Help a PC building Newbie interested in gaming AND overclocking!

Jezebel you should be ok with that pc.

Looks good.
What is your OS?
What monitor? What res?
Suggest you get a better case. That case is "good enough". However, cases usually outlast the rest of the system. So, be sure you're happy with that case because it will stay around a long time. I also notice the case has many fan-bays. This is also important for a high-end PC like yours.
The CPU cooler looks good and is a big improvement over the stock cooler. But for heavy-duty cooling, use water (see below)
The PSU is OK. But it will reach it's limit on this configuration. It only has 2 PCIe power plugs. Both will be used by the 4870. So, you are OK if you only need 1 video-card.
The RAM is OK, but only for light overclocking. Get premium DDR2-1066 that is directly supported by the motherboard if you want to do more serious overclocking.
Also get CPU water-cooling and a RAM cooler if you want to do serious overclocking.
The 4870 is a very fast video card. But, the 1 gig version is even faster on 1920x1200+ screens. This is noticable on games like Crysis/Warhammer/FarCry2, etc.
Last look at the Yorkfield CPU. This will not make current games faster, but it's more future proof for software/OS coming out in 1-2 years (Assuming you don't want to upgrade the CPU often).

If you can wait a few more months, you might want the faster/more future-proof Nehalem PC. You can not upgrade the Wolfdale to Nehalem. You will need new Mobo, CPU, RAM, etc.

I must admit, that's sounds like a nice rig. should be able to handle just about everything at high resolutions.
I really don't see a weakness here..
Do you have a monitor?

I have a 24inch Dell Monitor already which I intend to keep. It's been one of the best purchases I've ever done.. I run everything at 1900x1200 resolution to answer your question enewmen...
My question to you guys is.. I'd like to keep the system to about 1000$ Canadian.. you guys would keep that or change something in it? Like I said I'm not sure if downgrading the Mobo and upgrading the ram would be a good idea or not..

I could also get that PC for the same price or so.. Changed the Memory, Mobo and PSU on it compared to the original Config... Also, whats wrong with the case? Was the comment only about the looks or it could affect the performance of the other parts?


[Alternative Config]
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz Wolfdale 6MB 1333FSB 45nm
CPU Cooling OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler-MIR
Overclock Enable Overclock Function
Memory 1 OCZ Reaper DDR2-1066 4GB Kit (OCZ2RPR10664GK)
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L (4DDR2,PCI-E 2.0)
Hard Drive 1 Seagate 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA (ST3500320AS)
Video Palit Radeon HD 4870 512MB DDR5
Audio Onboard Audio
Network Card Onboard Network Card
Case Cooler Master CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case
Power Supply OCZ 600 Watt GameXStream SLI (OCZ600GXSSLI)-MIR (I could also get Cooler master eXtreme Power 650W for the same price..)
Warranty 1 Year Parts & 3 Years Labor Warranty


Original Config
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz Wolfdale 6MB 1333FSB 45nm
CPU Cooling OCZ Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler-MIR
Overclock Enable Overclock Function
Memory 1 OCZ Plat XTC 4GB Kit DDR2 800MHz (OCZ2P8004GK)-MIR
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R (CF,4DDR2,2PCI-E,2GbLAN,RAID)
Hard Drive 1 Seagate 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA (ST3500320AS)
Video Palit Radeon HD 4870 512MB DDR5
Audio Onboard Audio
Network Card Onboard Network Card
Case Cooler Master CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case
Power Supply OCZ 600 Watt StealthXStream (OCZ600SXS)-MIR
Warranty 1 Year Parts & 3 Years Labor Warranty