Inexpensive Gaming/Professional i7 system possible?

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: ASAP (next week?) BUDGET RANGE: under $1000 After Rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, VMWare/VirtualBox, Software Development, Maya, Houdini

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel CPU/Chipset, Quad Core

OVERCLOCKING: No SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Above all it needs to WORK


Building PCs used to be easy, but I've gotten worse at it as time has gone on. My last two have been horrible failures, and I never figured out how to properly fix them. My P4 always overheated in the summer (not even OCing!) and my latest never quite worked right because of compatibility issues with my SATA drive and NVidia chipset (finally moved the HD to the RAID controller).

I would really like to use an i7 860 and an Nvidia card, but everything else is completely up in the air.

I'm thinking:

Antec Nine Hundred + EA650 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 650W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $169.99 Free Shipping

ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $169.99 Free Shipping

Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $279.99 Free Shipping

I don't understand which memory to get any more, but I need like 6-8GB for vitual machines. And video cards are all way over my head nowadays.