I am building a new system as I type. I went with a I5-750 as reports show it too be as fast as the i7-9xx series for most games. On the 3x RAM channels you can go with 6 gigs, on the 2x, I went with 8 gigs. I got a good Video card, you can do well with a cheaper version. The 5770 was $170. I got a 640g HD as I never fill it with junk and went with a SSD this time. That will save $150 or so right there. P55 motherboards are cheaper than x58 so that saved about $50. All total I spent $1100 so you can easily get under $1k