The newer 800 series motherboards are noticeable better than the older 700 series boards (better performance, newer features like SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0)...basically new and improved. It also supports the new CPUs (like the Phenom II 6-cores).
VRAM (1GB of shared memory that you said) pretty much does nothing for performance. VRAM is just a temporary storage/buffer for all the images before they are sent to your display/HDTV. 1GB will only be fully utilized if you have a large display and high resolution (24"+, 1920x1080 or better).
Woah! $975?! AND WITH NO VIDEO CARD?! My whole system with ONE Radeon HD 5850 (you can see..the system in my signature...I bought a 2nd one) was just a little over $900 when I bought all the parts in December of 2010. If you were to build the exact system now, it will be $100-$200 less.
I would NOT recommend you order your computer from there.
Pretty much any descrete video cards are better than any on-board graphics; even the out-dated 7900GS there is better than the Radeon HD 3000. Hybrid Crossfire ONLY works for low end cards from the Radeon HD 3000 series (Radeon HD 3470 and 3450). These two cards a
very weak.
Here's a link to AMD's Game Forums for the full compatability chart.
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview. ... erthread=y
From the list of graphcis cards, the GeForce 9800GTX+ / GTS250 (both pretty much the same; just renamed), Radeon HD 4850, and GTX 260 are the best. Even with that said, these cards are now 3+ years old - why would you buy old stuff for a new 6-core computer?!
Also, you can buy a brand new 4850 for $70; why pay $90 from...this place???
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 2&Tpk=4850
** The power suppyl fo ANY computer is one of the most important components; NEVER cheap out on it! Corsair (along with
XFX,
Sea Sonic,
Enermax,
Cooler Master [80+ certified units],
Sapphire,
Zalman,
PC Power & Cooling,
Antec) are the well known, quality brands available. There are a lot of other brands out there, and they are
horrible.