To buy the beast? Or not to buy?, Srs Bsns! Options

[fISHiE]

Try not to flamewar and/or Troll
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intel Core i7 2600K

Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 Motherboard

Corsair CMP8GX3M4A1600C8 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3

Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD

3x Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARX

Gigabyte Radeon HD6990 4GB

Samsung SH-B123A 12X Blu-ray DVD Combo Drive

Corsair Obsidian 650D Case

Corsair AX850 Gold Power Supply

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL: $3000-ish

[MetaSynapse]

It'll do the job, you could probably get it cheaper though.
For reference, almost those exact same parts cost around $2800 including shipping from PC Case Gear.

CPU: I'd advise going for the 2500K, all the 2600K has over it is HyperThreading, which is not at all useful for gaming. Unless you intend to do video encoding etc, save yourself the extra $100.

Cooler: The ThermalRight Silver Arrow performs almost identically (in some cases better) and is $20 cheaper. Otherwise consider the Corsair H60, or even stepping up to a Swiftech or XSPC watercooling kit (which you can partly buy with the $100 I save you earlier )

Motherboard is overkill, unless you plan on running CrossFire/SLi down the track (so I guess it's reasonable). Even still, the only way you'd need 16x16 is with dual 6990s or GTX590s. I would personally recommend the UD4.

RAM: Get 2x 4GB sticks rather than 4x 2GB sticks, leaves room for upgrades (and big coolers!). For example, these G.Skill Ripjaws. Also there's SFA difference between RAM speeds/latency in real world usage. Sure, your benchmarks might tell you otherwise, but I noticed absolutely no difference going from 1333CL9 to 1600CL8 (which is a double upgrade, higher clocks and lower latency).

SSD: Good choice, no further comments.

HDDs: ANYTHING but WD I'm assuming you plan to run them in RAID0?

GPU: I would suggest the GTX 590, it's slightly faster and noticeably quieter, for roughly the same price.

ODD: Looks good, I've got the same one

Case: Yep, Corsair cases are great, especially for cable management.

PSU: I would highly recommend the SilverStone Strider Plus 850W. Fully modular, only just shy of 80+ Gold, and ~$75 cheaper. And it's great quality (I've got one too).

Also do you already have a copy of 64-bit Windows? Preferably Win7? You'll need 64-bit to take advantage of all that RAM. Expect to pay around $100 for it.

Finally, you didn't actually mention if you were building it yourself or not since most retailers don't offer prices that reasonable, I'm guessing you are? If you're anywhere north-east if Melbourne I can either help out or build the whole thing for you, I'm quite reasonable when it comes to prices, and I can handle any warranty claims.

Cheers,
Rory.