Suggestions on this Set up

[smackababy]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
-gaming and programming (getting into multithreaded more and more)

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
-trying to spend around $1000 on what I still need

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
-USA, usually grab newegg

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
-prefer Intel and nVidia but open to suggetions

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
-Antec 1200, Corsair HX520 PSU, 2x2GB DDR2 1066 RAM, 22" 19x12 LCD, 5.1 speakers

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
-yes, have general idea of what is good

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
-no point in not overclocking...

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
-soon as possible (read as buget allows)

Looking at
intel Q9550
Sunbeam CR-CCT 120mm "Core Contact Freezer" (#2 right now at Frostytech)
gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R
eVGA GTX260 216 core 55nm
WD Caviar Black 640GB HDD
WD Caviar Green 1TB HDD
LG Black Blu-Ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16x DVD+R (not essential to have this, but wouldn't mind)
Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit

 

[yh125d]

+1 on the BD drive. Mine comes in the mail today.

With future upgrades in mind, You could switch motherboards from the UD3R to UD3P, and GPU from GTX260 to 4870 1gb. You'll have similar graphics performance out of the box, with the option of adding crossfire later without havign to buy a new motherboard. Or, you could switch the motherboard to UD3P and keep the GTX, and have the second PCI-e slot open for another card later for Physx.

AMD's PHII is a pretty good performer also. You could switch the $410 combo of Q9550 + UD3R for the $290 combo of PHII 940 and Biostar TA790GX

PHII - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103471
Mobo - look in combo deals of the PHII

 

[Denithor]

That'll be a right nice build, I like it just the way it is. Well thought out!

And I also have that LG BR/HD DVD/DVDRW combo drive. Very quiet, fast for ripping (no riplock, if I've heard correctly - one of the few without it) and HD movies look great on a big LCD screen.