I have been waiting for the 790i. I think I will go with DDR3 memory (2x2GB) as I want this machine to be able to last for some time. The 9600GT is already out and outperforms the 8800GS, plus it's only about $30/40 more, so it's a great card.

However, the 9800GX2 will apparently be released March 11th, according to this article: GeForce 9 series roadmap updated, GeForce 9500 added | NordicHardware

It looks like I will be getting the 9800GX2 then? Btw, I think it would have been a mistake for your to go with ATi/AMD on the graphics card as I read somewhere that the Radeon HD4000 series might be released/announced second half of this year. Did you buy already?

I've always though the Raptors were a bit overkill, plus expensive too, which is why I've never really considered them. I was going to go with a WD 500GB 7200 RPM hard drive, but I'll see when I come to buy if I can fit it into my budget... (lol)

I won't be getting cheap RAM or any cheapo stuff, I really want this to be a good rig, my last one was terrible! Now, about the OS... I was gonna Vista Home Premium... Is Vista really /that/ bad? I haven't got a chance to use it yet, let alone play games on a Vista system. I will end up getting Vista anyway, but I may still use XP if Vista causes me too many problems.

Finally, about the CPU -- I still don't know about the release date of Intel's CPU's, specifically the QX9770. I won't be overclocking when I get the system, but a few years down the line when performance starts to drop, I will probably do so. And I know these CPU's have great overclocking ability!

Thanks for your advice too, I will keep you updated as well, I am bugging everyone I know about buying this next PC, so it's only fair once I do buy to tell you how it goes :P