Super Beastly Computer Build

Hi guys. What I am looking to do is build as beastly of a computer as reasonably possible without buying the top top of the line part for every option. Max (reasonable) RAM, multiple boards / cards / hard drives. I would imagine Windows 7 would be the OS of choice for RAM and program compatibility. Important questions that I don't know the answers to are:

• At what point does the benefit from RAM begin to diminish and be limited by other factors such as the processor or graphics card? (Is 8GB very noticeable compared to 4GB? 16GB compared to 8GB? How much can you reasonable get in there now with a 64 bit OS?)

• What hard drive setup gives you the fastest boot times / program speed / etc.? SSD useful for desktops or just stick to a 15000RPM HDD?

• How big of a difference would you see with more than one processor / graphics card? Would the computer be faster with two 'good' processors / gpus or would it work better to just get one of the 'great' ones?

It seems like you would have to balance the power of the processor, graphics card, ram, and hard drive all together to get the best result. If one of those were super powerful but the rest were lacking, it would be more or less wasted, would it not?

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This month

BUDGET RANGE: no budget range, but always use most cost efficient part. (eg. if the very best part costs $750 and there is a part that works almost as well for $250, use the $250).

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Batch processing / large files (100MB+) in Photoshop, mmo video games, multitasking.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg, USA.

PARTS PREFERENCES: whatever works best.

OVERCLOCKING: no idea, never tried it.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680 x 1050.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: needs to have adequate fans / run cool. quieter the better.

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Alright, well I admit I don't know completely what I'm talking about. Basically, what is the best way to build as fast of a computer as reasonably possible? By fast I mean that it loads and runs programs fast, starts up fast, multitasks big adobe-like programs well, and can handle games of all sorts.