I'm gonna update my in the next week or two and it's looking like it's gonna be about 600 bucks.
Unless you're getting a monitor and one of the OP vid cards it shouldn't run you 1000.
Putting them together seriously is as easy as putting together a lego set. It even comes with instructions. The only part that is a little bit nerve-wracking for the first time doing it is thermal pasting the cpu and putting on the heat sink. Even that's not bad, you're just terrified that the thing is gonna be super-delicate the first time. It's not super delicate... just don't put it in backwards. The user manual shows you exactly what socket fits what plug.
And get a list of beep codes printed out before you start, because the odds are pretty high that the first time you hit the power button it's gonna give you a beep code. But that is almost always, "You forgot to run power to the graphics card, dumbass".
Also, coming from a late adopter of SSD, I'd get one too. Samsung, Intel, Sandisk seem to be the reputable manufacturers in terms of cheapo - to - best.