how bout u dont get a SLI board, cause SLI and Xfire is a complete waste of money. just get a MSI K8n Neo4-F or a DFI Lanparty Ut Ultra-D, and since ur on a budget get the MSI. as for GPu get the 7900GT, for now ( first its cheaper than the 7800GT, and its way better). then when the G80s comes out get one of those. For CPU definitely get the Opteron 165 ( read about overclocking until you are comfortable with it, dun wry first few reads u get nervous like me, now i cant wait). as for Ram get G.Skill, or OCZ PC4000 DDR500 Dual channel 2GB ram.