Maximum PC

ok I have an i7 920 to start and 2gb of memory for it...it is coming out of a dell machine so I don't expect much, but don't need much. I need a cost effective case, (the case I bought for my last build was $150 and a pos) mobo and psu as well as some memory for this thing. My son finally realized that frame rate is the shit, and has been asking for an upgrade. I reckon I'll do it for Christmas; but, I have been out of the loop for about a year and don't know what is out there. I'm not looking at spending a shit ton of cash...$1500 is on the outside of what I want to spend but will go that far. I reckon with a cpu and some memory and drives already I should be able to build something in that range that will last him. I'm by nature an asus man and nvidia for video cards...but I guess from the little browsing ati/amd whatever, is the vid card I want. just gimme some suggestions. TIA

Are you sure the memory is DDR3? For $1500, you can definitely make better use of that i7 than 2GB of Dell RAM. Does he need a monitor? What games is he playing? If he already has a monitor, what's its resolution?

Here is a preliminary list:
ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
This board should give you some future proofing, power efficiency, and SLI if its necessary. I prefer MSI but you prefer ASUS so went with this one.
G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7T-6GBPI
COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
I think that this is a great case for the price and options.
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
This is a all around good PSU and will allow one Nvidia 480 or dual AMD 6870s we'll wait to see the games your son plays and the but I'm betting that 2-6870's will be fine for now here is the link for both.

EVGA 015-P3-1480-AR GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card total with one gtx 480:$1139.95-$70 instant rebates=1069.95

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity total with the AMD GPUs:$1,119.94 - $60 instant rebates = $1059.94

Newegg is having 10% off all GPUs until Nov 12th, just use promo code EMCZZYR24 to save yourself a nice chunk of change.

I would disagree on the CM 690II. Granted, I purchased the case for $40 more than what it is now, but there are several minor design flaws (e.g. the cutout in the backplate is a little too high, making it almost ineffective) that add up to a frustrating case.

Let's see...

You've got the 920. Check.
Get a decent CPU cooler. You get the benefit of turbo boost, or the ability to OC. I like the Corsair HD50 ($70) [NOTE: the HD70 just came out, but it's $50 more]
I like the mobo Wiked recommended ($220)
You need to see if the RAM you have is worth using. If yes, then get enough to utilize tri-channel (using 3 of the slots).
Though the HAF 922 has some issues, it doesn't have as many as the CM690II and it is the same price ($80) [personally, I like the style better, too]
The Corsair PSU is an excellent choice ($139)
While the 480 is a top-notch card, the 470 is a better value (about $200 cheaper)...or 2 460s in SLI would cost less than the 480 and give you slightly better performance. Right now, I'd say the 470 ($270)
When you say drives, I think you mean DVD drives, but not sure if you mean HDDs. Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB should cost no more than $70.
That's $850. Still need to figure out RAM, but now you can get a 24" monitor or 60GB SSD (both really) and still be under the $1500.

Hope this helps.

I have decent hdd and dvd drives, this is going to be more of a migration off the dell board and into a proper case. My main concerns are the video card and motherboard. I bought this dell for the cpu and monitor about a year ago, while planning to migrate it out later. It looks like later is here. I may have a psu for it, around 800-850w, I will need to look. Not looking for anything spectacular just something he can play games properly on.

Thanks for the suggestions thus far, more would be appreciated.

That coolermaster case looks ok, but I thought mine did as well...it was a coolermaster and it was complete junk...so I'm a bit hesitant. I do need something with dust screens though. This house is dustier than you could imagine.

Still looking at the nVidia cards? I like that. I'm an nVidia fanboy...well use them more often than not and they always do what I need.

Memory, I usually use crucial ram, but open, and yes it is a tri-channel cpu so the board would be accordingly. I thought the x58 was a bit wonky though?

OC'ing isn't really required this room gets hot enough as it is. Summer sun hits it and in Texas that's a lot of heat coming through the window.

I'm kicking myself now for not staying current on parts reviews!

Games...what games he doesn't play would be easier to list. He has all the gaming consoles and his steam account is, well lets just say extensive.

On his computer most games are purchased through steam for ease of use. He is used to my hand me down parts, but as I don't game much anymore so, the parts are not as current as they once were.

Turk