[Gazz]

Performance wise Intel is simply better. When you look at price/performance AMD is the undisputed winner there. Whatever you choose, don't forget to get a custom cooling solution instead of the one that comes with the processor.

As far as your videocard goes. The 4870 is an excellent card. Don't make the mistake of assuming that the 4890 is also just as good. I have not seen any benchmarks with the latest drivers yet, but Nvidia's new card seems to beat it for now. Both are priced about equally. I would however like to stress out that results mayt differ enormous on the latest drivers. The bench I saw was AMD 9.3 drivers (9.4 is out already and 9.5 is around the corner) vs the latest beta drivers of Nvidia, so later tests may show completely different results and may go so far as to kicking Nvidia's ass.

Don't forget to get a good soundcard. X-fi or something. They take away a lot off stress from your processor and simply give way better sound. A shame that the importance of a good soundcard is so often overlooked. Even the most hardcore overclockers and graphics junkies here ignore the importance and undisputable performance gain (overall gain that is) in gaming.