Building a PC - Need Recommendations

Recently, I got the idea of building a computer into my head. I've never actually built one before, but I'm pretty tech-savvy and I feel as if it'd be a good experience to assemble one myself (that, and it's far cheaper than buying one pre-assembled, I suppose).

I've read around this forum a bit, and have now decided to make a thread in search of part recommendations.

What I'm looking for: Budget Gaming PC ($800-900 MAX)

I really want the best parts I can get for my budget. I'm essentially hoping for 4 gigs of ram, a good video card (or two?), and anything else I'd need to make this dream a reality.

Questions:
-Dual core or quad?
-2 decent video cards or one expensive one?
-Anything else I should know?

Remember, my main concern is gaming. I'm looking for the best possible gaming experience within my budget, so any part recommendations would be greatly appreciated, as long as they're all compatible with each other. Hopefully you guys can help me out! Thanks.

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I'd aim for maybe an Intel E8400 dualcore processor. Don't go with quadcores for gaming. At least not yet. I would also go for one expensive card because if you need to upgrade, you'll be able to get even higher than with starting with 2 cards.
Also, does your budget include a case?

My budget includes all the materials to assemble the PC itself. It doesn't include a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc. Nor does it cover anything unnecessary (unless there's a good reason for having it). I'm not really sure what's necessary and what isn't, though, as I've never actually built a computer before. I'm just hoping to be able to play new games like Fallout 3 and whatnot on max settings at a very playable framerate for my budget. Not sure if that's possible, but hopefully someone here can recommend a full rig.

man get two 8800gts's or a gtx260 for graphics i think. dont know if it will suit your budget though.

Do you want to overclock? I know some good, cheap boards that are good at stock but don;t overclock well.

Case
Motherboard
CPU
Video Card
RAM
HDD
PSU
That's a pretty good setup right there. If you'd want to be able to run Crossfire, you would probably need to get a beefier power supply.
Pretty good build and it'll come out to around 785 not counting tax and shipping, which of course, varies by area.
Just so you know, it's not a good overclocking motherboard, but it supports 2 x16 lanes in Crossfire which is a great boost especially for the price.
I also would personally reuse an older CD-ROM drive, unless you want a blu ray one.

Yep, I made some mistakes in it since I kinda used a calculator so I wouldn't clutter up my cart adn the case has a $30 rebate in case you didn't notice. >_>
And if you can, reuse older cases.
You could probably get out like $50 if you picked out a different case and you can get a good optical drive for about $20, or around $90 for a Blu Ray.
Another good thing to do is signup for Newegg's newsletter, you can get some pretty good deals from it.

The most you'll be able to scrape off from getting a smaller HDD is about $5 or less. A 320gig is around the same price as the 500.
Honestly, I would suggest just that you use an old case, if available, and to order your parts a few at a time. So you get what parts you want without breaking the bank.
If you want a budget case, this is the best you'll get.

DDR3 ram is expensive(relative to DDR2) and that's a pretty good deal for 4 gigs.
Your other option is to get a board that supports high speed DDR2 RAM. The main reason I picked out that board was because it could run Crossfire with the cards at 16x/16x instead of 8x/8x.