[Solved] Budget Build 1100$

Approximate Purchase Date: Before jan 2nd 2011 (Purchase not delivery)
Budget Range: 1150$ Please don't subtract mail in rebates can not cost more than 1150 now.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Surfing, Office
Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers (I DO Need a monitor (21.5 inch) and OEM Os.)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Direct Canada/NCIX/Newegg.ca/Tigerdirect.ca (don't mind ordering from multiple places.)
Country: Canada
Parts Preferences: Best performance for the dollar, USB 3.0 would be nice, 500GB is plenty of space (preferably 2 x 250GB in raid 0)
Overclocking: Definitely NOT
SLI or Crossfire: Not Important
Monitor Resolution: 720/1080P Hdmi is not necessary

Additional Comments: Aesthetics is really NOT important so long as the case is functional and sturdy. I want the best possible performance without sacrificing quality (ie PSU/MOBO while I don't care about features modular/Sata 3 etc, they must be good quality components), Upgradability is really minimal so long as the case leaves room for changing the graphics card.

Thanks for your valuable input guys, this is for a friend of mine as her Christmas present from a bunch of us since her apartment burned down and she is living with her rents but only has a netbook to work with. Since I'm the only one out of all of us who is tech inclined I'm doing the browsing.

HEy thanatos, I think you should go with a single HDD for now, as HDD prices are 20-50% p.

I will start writing a full reply now

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($117.24 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($111.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.69 @ Mac Connection)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 6950 1GB Video Card ($209.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($60.05 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus ML228H 21.5" Monitor ($144.83 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $939.65
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated 2011-12-26 03:22 EST-0500)

Here's something I came up with. If you'd like you can upgrade the CPU/graphics with the ~$150 left in your budget.

AsRock = Low quality
922 HAF = Too expensive
Mushkin = 1600 is around the same price, better
i5-2400 = 2500 is much better

what the hell you know about the quality of Asrock?it is one of the most highly recommended board.thousands of peeps are using Asrock without any problem.i am an Asus fanboy but still Asrock is good enough.it provides one of the best price to performance ratio at present.example-extreme3gen3 is a very successful mobo.it features pci-e 3.0,Sli/crosssfire,overclocking etc. what else do you want for $115?
+1 for case,922 is a bit expensive but it worth the cost.Rosewill challenger is a better option IMO.
there is very little difference between 2400 and 2500.for $118,2400 is a great deal.thanatos_gx said he dont wanna overclock.
mushkin is good enough.
you don't need 650w for that system.a good 500~550w will do just fine.one is here-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817207013
OR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341047
both are great.OCZ is johnnyguru recommended.
switch to this gpu-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125406
it provides you gtx 480/570 class performance for $270!
go with gooseta's suggested RAM,monitor,optical.
add this ssd if budget allows.-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227728
don't sacrifice cpu/gpu for ssd.they are good but they don't increase performance.
have a good time

First) I had an ASRock board a few years back

Second)By now you should know that SSDs decrease boot times by 50% and up and launch apps faster

I assumed by 'office' he means word/excel/powerpoint. Unless he's doing huge powerpoints or excel sheets, i dunno if it's worth it. But yes, using more CPU intensive software would warrant a i5-2500

well i guarantee you that 99.99% peeps on toms know that SSDs are superfast and loading times are insanely fast.BTW thnx for the info
for mobo,it's your personal choice.you choose what ever you want but don't post things like Asrock=Low quality and all .maybe you were not lucky enough
i suggested gtx 560ti 448 not 384.READ CAREFULLY.

Sorry guys, it only emailed me today saying I received any responses. My build is being pushed back to january the 8th so plenty of time to decide.

For the GPU I am actually trying to go for a 6950 or GTX 570.

The ASUS P8Z68-V and rest of the build gooseta posted is around what I`m looking for. I think I will build off that but using a HAF 912 instead of the case you provided.

Anyone have any experience with the 6950 vs the gtx 570, especially driver wise?

+1 for HAF 912

and i would go with 570 and about the ssd theres the vertex 3 for 89.99 on newegg so don't waste 100 on vertex 2

Best answer selected by thanatos_gx.