Best products from r/purebattlefield

The same XFX card is only $155 on Amazon, and comes with free 2-day shipping if you have Amazon Prime. I don't think you get the 3 free games with it, but you save a good $23. Also, I have a copy of Tomb Raider which I've been meaning to give away, so let me know if you want it.

A 7950 with 3GB of memory is also available on Amazon for $265. Here's a version of the 7950 that's selling for $245 on Amazon too (and also has the free 2-day prime shipping/free 7-day shipping for non-Prime members). However, despite being slightly slower, the 7850 is a better bang for your buck than the 7950.

You may also consider the XFX AMD 7870 2GB, which is available on Amazon for $220 (also with the free 2-day/7-day shipping).

If you want to go the nVidia route, the XFX 660 can be had for $199 here, and it is a bit quicker than the 7850. This XFX 650Ti ties the 7850, and costs $170.

Better than all of these cards would be an nVidia GTX 760, which costs $260 on Amazon or $250 on NewEgg, but that might be out of your price range. Still, I'd strongly recommend it if you're considering stepping into the $200+ range. Here's a helpful chart comparing its performance in BF3 to the GTX670, the AMD 7950, etc., and here's a similar chart that compares the 7850 to the 7950 and some others.

If I were you, I'd go for this XFX 660, which I also linked above. At $199.99, you get performance that's quite noticeably better than the 7850, even a bit better than the still-more-expensive AMD 7870 which costs ~$220, and it comes overclocked out of the box with a 980MHz core clock (the stock speed on these cards is 900MHz, I think). It also has 2GB of VRAM rather than the 1GB on the XFX 7850 you mentioned, which is quickly entering the too-little-memory territory as games continue expanding the resolution of their textures, the complexity of scenes, etc. Not to mention that 2GB of video memory will allow deferred antialiasing and higher texture quality settings to have a lower impact on your FPS than cards with only 1GB of memory.

1. When building home computers, I've never had problems with Corsair power supplies. They are rock solid. I'd rather buy a 600W Corsair power supply than a 850W Thermaltake. You also don't need an 850W power supply unless you're running a three-card SLI/Crossfire setup or something similar. Go with a ~600W Corsair power supply, trust me on this one. Here's a good one for only $87 USD.
   
   
2. In terms of motherboards, I absolutely always buy ASUS. Yes, they are more expensive in comparison with other boards that have similar features. But the ASUS BIOS is extremely easy to navigate, there is a full description provided for every setting, and they overclock very well and remain stable. I bought an MSI motherboard for my 2500K build and have regretted that decision for ages. They released a BIOS to provide Ivy Bridge compatibility alongside other features, and upon upgrading to it (since it came with a mouse-navigatable menu), the board become completely unstable with my Sandy Bridge 2500K. I had to underclock it to 2.5 GHz to even boot Windows, and it was impossible to flash the BIOS back to the previous version. I waited two months looking for some way to revert--with their tech support being absolutely useless and requesting I pay ~$30 to ship it out, have them "repair" it and then have it shipped back a few weeks later--until some guy on the MSI forums uploaded a tool to downgrade. I went with an ASUS for my next build and the quality difference was more than enough to justify the $30 added cost over an MSI/ASRock/etc. board with similar features.
   
   
3. In terms of cases, I cannot recommend the Corsair 400R enough. Everything pops in/out easily, thumbscrews, rubber holes on the motherboard tray that let you route cables out of the way, and it comes with three quiet preinstalled fans. There's also room for an H100 radiator on top or on the side, there's space for five 120mm fan mounts in addition to the 3 fans already included, the build quality is top-notch, and it's a very silent and sturdy case. The case also has a hole at the bottom that lets you mount the power supply at the bottom of the case and upside down (so the power supply intakes cool air from below the case, rather than warmer air from within the case). Oh, and it also comes fully equipped with dust screens for the bottom-mounted power supply fan, bottom case fan, and front case fans. The dust screen on the bottom literally slides out of the back of the case along a pair of rails much like the lint pickup screen in a clothes dryer, allowing easy cleaning every once in a while. Here's a video from Corsair showing an employee put a system together in a 400R.

You could always hook an Xbox 360 controller up to your computer. I've got one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/electronics/dp/B004QRKWKQ

and it works great. I don't use it for BF3 because I'm a lifelong keyboard/mouse player for FPSes, but I played through GTAIV with it and had an absolutely stellar time; it was just like playing on a console, except at my desk instead of on the couch.

I know you can also find just the receiver, if you've already got a 360 controller to pair with it, but I wanted an extra controller anyway so I just got the above.

Something to consider, is all. :-)

edit: Forgot to answer the question. It usually takes me about a round to warm up and find my groove. Sometimes if I'm not getting it, I'll go to a slightly faster-paced (in my opinion) game like CS:GO for a couple rounds to get the "playbads" out of me.

I use this one: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-Microphone-Black-Silver/dp/B00009EHJV

I got it fo' free, so it was a great deal :) This is a little above your price range, but there are tons with similar style. It is really nice too since it has a mute button right on the front of it.

EDIT: From reading the amazon link, apparently you can get this one at staples for like 20$. This is some affiliates amazon account that is over charging.

I've got a hugeass mousepad. It actually sits under my mouse, keyboard, and still has room. It's a little wider than the section of desk I have it on (this is my desk, which I would highly recommend), but I love it all the same. I've got plenty of room for all of my shit.

I like my Corsair mouse quite a bit, though it's just a wee bit over the $50 parameter at $59.

Per Araziah's suggestion, I've started using f.lux. I used to use it on my (jailbroken) iPhone, and I think it is a great app/program.

I've been a Logitech fan all my life but I felt like their quality has been slipping for a few generations. I tried a few different mice that I ended up returning for various reasons, but ended up with a Roccat Savu and I absolutely love it. Couldn't recommend it more.

Samson GO Mic nice separate mice that is portable if you need it to be. Has Omni Directional and Condensor options. Pick mine up at Best Buy for 40 bucks.

http://www.amazon.com/Samson-Mic-Compact-USB-Microphone/dp/B001R76D42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397209771&sr=8-1&keywords=samson+go+mic

HandStands 15S07 Super Mouse Pad
http://amzn.com/B000SR120M

Logitech G500 Programmable Gaming Mouse
http://amzn.com/B002J9GDXI

There you go man :)