Well, it's that time of year once again, but I love it, it's upgrade time!

I'm a pretty experienced PC builder, but I always take opinions into account since I am currently going to put together a computer with stuff I haven't used yet. I recently had my old 500W Antec PSU fry my ASUS An8-SLI mobo, my WD 250GB HD, and my BFG 9600GT OC. I have salvaged my Athlon 64 3700, my SoundBlaster X-Fi xTremeGamer, my Zalman CPU cooler, and my DVD burner. I also bought a 650W PSU from Enermax and 2GB of Patriot RAM (this was before I learned of the frying. I was having an issue with my 2 gigs of Corsair XMS RAM). I already know what to get for my fiancee to replace (and she isn't a heavy gamer, so my old 7800GTX BFG card will suit her fine for Oblivion and 9 Dragons), but what to do about Mr. Fox. Well, my budget is $900 and here is what I need:

Quad Core CPU (Going AMD Phenom)
DDR2 PC 8500 RAM 4GB kit (I am only gonna use 3GB since I am not using Vista yet and sticking with XP Pro SP2. Corsair I normally use, but Patriot seems to get a lot of speedy attention as well)
Motherboard (I usually go ASUS, but any other models that can be recommended would be nice)
Hard Drive (1TB is affordable now, but if anyone has an issue with them, let me know. SATA btw)
DVD Burner 20X (Pioneer, 28 bucks, SATA, and fast)
Video Card (I am thinking of going with a 1GB 9800GT. I also usually like BFG, but if anyone recommends a different company that is better, please inform me. I am not much of a Radeon fan. Yes, I have seen the benchmarks of the 4870X2, but keep in mind, I have a mortgage that needs my attention, ha ha ha)

I was able to put together a few things that meet at 820 bucks on both NewEgg and ZipZoomFly, but before I go through with it by October, I figured anyone who owns a QuadCore and some more modern stuff would be able to give their suggestions. I might be overkill on a 1TB HD and 3 gigs of RAM. I'm a big big big time gamer, but like I said, it still could be overkill. Regardless, what would be the best bang for my buck in this case? Thanks to all that assist.

err i don't know where you're buying from so idk about prices but how bout this:

Q6600 (around $190)
i would get a Gigabyte not an Asus P45 as Asus has been proven to lie about its boards
radeon 4870 (9800GT is a re-badged, die-shrunk 8800GT and it will not use 1gig of RAM much over 512.)
4GB RAM (around $60? soooooo cheap now for some nice low latency RAM)
umm not sure about the power supply
coolermaster RC-690 gaming case
640GB Western Digital AAKS model? or two?
xigmatek HDT-S1283 cpu cooler....

all i can think of atm

Intel, I see. I forgot to mention what I have, sorry.

I have a case, kick ass 5.1 speakers, 22 in LCD, mouse, keyboard, 650 PSU from enermax. I also have a Lacie 300GB external HD, so, I don't need a secondary in case crap happens. Thank goodness I backed up all my music, pics, and program files on this baby before the fry happened.

As I said, I'm not much of a Radeon fan and I'm an AMD user. I'm planning on buying from NewEgg or ZipZoomFly (i mentioned this, lol)

You didn't mention exact model on your PSU. Enermax is a brand with a lot of different quality models. They are under-reviewed over all, but I note that their higher end PSUs are well thought of.

AMD can't really compete with Intel for performance. Lately, there has been very little reason to buy AMD at all. Just a few price points under $600.00 where a complete system is best done with AMD.

At your stated budget and needed parts you will be far better served with an Intel system.

I have no idea what V3nom is saying about ASUS. He should back up a statement like that with a link.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115041 330.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131295 130.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146731 90.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835100007
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233019 ...about (50.00) for these 3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814131113 290.00

So just under $900 from newegg, but some good rebates thrown in. This sytem will totally crush any nVidia/AMD system you can put together for this price. It will do this with more stability also.

Intel again, wow, I suppose the rumor was true. Now, is the minimum PSU requirement for a Radeon 4870 a 650W PSU or is that just for an X2 version?

As I recall minimum is 500W... That would need to be a very good 500W though.

If you just wanted to buy a PSU for a single build, to last a year or two, a Corsair 550VX would be a decent choice. Going up from there you have the OCZ SXS 600W, PC Power and Cooling 610W, Corsair 750TX, Hiper 880W "M" or "R" models... those are my short list because of quality and price. Other models might be good because of combo deals or special sales.

A Labor Day sale makes the 550VX an especially good deal:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=550%20VX

The problem with getting a quality 550w power supply for $70 after rebates is that a quality 750w is only $90 after rebates and will power most upgrades you might have for the next year or 2. Yes it's overkill for your present system, but just $20 more and you have upgrade insurance and a power supply that runs cooler and well below spec.

Yep. I can still use my 600W I bought 3 builds ago because I planned ahead. It's such a waste to buy for one build.