another new computer thread

I'd have to agree with Crast on everything.  Just wanted to throw out that 2nd opinion for you.
And on that note, I'm most disappointed with my current Radeon Card (x1950), and will be looking into Nivida for my next card.

Errrrrrr is correct. Seagate is slowly going down the shitter since their acquisition of Maxtor. Samsung and WD are both making nice drives.

Get an Intel processor, Nvidia 9600GT, P35 or other Intel chipset motherboard, along with whatever RAM is < $50 for 2x1GB on slickdeals. Corsair and Antec make very good modular PSUs, and Antec, Silverstone, and Lian Li make good cases. For the PSU, keep in mind wattage is not that important, but quality of brand and amperage is key. Also, make sure to get SATA optical drives and hard drives, since IDE is gay.

Yikes, why would you recommend that stuff?

My picks (I essentially looked for good prices and better performance, choices explained in parenthesis):

$203.80 - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (faster and cheaper AND uses the new Penryn architecture)
$88.90 - Gigabyte DS3L (not overpriced, better for overclocking, don't have to deal with shit ASUS support)
$19.99 - Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB (Crucial makes the best RAM in the industry, and is cheaper)
$71.50 - Western Digital 320GB HDD (only one platter with high density, so highest speed possible at the moment for a 7200RPM drive)
$109.99 - PNY 9600GT 512MB (cheaper, again, avoiding shit ASUS support, you can overclock yourself)
$89.95 - Antec Sonata III (agreed with Crasty)
$33.99 - Samsung SH-S203N (best burner out right now, Samsung > Lite-On which is rebadged Sony... ick)

Total = $618.12

edit: I see your budget is $1000, if you really want to spend more money, get a modular power supply and a nicer case. Or, pay up extra and get the EVGA model of the 9600GT since they have the best support and build quality of video cards. There is no point in getting the 9800GTX since it is a bastard child of a two glued-together 8800GTs.

For instance, I'd ask someone with a $20 off of $75 buy.com coupon to get this PSU for you:

$79.99 - Corsair 520W modular PSU (modular cabling, one of the best PSUs available)

Here is the EVGA card (slightly overclocked):

$149.99 - EVGA 9600GT SuperClocked (slightly faster, much better support, warranty, etc.)

A Lian Li case will run anywhere from $100-300. Just find one you like, they are all great quality.

Almost forgot, optional coolers to silence and... cool:

$25.98 - Arctic Cooling Accelero S2 (fits your card, is the best passive video card cooler ever, outperforming most active ones)
$57.58 - Tuniq Tower (awesome cooler, so quiet it might as well be passive, but it is fucking large)

Make sure the coolers fit in the case you choose! Good luck.

Without a specific case, and with all the upgrades I suggested, you'd be sitting at $731.72 with a setup that would easily hit over 4GHz overclocking, and also insane amounts on the video card. This leaves you plenty of cash for an amazing case.

You're talking about 9800GX2, Crast was talking about 9800GTX, which is a higher clock speed G94 based single GPU card. And the 9800GTX isn't worth buying either, at least not the stock speed ones. If you must, spend even more on a superclocked version, but then unless you get a super big screen monitor you won't benefit much from it.

After talking to pissing on AIM, I must say all his choices are better than mine.  Not that mine were bad, just that his were better for the money.

  It makes cable management much easier, thus leading to a much cleaner case.  Usually on most system builds you'll end up with tons of cables which are either unused  because you don't have that many devices, or simply are there to support other types of motherboards, devices, and fan connectors which you don't have, and you end up stuffing them into somewhere in your case.   With a modular PSU, you could unplug them, stow them for if you ever needed to add devices.  This makes the inside of the computer a lot neater, makes for better airflow, and reduces dust build-up as there aren't pockets of tangled cables collecting dust.

That said, the sonata is just such a great value, as you'd spend minimum $200-ish to buy a modular PSU and a good quality case, and the sonata is half that.  If you've got the money to spare though, you can get a really swanky case and buy a modular PSU as well.

"Throw away logic and kick reason to the curb"