Help Nipah build a PC

Greetings fellow readers, commenters, and overall friendly people of Polygon... I have a question (and some exposition, because I like to hear myself talk type):

Odds are looking increasingly good that when I go to get a new laptop (in another year or so), I'll instead be putting together my own PC.

Huzzah, right? Wrong. Shit be confusing, yo. I barely have a grasp of bits and pieces when it comes to laptops, and those things come with a very specific selection that you don't get much choice in. Building a PC from scratch involves ALL THE CHOICES, and it's got me on the ropes.

So where do you come in, you ask with all the helpful innocence of my fellow Polynauts? I'm glad you asked! What are your PC bits and pieces preferences? Examples include: What the hell is a motherboard, AMD vs NVIDIA, Intel vs AMD, why your weird ass keyboard is best keyboard, how big a power supply a guy needs to impress all the ladies not screw up everything, exactly how much RAM is too much RAM, and when exactly does it matter what speed it is, and even which cases don't look like there is a clown turning into a laser lightshow inside.

Basically, I'll end up with about $1,000 to spend on the thing if I'm going to do it right, and I'm looking to hopefully have something that I don't have to mess with too much in terms of upgrades for a few years (going down eventually to medium settings in games won't kill me).

Obviously parts out now will be cheaper/crappier than new stuff in a year, so I'm not looking for "Oh, get this specific video card and this specific motherboard and...", just a more general "Why I like this brand and how the light shines on it as the early morning sunrise peeks through the shades" or some such nonsense.

Side note: I'm not too worried about monitors and mouses (mice?), as it seems I can plug into my little 24" Samsung TV with HDMI and my G9x mouse is still fantastic... but if you have any warnings about the TV, I'm all ears (well, not literally. That'd be gross, right?)

Thanks in advance for any help that is given.