Hello im looking to put together a system for roughly 3k and would like to see what  you guys think about this build.
 
psu Silverstone 1000w
 
Cpu Q9450 quad 1333fsb 12mb cache
 
Mb  Nvidia 790i ultra
 
memory 4gigs of corsair 1333mhz
 
HDD x2 74g raptors in raid 0
                  x1 400g Wd  
 
Gpu 9800gx2
 
A couple  of things i am torn with should i stick with vista or head back to xp? Also is there a better choice for ddr3 ram?
 
Thanks in advance for your input.

What case are you planning on using (I recommend aone designed for decent airflow even if your not OCing)?
 
The raptors in RAID0 are a bit overkill, but whatever floats your boat. Personally I would get 4x 640 GBs (prob costs the same/less as well) in RAID 4, you will loose the 4th HDD for parity check, but integrety is better than the RAID0.  
Or in 2 RAID 1 arrays, but you will only get 2 HDD of storage (Still 1 TB), but with the benifit of better data integrety and slightly better performance.
 
The 9800 GX2s AFAIK require the right sized case, as they are longer than an ATX Mobo.

Thank you for your response
 
i plan on using a cooler master stacker full tower http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 811119121.
 
I plan on using this system exclusively for gaming do you feel that a raid 1 array will net me better performance over a raid 0 raptor set up?
 
Also i have read few different articles on ram and i am still a bit uncertain on what exactly i should purchase. I do intend on OCing the proc so should i be going with 1600/1800mhz ddr3 Or is the 1333mhz fine? Obviously they are still a bit pricey so i want to be certain i am grabbing the right one.
 
Thanks again

That case should be large enough for the 9800 GX2
 
The RAID1 is better for integrity than a RAID 0 setup. I'm not sure on performance, I am guessing RAID1 is slightly better than RAID0 when compared to identical drives, but the I dont know about RAID0 raptors compared to RAID1 7200s. You could of course just do RAID1 Raptors, but the 2x74 GB goes to the equiv. of 74GB.
The RAID4 array has a bottleneck at the 4th HDD, as it always has to be accessed for parity checks.
 
The problem with DDR3 RAM ATM is its price and latency. Currently DDR3 has a higher latency than DDR2 RAM (especially at same frequencies). This will eventually be addressed in newer manufactures of the RAM. The 1333Mhz should be fine as the FSB of the Intel ship is 1333mhz (I am pretty sure this is how it works)
 
The OCing was more relavent to the case... If you were going to use some el'cheapo beige case I would have been concerned about airflow to you parts. If you are planning on any major OC of your CPU I recommend getting some after market cooling, something copper with a nickel coated bottom.