agreed. I was figuring that getting more gpu would help in other games, but for tf2 I'd imagine even a gtx650 ti would be able to max it out. Just get a good cpu like a 3570k or a 3770k (maybe an 8350 if you stream), a cheaper gpu (maybe $200-300), and some peripherals like a good mouse and keyboard/headset. Hell you could probably max out tf2 with consistant fps with a 500 dollar budget.

my current computer can run tf2 perfectly fine besides a few random crashes every now and then

the computer i'm building is not for tf2

also i'm not a fan of amd because the last (and only time) i gave them a chance, i got a dead on arrival card, sent it back, they sent me another dead on arrival card

the most graphics intensive game that i want would probably be bioshock infinite, which already runs pretty smoothly on high settings on my current set up (but it crashes pretty frequently and i haven't tried ultra settings)

edit:
also thank you for the amazing amount of responses, since i really didn't think more than one or two people would answer anything

all the builds posted gave me a pretty good grasp of what parts i wanted to put together
here's the build i decided on after everything
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/OF7U

even though it's not the smartest decision, i like splurging on the cpu and videocard, because that's where all my bottlenecks come from after a few years of technology advancing with more processors/graphics cards

i haven't used an SSD before, so i'm really excited to try this out
i also know the PSU is double what i need, but i've had an experience where my PSU wasn't strong enough to boot my computer after i finished building it, even though i did the math and the wattage looked like it should run everything fine, so i always buy the PSU in excess as well @_@ (it took 3 weeks for a replacement to come in LOL)

i'm pretty sure i went over my budget by like $300 because shipping to hawaii is ridiculous, but i think this build will satisfy me for a few years before feeling like i should upgrade again

Go to micro center to get the 3770k for $230 instead of $300+. Much better deal. Also, the fact that you got a DOA card doesn't mean anything. Usually that's just the vendor's fault. For example I bought a msi 660 ti from newegg and it was DOA, but ordering the same card from amazon it was fine. Not that newegg is a bad company, but apparently amazons version of the packaging was better•
That case is such a waste of money lmao, $160 for a case lolz. but whatever your choice.
But 680 + 3770k will be pretty nice, though a 8350 + 7970 would be much better especially when you started streaming and such.

but whatever, waste your money. Lolz. A $800 build would work just fine, even a $500 one.

Fox you should really consider overclocking the CPU.

If you really don't want to go through the risks of oc'ing then buy an aftermarket cooler (like Swifttech H220) and buy this motherboard: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z77agd65

Then you literally just have to press the "oc genie" button on your motherboard and it will automatically overclock your cpu to a decent and safe ghz, guaranteed.

bearodactyl please read the posts before you start spewing shit out of your mouth. You came into the thread, didn't read shit, and spammed 5 posts with bad advice.Goddamn kid he said before you asked what he wanted to play on his new build(not tf2), he said he didn't want to overclock, and he said he lives in Hawaii and 2 minutes of googleing would have revealed that there isn't any micro centers within 2000 miles of those islands. And for the love of god take 'lolz' and 'lmao' out of your posts. Fox please don't listen to this kid, almost everything hes said has been dumb.

As to your lastest parts list, it looks pretty good to me. The only thing that worries me at first glance is the power supply, being kinda off brand and non-reputable, but the reviews for that particular one look great, go for it.
By the way the processor your getting is the 'K' version of the 3770, which just means that this chip can be overclocked. If your really sure that you arn't going to overclock ever, you can get the normal 3770 and save $20-$50.

You can go 8 GB of RAM instead, it'll be more than enough and I'd rather get the 7970 as it's faster (and cheaper) than the GTX 680, plus you get free games with it if it matters to you. I'd also change the PSU to something different.

Why would you spend 2k on a pc and not bother to overclock it? A 680 is one of the biggest wastes of money you could get, a 7970 or even a 7950 would be faster. Hell you could get two of these 7950s for the same price. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202030.
For psu go with a seasonic, especially since you're ready to dish out $120 on a no name brand one that's only 80 plus. This one is pretty good with 750w 80+ gold fully modular.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087

But I guess you don't have to crossfire (micro stuttering, even though its really not a big issue anymore), so than a 900w psu is going to be way overkill. If you need to make a build in 3 years that needs that much power (which it won't since things are getting more power efficient, not the opposite), its more than likely that the technology will become cheaper (like most things in computer hardware). Future proofing your system is stupid. Build it for what you actually need right now, not in a few years. Watch linus' video on it if you don't believe me.. it's just a stupid idea.
The only advantage the 3770k has over the 3570k (which would even still be dumb for you if you're not OCing, get the cheaper non K version) is that it has hyper threading which mainly just helps in video editing and multi threaded programs. For general gaming it won't make much of a difference at all. Definitely not worth the extra $100 you're spending on it...

16gb of ram is overkill unless video editing, or for some reason playing 10 games at once. The only reason to even spend $2000 on a pc like this is if you NEED to play in ultra settings on all of these games on multi monitors. A 7870 with a phenom ii 955 would be able to play any of those games (bioshock, guild wars, etc) fine. Those aren't even very graphics intensive games. Do you need to have 80-90 frames per second in games? Is that worth it to you over say 40-50? The most price efficient price (based on testing, read the tomshardware articles system builder marathon articles, which compare the performance of different price range builds, $600, $800 and $100 and the best value was the $800. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-a-pc-overclocking-gaming,3440.html) is $800 approx. For $2000 you're really not getting much more performance for your money.

again the DOA gpus is not because the company amd did anything wrong, that has to do with the manufacturer (msi, asus, gigabyte, etc) or the vendor (newegg, amazon, etc.).
Do you have a 120hz monitor to be able to view all of this at? If not than you definitely shouldn't need a 680, unless you're doing 3 monitors at 60hz.