New Build Config: Please Advise

[simple_inhibition]

yeah, ive used OCZ ram before too. great customer support. i killed my old OCZ Gold VX DDR400 and they replaced those with OCZ Platinum Rev2 DDR400. gotta love their lifetime warranty

[Dr. V]

(Gonna copy One4's "organization" technique).

RAM
In terms of the Tacers and non-Tracers issue, I'd say it depends on your case. If you choose a windowed case, it's well worth the minimal over-cost of the Tracers, because it does add a LOT to the look of the system. If there is no window, then as said before, they're both the exact same RAM, don't waste the money.

For the OCZ kits in question and that are being recommended, don't kid yourself in thinking they aren't extremely good kits; they are. They, in my opinion, are the closest competitors of the Ballistix. I would choose the Ballistix because OCing them is nicer and usually brings better results than pretty much any other kit. At this point, Ballistix PC2-6400 vs. Plat Rev 2 XTC PC2-6400 is a completely personal choice - up to you.

CPU
For CPU, I'd say most definitely stick with quad core. Yes, it's said that the E6750 or E6850 (which is the same price) has better performance in some areas, which it does only because not everything is optimized for quad core just yet. With a 3.0GHz clock speed, the programs that only use 2 cores will obviously run faster on the E6850 because of the .6GHz extra juice. But, where quad core kicks in (other than some programs like benchmarking tests, Photoshop, etc) is pure multitasking. It doesn't matter if some programs don't support the usage of all 4 cores - with more cores, you can do a helluva lot more. Also, in the near future with DX10 games coming out, they will be fully optimized for quad core and will utilize it to the fullest. For example, to have 100% of the effect of DX10, you'd need to get a quad core because the games were meant to run on 4 cores and make use of all of them. Don't forget a lot of DX10 focuses on the CPU to do things that it never used to do during gaming, but can technically do them so much faster/better/more efficiently than the GFX card. Thus, letting the GFX card focus on the most important things that it does well.

Quad core support may not be huge now, but in the very near future, it most definitely will be - and I advise anyone building a new system geared toward high-performance anything to grab a quad core - especially looking at the price.

Video Card
Video Card - what will you be running mostly (with examples if you could) on this computer? If you're pretty game-intensive, I don't recommend anything less than a 8800GTS. It's the best bang-for-your-buck video card out there now. However, if you're grabbing a 8600GTS to hold you off for now (which it will pretty well) and waiting for DX10.1 cards (nVidia 9000 series) to come out, then great idea as well.

Hard Drive (/Hard Drive Configuration)
I love your hard drive, and would recommend a dual hard drive setup (grab 2 of the one you mentioned) one dedicated to your OS/Programs/Games, and the other for everything else in terms of data and anything like media, documents, downloads, everything. Or to be safe, yo ucould go for a 500/750GB for your secondary.

Cooler (HSF)
As for your cooler, I'd highly recommend looking at the Thermaltake V1 (or Big Typhoon VX), Cooler Master GeminII, or the Thermalright Ultra 120 (Extreme).

Motherboard (/Chipset)
There has been some talk about chipsets. I wouldn't recommend getting hte 680i LT - at this point it's better to choose between the 680i or 650i. If you're going the Intel route, the P35 chipset is an amazing choice, and especially if you don't plan on running SLI, the Gigabyte DS3 version is perfect (I think this was mentioned before).

That's pretty much what I can think of, and all I can type without needing a break!

[Elysium]

I personally hate the mounting system for the GeminII. I somehow broke it, so that's why I hate it.