Planning new gaming build

[maef]

Hi everyone.

First of all I know everybody hates people who come, ask for help and get the hell out of there, so I'll try and return the favor if there's any poor sucker around here who knows even less than I do.

I'm fairly computer-savvy, but this is my first real build from ground up, so bear with me if there's any rookie mistakes in it.
I was going for a decent gaming-setup for Battlefield 3 that'll cost me no more than 1500€ (~ $2100).

MoBo:
■ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3)
I was looking for a motherboard that has some solid OCing capabilities in the 150€ range. I read this one's really good at memory OCing and since the CPU is quite a beast as it is, it seemed like a good choice.

CPU
■Intel Core i7-2600K, 4x 3.30GHz
OR
■Intel Core i5-2500K, 4x 3.30GHz
Like I said I'm building this for BF3 and I read somewhere that the minimum reqirement is a dual-core, but a quad core is recommendet. I suppose that means the game is extensively multi-threaded, so the Hyperthreading abilities of the i7 might come in handy. Other than that I'd be happy with the i5.

RAM
■4x 2GB G.Skill RipJaws-X DDR3-1600 CL7
I see a lot of people who build gaming rigs right now putting in 12GB of RAM. Overkill or worth the money?

GPU
■MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III 2GB
OR
■Gainward GeForce GTX 570 GLH
The 570 is obviously better in general, but the 6950 comes factory OCed and with 2GB of memory. For no rational reason at all I prefer ATI, so I'd only pay the extra 50€ to get an nVidia if the difference is really really worth it.

PSU
■Thermaltake ToughPower XT 675W
A little extra power if I ever decide to go CrossFire/SLI. Enough?

DVD/Blu-Ray
■Samsung SH-B123L
Not much to say here.

System-Drive
■OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
OR
■2x Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB in RAID 0
This one's really the toughest. The RAID setup would cost me about 60€ less and probably even perform a little better, but is that worth sacrificing 60GB of system-space. I'm only using around 35GB of the system disk in my current computer, but the pagefile will probably hit me hard in the new setup. I'll deactivare Hibernation since I'm hoping it'll boot fast enough anyway. Still, do you guys think 64GB is enough? Running out of space on the system disk would be a huge bummer.


I'm still lacking a case because I found it rather hard to decide on one via the internet, since you can't know how it "feels". I'd like a case that's not TOO big, but more importantly I want it to be sturdy and rigid. It should't feel cheap so that you always worry about breaking off a latch or something. Also, USB3.0 on the front would be really great. If anyone knows a good case like that which will cost me under 100€, please let me know.
I also need a WiFi card as well, so if anybody's had good experience with one on Windows 7, do tell.
Plus, I've never had a soundcard in any of my computers, always used onboard. Is it worth it?


Alright, I hope anyone even read this far and will bother to reply on any of the points.
Any input would be greatly appreciated, and of course I'm also open to suggestions that are not on my list.

Thanks to all of you in advance.

 

[Why_Me]

CPU: 2500K

SSD: Single 120GB

RAM: Any low voltage (1.5v or less) RAM...and not 4x2GB but 2x4GB or 2x2GB (4GB is fine for a gaming build). 1600hz CL9 is fine seeing how P67 motherboards don't rely on the RAM timings in order to over clock.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 <---- RAM similar to this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231427 <--- or this

PSU: A better brand such as Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, Silverstone, XFX, PC Power & Cooling, Enermax, ... If you go with the 570 make sure to get an 850w psu so you have the ability to add another one of those cards later on for SLI.

Everything else looks fine

 

[maef]

I recommended that same 4GB kit of memory to someone else on another thread today, heh. I'll stick with 8GB though to be on the safe side.
Thanks for the tip on the timing, that saves me 50€ which can swiftly be reinvested in a better PSU.

 

[maef]

I just realised that for barely 20€ more than the GTX 570 I could get dual 6870s, which apparently outperform a GTX 580. I've never had a CrossFire Setup though, is it very much of a hassle configuration- and driver-wise or would that be an interesting option?