I revised my parts,
Case: CM HAF 932 $144.99
PSU: Corsair 750W $119.99
CPU: Intel i7 920 Nehalem $279.99
MoBo: Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Intel x58: $289.99
RAM: 3x2GB OCZ DDR3 1600 $110.99
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 285 2GB $402.00
HD1: WD Black 640GB $74.99
HD2: WD Caviar 1TB $99.99
DVD R/W: LG $24.99
BluRay: Lite-On $89.99
OS: Vista Home Basic $189.99
So I have $1,827.90 in parts now. Upgraded the case to a nicely ventilated CM, swapped some pieces, ditched others, still seems a bit high. I'm not sold on downgrading the GPU, either.
I'm hesitant to use Windows 7, seems risky to me. If I had to shave off, say, another $100-300 off this build, what would be the first to go?
I was thinking the hard drives, but I'd like to have the OS on one and storage on the other. A few of you mentioned my GPU, but I'd like to keep this machine for a while and with the new games coming out, I may need a solid card for the visual settings I play with. Vista is pretty expensive, wish I could get it for much cheaper