First-time Builder: Please critique for design?

everything looks good but 32 gb is massive massive overkill unless your doing some seriously heavy Photoshop and video editing,and the performance between 1600 and 1866 isn't worth paying for unless you know that there is little to no real word difference and just want that extra bit of speed .and depending what your doing and how far you plan to overclock if you do, you could save money by dropping to a hyper 212 evo still get 4ghz on the cpu easy and put the money twords upping to a 7970. it really depends on what the machine is going to be used for and your price range .

good build blue w\ blue+black theme. only thing i would want would be a ssd for the os, but not deal breaker.

that mobo comes with xfast ram so you could always make a 6-12 gb virtual hdd, it wont go to waste. it has a few selections.
pagefile
speed up web browsing
speed up games + and apps
i had problems with pagefile.sys when i set page file to go there, but every thing else works great.
when you set it to use half youre ram it seemed to cause problems too so keep in under 50% of youre ram.
you will need a pro os as windows home prem. has a 16 gb limit.

the great randini, that is also known as a ram drive, and thanks for reminding him of the home prem ram cap i completely forgot about that.

i notice in you're sig you have 1866 mem but youre telling him not to get it, also why would he get a k series processor and a zalman and not overclock?

ur maximum budget and do u need windows+monitors?

i don't recommend it for the normal computer because its for benchmarks nothing more and as this is his or her first build they may not know that, and he may not know that a hyper 212 evo can get him to 4ghz or that a k cpu is for overclocking.As they state this is their first build,id prefer to be sure they know these kinds of things instead of them wasting there money on stuff that wont gain them any real world performance.

I really appreciate the help. If I decided not to overclock, would you suggest getting the same i7 non-K series and go with the hyper 212 evo instead of the Zalman to save a bit? Also, are there any additional pieces of hardware I would need to setup 3 or more monitors? Price range is somewhere close to $1500.

Thanks

Well i can try to make a system with that price that will do 3 monitors correctly but i need to know what the rig will be used for.if it is only gaming you will only need an i5 cpu if your not overclocking than a hyper 212 and a non k cpu is also where you will want to look.

whats ur country of origin and ur maximum budget in ur world currency?

Mostly for design software as well as video and photo editing.

United States and $1500

ok and do u require monitor.keyboard-mouse.windows?

Agree with iceclock we need that info aswell.

ditto  

I do need Windows but have the other stuff

well with some thought without actually looking at prices i can say i think a
i5 3570
hyper212evo
16gb corsair vengence lowprofile 1.5v 1600mhz
an asrock motherboard
2 1tb 7200rpm harddrives in raid 1 for backups and old projects
120gb ssd,for current projects and os
and a 7950/7970 or equivilent 3gb card
500w seasonic powersupply
windows 7 home premium 64bit
than the monitors

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ySFL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ySFL/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ySFL/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.57 @ NCIX US)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 Series – MAX IOPS Edition 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($102.37 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($292.55 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($292.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS/I Snow Edition (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.22 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($94.25 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1374.44
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-21 20:48 EST-0500)

Base Total: $1489.32
Promo Discounts: -$10.00
Mail-in Rebates: -$90.00
Shipping: $15.12
Total: $1404.44

^ microcenters 189 deal is instore only

yep

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yUqQ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yUqQ/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yUqQ/benchmarks/

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.57 @ NCIX US)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 Series – MAX IOPS Edition 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($102.37 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($292.55 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($292.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS/I Snow Edition (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.22 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($94.25 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Other: 3570k ($230.00)
Total: $1414.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-21 23:33 EST-0500)

Base Total: $1489.33
Mail-in Rebates: -$90.00
Shipping: $15.12
Total: $1414.45