Maximumpc.com has the 2009 Dream Machine best PC build on a budget. This year it is packing some power at a low cost. Here is the full article: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/dream_machine?page=0%2C1
The hardware highlights:
CPU
Intel 2.66GHz Core i7-920 $280 intel.com
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R $189
gigabyte.us
RAM
Patriot 6GB Viper DDR3/1600 $79 patriotmemory.com
Videocard
Diamond Radeon HD 4870 X2 $389 diamondmm.com
Hard Drive
Seagate 1.5TB 7200.11 Barracuda $130
seagate.com
Optical Drive
Samsung SH-S223F $25 samsungodd.com
Cooling
Thermalright Ultra 120E-1366 $70 thermalright.com
PSU Corsair 850TX $135
corsair.com
Case
Thermaltake Element S $120 thermaltakeusa.com
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate RC1 $0 microsoft.com
Total price tag
$1,417