Gaming/Programming core i7 machine - critque wanted

GTX 285s are still not very good bang for the buck. Two of the GTX 260s will cost the same and give you all the performance you need:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150361


On the cooler, The Noctua is quiet and also one of the best air coolers:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835608007

I agree with Video card and ram change. I use the OCZ oblivion linked and it runs great.

In addition to SLI setups, you may consider a 4870x2 like this one for the same price. Crossfire 4890s can also be had for just a bit more, which would offer huge performance.

The Dark Knight is also a good heatsink.

If gaming is your main concern, I would also recommend a sound card, like a xonar or x-fi. If it's not in the budget now, you can easily add it later. Assuming you have good speakers, it can really improve your gaming experience.

The Cooler Master ATCS 840 is also in your price range if you want a really nice, no-frills, feature-rich case. It has some really slick usability perks (namely full removable ball-bearing track mobo tray) and the large 240mm fans, but more noise may escape than in the Cosmos if you have something really loud inside (namely a video card with a fan running at mach speeds).

he wants silence, therefore 4890 vapor-x is the card

Thank you very much for the replies, +1 for all the suggestions.

I decided to take some suggestions and made the following changes:

UPDATES:

MEM:
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Retail
(Ditched the crucial + gpu combo above; figured that was that was the weaker part of the build, looks like I was right!)

CPU Cooler:
Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler - Retail

I'm having trouble deciding on the GPU. I don't know why I didn't think of picking a silent GPU beforehand until rescawen mentioned the 4890 vapor-x. I should mention that I don't mind spending the extra money for a better card combination since I'm still within my budget. The total cost of the new PC right now is floating between $1600-$1700 depending on the video card choice. I've taken your suggestion on SLI/X-fire over a single expensive GPU.

right now I'm torn between the following video card choices:

( SAPPHIRE VAPOR-X 100269VXL Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail ) x 2 (XFIRE)

( EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail ) x 2 (SLI)

I was reading that the EVGA 260 GTX card has reasonable noise levels on the fan as well. Do you think there would be a major difference between the noise levels of these two cards? I would also be willing to pay a bit more for increased stability / lower temperatures. If anyone has other video card configuration suggestions I'm up for those as well.