New Gaming Rig

While that's a pretty high-end build, I can't see the justification behind some of the selections you made.

Case; sure, I love Lian-Li, that's fine if you want to get something like that because it'll last, and is very high quality.

Powersupply; You don't really need 1000w with the hardware you selected, a 750w would be better decision. Though, there is certainly nothing wrong with the one you selected.

Motherboard/Videocard. I see you're dumping a lot of money into this system because you want high performance-An X48 motherboard, with a 4870X2 video card would be a very good idea. Wait and see how the prices of it affect other video cards, it comes out this month (right?)

The Processor- is fine, though I'd go with a Q9450 with the budget you have.

HDD: Perfectly fine, though you could easily get a drive that's close to its performance and more the double the capacity for $90 (WD6400AAKS)

Memory: Horrible Idea. You can Get 4GB of 1.8v-2.0v 4-4-4-12 Ram at DDR2 800 for < $100

OS; Save $80, get Home Premium 64bit- chances are, you won't notice the difference between the two, let alone be able to justify to others the $80 difference.

Optical Drives, DVD burner is fine, though the Blu-Ray, I have issues with. Do you think you'll be watching Blu-Ray movies at your desk? Or are you hooking this thing up to something like a 30" Monitor.

Sound Card: Do you edit music, or make it? Do you have a high quality speaker set-up, or a nice set of headphones? If not, save yourself another $80 or so and get a cheaper X-Fi Card.

I'd really like to see you follow up on this, as a lot of people here on the forums want you to get the best system you can for the money you spend.

First a creative card with vista is a no-no and before i start judging the rest.
Do you want suggestion to get a better bang for the buck or just the best around o.O?

"Bang for the buck" and "best around" suggestions are both appreciated. I figure the more knowledge and suggestions I have the more I am able to make informed decisions regarding my current build and the components I will end up using.

I know the power supply is likely overkill for my current build, but I was thinking I'd invest in a higher wattage PSU at this time that way I won't have to worry about buying a new one later on as I add more graphics cards, hard drives, etc.

I've certainly been thinking about going for a cheaper HDD, though the VelociRaptor is pretty awesome. I just have to decide if it is awesome enough to warrant its $300 price tag.

I know very little about what makes RAM good or bad. After some simple research I found that Corsair Dominator RAM was highly recommended, and so I went for the best DDR2 RAM I could find. Any enlightenment in this area would be good.

Once again, I'm torn between XP and Vista. At this point I'm not sure if it'd even be worth it to buy Vista. So far my experiences with XP have been much more positive than my experiences with Vista. Any recommendations for either OS and their effects on various video games would be appreciated.

I'm still not really sure about the Blu-Ray burner. I'm thinking I'll likely wait off on buying one when the prices decrease for Blu-Ray products in general, but a Blu-Ray burner seemed like a pretty neat idea for a new build.

And I don't have any high-end audio equipment. I've been thinking I might likely leave out the sound card until I start building up my basic rig later on.