Here's a $2000 setup -- what do you think?

[Trunk]

Corsair Carbide Series 400R Mid-Tower
i5-2500K 3.30 GHz
ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3 Intel Z68 ATX Mainboard
Geforce GTX 580 1.5GB (EVGA Superclocked)
NZXT HALE90 80 Plus Gold Power Supply 850 Watts
Corsair Force GT Series 240GB SSD
Kingston HyperX 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz
Corsair Hydro Series H60 Liquid Cooling System 120mm Radiator & Fan

***

I'm most unsure about the motherboard choice...I kinda just picked one...

...and the reliability of this particular SSD...

 

[adityar0210]

OMG, Thats a really good build. I wish I had the money to build something like that, especially the GTX 580.

Mobo's cool, and the SSD looks good. You might want to check some reviews on that SSD, because im not familiar with Corsair GT SSD's.

 

[rvilkman]

You could probably do just as fine with air cooling, unless you specifically want that closed loop.

You might want to consider the 1000W Hale90 if you plan on going SLI and OC's on the GPU's and a high OC on the CPU.

Otherwise looks good, just make sure the memory is 1.5V.

And depending on if your budget allows it Asrock Z68 Extreme 7 might be a good alternative for mobo as well, if it has more of the features you want.
Check it out anyway, it is a tad more expensive though.

 

[Why_Me]

Get a beefier psu, and these cases down below have built in fan controllers. Also these boards require low voltage RAM as in 1.5v or less.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139009 $129.99 - $114.99 after mail-in rebate card FREE SHIPPING
Corsair Carbide Series 500R Black Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

or that same case but in white....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010 $129.99 - $114.99 after mail-in rebate card FREE SHIPPING
Corsair Carbide Series 500R White Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.732099 $683.98 FREE SHIPPING
CORSAIR Professional Series HX1050 1050W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Power Supply
MSI N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269 $279.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 $219.99 FREE SHIPPING
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.696126 $68.48 $5 off w/ promo code EMCKAHH23, ends 9/28
LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442 $196.99 FREE SHIPPIN
Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Total: $1,579.41 *not including shipping and rebates


Some good 1.5v RAM to check out....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186 $52.99 FREE SHIPPING
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 $51.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314 $51.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226191 $54.99 FREE SHIPPING
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996995

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226219 $53.99 FREE SHIPPING
Mushkin Enhanced Radioactive 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 997005


http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme7%20Gen3 <----- a better look at that board

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/PCIe3/ <----- PCI-E 3.0

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4272/asrock_z68_extreme7_gen3_intel_z68_motherboard_review/index.html <----- review of that board

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html <----- review done here on toms showing boards like the one above with the NF200 Bridge (dual cards @ x16 & x16) help to reduce micro stutter

 

[Trunk]

Thanks for the info! Here's what I'm looking at now.

Corsair Obsidian Series 650D
Intel Core i5-2500K
ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3
MSI N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC 800MHz, 1536MB GDDR5 4096MHz
NZXT HALE90-1000-M 1000W
INTEL 300GB 320 Series SSD (want to keep it simple with only one HD)
G.SKILL 16GB (4 x 4GB) Ripjaws DDR3 1600MHz 1.5V SDRAM (16 GB only a little more $ than 8 GB)
CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (will this fit in the case? does it obstruct airflow? Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus a better choice? Is the H60 maintenance-free?)

I was going to order this through CyberPower, but the motherboard, GPU, SSD, RAM, and air cooler are not offered.

Suggestions on another builder? (Obviously I'm not going to do it myself.)

 

[Nim Chimpsky]

Thanks for the info! Here's what I'm looking at now.

Corsair Obsidian Series 650D
Intel Core i5-2500K
ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3
MSI N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC 800MHz, 1536MB GDDR5 4096MHz
NZXT HALE90-1000-M 1000W
INTEL 300GB 320 Series SSD (want to keep it simple with only one HD)
G.SKILL 16GB (4 x 4GB) Ripjaws DDR3 1600MHz 1.5V SDRAM (16 GB only a little more $ than 8 GB)
CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (will this fit in the case? does it obstruct airflow? Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus a better choice? Is the H60 maintenance-free?)

I was going to order this through CyberPower, but the motherboard, GPU, SSD, RAM, and air cooler are not offered.

Suggestions on another builder? (Obviously I'm not going to do it myself.)

You should take a look at this thread.

I liked your original pick of the Corsair Carbide, especially the one with the fan controller as suggested by Why_Me.
I disagree with Why_Me when it comes to power supplies. You don't need a 1000W power supply, even for 2 580s in SLI. Instead, get the super-efficient Corsair HX850.
Why do you want to keep it simple? Instead of spending $545 on an SSD, get a faster Patriot Wildfire 120GB for $280 and a 2TB HDD like this.
I seriously doubt you need 16GB of RAM. Video/photography professional? Gamers don't need more than 3GB; if you want to feel future-proof, get 8GB: you'll be able to get faster RAM for a lower price.
The H60 is nice, but air-cooling like the Noctua NH-D14 or the Thermalright Silver Arrow will give you better temps. The former has a better mounting system, whereas the latter's fans have PWM.

 

[Trunk]

I did view that thread -- too many (good) choices not available through Digital Storm. I just don't want to build my own thing. My time and effort and the overall warranty of it all working correctly is valuable to me.

As for "keeping it simple" -- to have to designate each "save" to one or the other drive...isn't it a hassle? For example, iTunes: I assume you'd want to put the application itself in the SSD but the actual song-downloads folder (all the songs) in the other, regular HD. But then you're messing with the default settings of iTunes.

Complications, hassle. Doesn't take much to run into that dumb mess.

?

 

[Trunk]

p.s.

Digital Storm only offers:

8GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator DHX

8GB DDR3 2000MHz GTX-8 ADATA XPG Gaming v2.0 Series (for $30 more)

 

[Nim Chimpsky]

I did view that thread -- too many (good) choices not available through Digital Storm. I just don't want to build my own thing. My time and effort and the overall warranty of it all working correctly is valuable to me.

As for "keeping it simple" -- to have to designate each "save" to one or the other drive...isn't it a hassle? For example, iTunes: I assume you'd want to put the application itself in the SSD but the actual song-downloads folder (all the songs) in the other, regular HD. But then you're messing with the default settings of iTunes.

Complications, hassle. Doesn't take much to run into that dumb mess.

?

Ah, I see. There could definitely be complications with that setup, but mine is completely hassle-free. I don't know if you could do the same thing in Windows, but I used symlinks to direct anything trying to access my home folder to the HDD. Thus the iTunes app is on my SSD while the music is on my HDD, but after that initial setup I never have to see anything messy.