Around $1k Gaming System

Quick thing, another option for the optional monitor is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Another thing is... can someone explain the strain on a Graphics card when running dual monitors? Does it basically divide the card in 2?

It's not exactly what your looking for but give it a look anyways.

Here's a build that includes two 4770's running in Crossfire and it also includes an OS (Vista 64 Home Premium OEM).

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-4770-crossfi... <--- Tomshardware benchmarks of the 4770 in Crossfire.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $74.99 ($49.99 after $25.00 Mail-In Rebate)
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite... Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $174.94 $20.00 Mail-In Rebate
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=Q9400 $211.99 Free Ground Shipping
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9400 2.66GHz 1333MHz 6MB LGA775 CPU, OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $29.99 ($19.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate)
Sunbeam CR-CCTF92-4 92mm Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler W/TX-2 - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $99.99
SAPPHIRE 100277L Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $99.99
SAPPHIRE 100277L Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $44.99 Free Shipping*
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory - Retail | Introducing new Corsair XMS gaming heat sink

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $24.99 Free Shipping*
LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite... Combo Discount: -$20.00 Combo Price: $154.98
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

Total: $916.86 | $861.86 w/mail in rebates

*Same build as above, but cheaper. This build includes a factory over clocked gtx 260. Replace motherboard and video cards in that build with these down below.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $119.99 ($104.99 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail | 2 oz copper PCB + Easy Tune 6 for OC

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $174.99 ($154.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
MSI N260GTX-T2D896-OCv4 GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
$10 off with promo code VGA26XV4, ends 5/14

...and your monitor.  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $159.99 ($139.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
ASUS VW224U Black 22" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP Support 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 5000:1) Built in Speakers - Retail

I recently found this surfing around the web http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=Q6700

I also reccomend the Gigabyte EP45-UD3R...great stable board if you want a single card set-up
The GTX260 is a gfreat card for its price

+1 for that find. It brings the price of that build down.  

I'm thinking of selling off my E8400 for it

Also You could also just download the windows 7 RC from microsoft.com. Its free and in my opinion its better then vista. You'll be able to use it till next March

I am sorry guys, I forgot to let you know that I have 2 DVD drives and that I am currently running this...

AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+ (2.41ghz)

GeForce 7800GTX

2 gig ram ( 4x512mb)

Antec Nine Hundred
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I was planning on keeping my case, PS and drives. My old parts would be donated to the "help a brother" fund... haha. Also, I have a thing against ATI's cards... so didn't want to with them. Also with that being said, I most likely go with the SLI of those two 260's vs the 295 because that is ~$250 difference.

Also, any thoughts about the
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
VS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

??

Go ATi, you will prefer it since dual 4770's beats out a GTX 285, let alone the '260, they also use less power so you don't need as powerful a PSU.

not to mention it's $198 for both.

They upped the price 5 bucks on those fyi, not like it makes a huge difference.

I can attest to his hatred for ATI. He has been a faithful Nvidia owner all his gaming life so I think he really wants to stick with them, even if there is that 4770 crossfire dealy.

Hey guys, found this deal on Newegg... what do you think?

AMD Phenom II x4 3.0ghz, w/ SLI mobo?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

Is that MB in that combo SLI ready?

Nope, the only AMD motherboards that support SLI are the sub-par Nvidia nForce boards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...

Ok then... how about this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

That one has the nForce chip set on it

Yea, that one supports SLI. You won't find many fans of the nForce chipset motherboards around here, but if you're hung up on an Nvidia GPU and SLI then that's pretty much your only option without going with an Intel i7 build.

Researched and revised some junk.
What do you guys think of this?

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

ASUS M4N72-E $134.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

XFX GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 $194.99 (x2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB $65.99 (x1 or x2 im thinking 2x would be over kill... also a bit on the bulky side)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Western Digital Caviar Black 640 $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

ASUS VH226H Black 21.5" $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Rebates:
CPU Rebate -$25.00
VGA Rebate -$30.00
VGA Rebate -$30.00
RAM Rebate -$25.00
RAM Rebate -$25.00
Monitor Rebate -$20.00

Total: $950.47


Not so sure about the RAM, it's kinda bulky and may get in the way of ribbons. Also the MB looks like it only has one place to plug in a DVD-rom drive (I have 2).
Let me know what you think!

Why are you set on SLI? You can get fine performance out of a single GPU. The 22" screens you were looking at won't run at a resolution that require 2 GTX 260's. A single GTX 275 or a GTX 285 would be plenty, depending on which monitor you go with.

And on that note, I would go with this monitor. I think 1080P on a 22" monitor is too much, all the things on the screen are too small at that size and resolution IMO.

What I was also considering is buying one gtx 260 and just putting it in my current computer. *shrugs*

Would it bottle neck with an AMD Athlon 64 x2 (2.41ghz) 4800+?

I know some people that have to have HUGE icons on their desktop, but wouldn't you rather keep a clutter-free one?

What 'things' are too small though?

Also, you don't necessarily have to run at 1920 x 1080.

text is small.

and why would you pay for 1080p res if you weren't going to use it?

I never said i wasn't going to use it, i said some people that have issues with small text and icons might want to use a different resolution

Most MB's these days have only one IDE, and it can support 2 devices. You'r new HD will be SATA and therefore won't make a difference. If you need additional IDE channels you can pick up SATA to PATA converters fairly cheaply