900 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
Optical Drive: Cheap DVD-R drive

Thanks for reading, and any advice is appreciated!

 

[Dangman]

You are planning this PC build too early as our parts recommendations can change in as little as a month let alone 6 months from now. It really doesn't help planning so far in advance. If you want up an up to date build list with the least amount of work, just come back when you are 1 - 3 weeks away from buying.

Though I will never recommend that case on account of its relative crampness and its absurd price. Also since you are not overclocking and not doing SLI or CFX, little reason for a Intel K series CPU or that 750W PSU.