Building My First PC

[VenomSilos]

Hello everyone! Thanks for your time in looking into this post, as it is my first. I am planning on building a PC in the near future, and since I'm fairly unfamiliar with computer hardware, I would like suggestions if anyone has the time! 

I'm wanting to keep it at roughly $1,000 ($1,200 being my "max"), so keeping that in mind, what would you guys recommend? I was thinking of an Intel i7 & GTX 580 for the CPU and GPU, respectively, but I'm not sure if others would be superior for the price point I'm looking for. I've not researched any other components extensively, so help on that would be great as well!

The primary application of this machine will be gaming (Battlefield 3, anyone? ), but I would also like to try out some editing software, such as Photoshop, Blender, After-Effects, etc. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to elaborate more if need be.

Thanks in advance!
Venom

[gamingluv]

What type of games do you play?

I think the GTX 580 may be a little bit overboard for that price range... I mean heck you'd be at 300 for the i7 (I'll assume you're going for the 2600k) and 500 bucks for the GPU... then you'd only have $400 left over to get everything else.  Why not get a GTX 470 or a HD6950 GPU (techpowerup.com can show you how to flash the bios for a free upgrade to the 6970) and leave more for other peripherals?  You should be able to run pretty much at max settings with either of those video cards (then replace it in 12-24 months or whenever you need it. Do you already have a gaming monitor? 

Anyway, if you went with a GPU around 250, 2600k around 300, motherboard for another 150-200 (see the ASUS P8P67 LE or the Sabretooth P67), threw in a HAF Mid-tower 932 for 100 (expect around 150 for a full), windows 7 (100 bucks) then you still have 300 bucks for memory etc.. and you'll probably need every dime.