Nice looking box. Decent build. Great support. Poor price.
Why poor price?
CoolerMaster HAF 922 Case $99.99
Corsair 1000W PSU $239.99 + $20 MIR
Asus Crosshair III Formula mobo/Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3-1600 combo $289.98
Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon 4870 2GB card $199.99
2nd Sapphire Vapor-X 2GB card/2nd set Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3-1600 combo $299.98 + 15 MIR
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz Quad-Core $199.99
ZEROTherm Nirvana NV120 HSF $49.99 + $20 MIR
Kingston V-Series 128GB SSD $249.99
2 Seagate 7200.12 500GB drives $109.98
Lite-On 8x BD-ROM drive w/Lightscribe $109.99
4 Scythe S-Flex 120mm case fans $55.96 (fully ventilate the case)
Price w/shipping (not including MIRs): $1918.47
So for $300 less, I can have the rig with SSD, more video RAM, faster disks in RAID, better gaming mobo, etc.
Plus if I was budget conscious, I could easily drop the SSD, move to 4-500GB drives in RAID 0 for high performance, plus move to 2x4890s and save another $150 or more.
Sure the i7 950 is gonna be a workhorse, but I think the increased RAM, video RAM, hard drive speed, as well as a mobo customized for gaming makes a better choice for gaming especially in the high end.
Don't get me wrong. That system is great for someone who knows nothing about building a rig. But if my mom (who is in her 70s) wanted to play video games, I wouldn't recommend that machine. That's too much money to shovel out, even if you are getting great support. Great support doesn't last forever. Look at Gateway. I used to use them both consumer and GSA side. Were awesome. Now, Gateway is a mess.
Lifetime warranties are great for memory from a major maker. But when it comes to a pre-built system of parts from 15 different manufacturers, I don't put too much stock in a company honoring "lifetime" anything.
But if you were someone with no time and plenty of money, that rig would be good. I think your concluding assessment is that the price is "reasonable" holds under those conditions.
Good article tho. Thanks very much.