Help with a solid gaming rig I want to build in a few months

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Anywhere in the next 3-4 months

BUDGET RANGE: Under $2K, but flexible

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming!!!

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Starting everything from scratch

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I have experience with newegg and tigerdirect, but open to suggestions, I also have a Fry's Electronics in my hometown of Las Vegas

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA Baby!

PARTS PREFERENCES: I'm leaning to the Intel i5

OVERCLOCKING: Sure

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes, down the road when whatever I start with looses it's "edge"

MONITOR RESOLUTION: What ever monitor I get, but I have a 32" HD LCD TV I can use

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
Defiantly wanna try out the Swiftech H20-220 Kit;
Want a good power supply that would handle potentially up to 3 crossfire cards;
Good, fast RAM;
Direct X 11 ready;
Considering a 30-60ish GB(?) Fast SSD RAID Array for the OS, and maybe an additional 1TB drive for storage;
Would like a sleek, clean, elegant looking Mid ATX case that can house and cool all this.... The Panzerbox has caught my eye
Maybe a good BlueRay/HD DVD burner down the road
MoBo with good overclocking ability and Crossfire capability
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I've been out of the computer building/gaming loop for a few years, but have built about 7 computers in the past. I remember my first comp I built in middle school and it was HOTTT thanks to it's sweet Voodoo2 video card! I'm amazed at how far the computer industry has come with affordable ready to go water-cooling kits, pre-modded cases, and LED.... well, LED EVERYTHING!!

Anyhow, I currently find myself deployed to Afghanistan and time in the barracks has re-kindled my past love of gaming! I have decided my coming home gift to myself is going to be a kick-ass gaming rig. I'm due back in the States in about 4 months time and would like to start accumulating parts now so I don't have to drop a 2000 dollar purchase all at once. Hopefully, that time cushion will let a few of the more expensive parts like the new ATI 5xxx series comedown in price, and I can buy them last. I don't have to have absolute top of the line everything, but I do want a computer that won't be outdated the first time I power it up.

I'm open to any suggestions, so lemme have it!

Thanks,
Logan

Thanks for the super fast reply!

That CPU cooler is a beast! Do you think it would do better than the Swiftech H2O kit I mentioned?

That looks like it definitely would be a good build

Well that does sound like a good option and I will keep it in mind. Are there any new things coming out like new features or new generations of components that I should either:
A. Wait for because I will want to get them?
-or-
B. Wait for because they will drive prices of existing hardware down?

Within 1 month p55 mobos with usb 3.0 and sata 6 Gbps will start hitting the market. I suggest you wait for that.

No, there's no need to wait. Buy the computer when you need it and don't worry about future changes too much (obviously if you don't need it now, hold off til you do). It's way to easy to drop in a $20 PCI card with a bunch of SATA 6 ports on one side and a bunch of USB 3 ports on the other

^Agree, didn't see that sentence in the OP's post.

And by then more DX11/revisioned/oc'd, etc. cards will be out as well

But since you are looking at doing 3x crossfire/sli I would go with an i7 920 personally