First time $1000 USD gaming PC

[asura]

okay, so I'm ordering a new gaming PC within 2 weeks and I really need some help! I read posts here and this was the best build I found so far, could anyone suggest some changes? I'll be using this for gaming and video rendering!

some things I'm already considering...
-intel instead of amd?
-bigger SSD?
-different gfx card(or sli gtx 460)?


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Case - Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Mobo - ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard

CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

Graphics Card - EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

HDD - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Drive - ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

SSD - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

[HeyImGodly]

if ordering in january wait until sandy bridge drops, and Nvidia will also probably release the gtx 560 which would be close to the power of a 470 and would cost sub-250

 

[evongugg]

I prefer this. Allows for Crossfire. For SLI you need a LGA-1366 board or some older Nvidia chipset.

ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198&Tpk=N82E16813157198

$90.00

The black edition can be overclocked easily and costs a little less.

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&Tpk=955%20BE

$145.00


Radeon 6850 or 6870 if you want to move up from the GTX 460.
The SSD is okay.
Sandy Bridge should be out 1/5/2011 and have 20% increase in performance over LGA-1156.
For your budget AMD is okay.