Fast gaming build; need advice

[maximdymok]

Hey peoples, I am building my new gaming rig to update the old one. I need it to be able to play some of the newer games at high settings [like crysis, battlefield, COD] and i also would like it to last as long as possible, at least for 5 years. [well its OK if i need to upgrade the GPU but the longer it lasts the better] Now, here's what i have come up with so far:

SSD -
Newegg.com - OCZ RevoDrive OCZSSDPX-1RVD0120 PCI-E x4 120GB PCI Express MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
CPU -
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950
RAM -
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8TU-6GBPI
MOBO -
Newegg.com - MSI Big Bang-XPower LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Video Card -
Newegg.com - XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
OS -
MICROSOFT Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition SP1, OEM : AVADirect Custom Computer Component
PSU -
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Case -
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
CPU cooler -
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER V6 RR-V6SV-22PR-R1 DynaLoop CPU Cooler w/ Universal bracket

All this comes down to $1,770, which is actually pretty good since i have a budget of around $2,000 , though i wouldn't mind if the price could be lower for the same performance. Also, please, don't say anything about me choosing vista as the OS, its just what i prefer. Now, what i need from you guys is some help about a few things:
1.] Are all of these compatible? Does the mobo support the SSD and the CPU?
2.] Is newegg and the other site where i got vista reliable? Do they ship to Phoenix, Arizona?
3.] Is this the lowest priced things i can get for the kind of performance i want? (cause I'm not sure about the video card, maybe i should go nvidia?)
4.] Have any of you had issues with a simular setup? On newegg i read that its hard to use the SSD as the boot device, and since I'm no comp pro i m not sure I'll be able to deal with that. I do for sure want that SSD though, I already have a storage HDD.

Well, yeah i guess that's all, it would be nice if you guys helped me with the above things. Oh, I'm also new here so not sure if posted in the right section :~O Thanks in advance.

[glc]

Can you wait till April? That's when the revised Sandy Bridge motherboards will be available, and that would perform better than what you have and be cheaper and more stable. The X58 chipset is very finicky.

I'm not too keen on the components you have chosen.

Newegg is very reliable and they ship anywhere in the US and Canada.

I saw what you said, but you really need to give up on Vista and get Windows 7. There really is very little difference at the user level and it's a lot more stable.

[maximdymok]

Hmm, April. Yeah, actually i was planning to get this thing setup around April so that's OK with me. I really don't like Windows 7 though, i've had SO MANY problems with it... and the interface is hard to use. I also haven't seen any performance or stability boost on my previous gaming machine where i dual-booted vista and 7. I think I'll stick with vista though since i had a much better experience with it. Also, just wanted to ask if its worth waiting until Radeon HD 6990 comes out, or will it be too expensive? Thanks for your reply.

[Nuclear Krusader]

+1 on Windows 7, but on the PC side and giving your intended purposes for that rig, there's really nothing better. Get the Pro version unless you're in a really tight budget.

5 years? It'll hardly last half that with components from MSI, G.skill, XFX and using SSD drives.

Stick with magnetic drives and go with brands such as Asus or Gigabyte. Speaking of Asus, the SB version of the Sabertooth really looks promising. Wait and you won't regret it.

[glc]

The 6990 will probably be at least $700 when it comes out.

[maximdymok]

+1 on Windows 7, but on the PC side and giving your intended purposes for that rig, there's really nothing better. Get the Pro version unless you're in a really tight budget. 5 years? It'll hardly last half that with components from MSI, G.skill, XFX and using SSD drives. Stick with magnetic drives and go with brands such as Asus or Gigabyte. Speaking of Asus, the SB version of the Sabertooth really looks promising. Wait and you won't regret it.

Since so many people told me this, i'll consider Windows 7. Also, who told you XFX cards are bad? My friend had one for almost 3.5 years and its just perfect. And aren't SSD's supposed to last longer? I remember when my laptop HDD failed after i threw it on the bed. (wasn't fun losing all my music) G.Skill is pretty popular RAM and i don't see too many people complain about it. But, yeah, the MSi motherboard is the one i wasn't sure about. Someone please suggest a better option? Or is it okay?

The 6990 will probably be at least $700 when it comes out.

Just like i expected. Too much for me. So i guess i'll stick with 6970. So what would be a better MOBO?

EDIT: I'm gonna sleep now, I'll check back when its morning.

[Nuclear Krusader]

XFX is a division of Pine, which is PC Chips (PC Sheets, with a short sound as in it), which is utter garbage. Sure, amid all the junk there's bound to be at least one or two exceptions that actually don't fail, just like there were a few Yugos that actually ran fine.

No, SSDs are not s'posed to last longer. Unlike magnetic recording, flash memory has only a limited number of times you can write to it. Now, if rough treatment is the stick by which you measure a components durability (endurance would be a more proper term) then it is indeed possible that an SSD will survive a tossing onto a flat –and not always cushioned– surface. Computers are not meant to be thrown, but laid down.

G.skill might be as popular as Shamebook and it's about as reliable. They have been having a lot of incompatibility problems with it lately, and that's why we don't recommend it. When they clean up their act, maybe we'll trust them again; but in the meanwhile, with reliable modules manufactured by Crucial, Corsair, Kingston and A-Data, we have no reason to play Russian roulette with our PCs.

[maximdymok]

Hmm you have a point there. I was actually looking at Kingston RAM at first, but someone [a few people, actually]
told me that they are unreliable, and its better to get G.Skill or Crucial RAM. If you say that XFX is so bad, what would you get instead? Sapphire? Diamond? I am no expert in these things so it would probably be better if an expert suggested something. How about this:

RAM


Motherboard

And you guys please tell me what GPU would be best.
About SSDs, i actually mostly was looking for speed, not reliability. I use Photoshop, play games and restart a lot, so i need a drive with a good access time. I have looked at some Western Digital drives, but even though they MIGHT be better than some slow SSD, they definitely can't beat the Revo.
Gonna try to sleep now.

[Nuclear Krusader]

If you're going to buy an ATi card, Asus, Diamond and HIS are the recommended brands. Gigabyte and Sapphire are also very good, but the former's customer support isn't as good as that offered by the three preferred brands, and the latter offers no end user support in North America.

Before suggesting a video card, though, I have to ask how serious is your use of Photoshop. If you're using Adobe programs you better get an nVidia card; and save the money you're going to gamble on the SSD and buy two magnetic hard drives instead: one for the OS and apps and the other for your data (this data drive you'll subsequently have to divide into two partitions: a ~200GB partition for your Photoshop scratch drive, and the rest for your files).

[glc]

Let's revisit this thread in April when we can get the fixed Sandy Bridge, and see what the situation is at that time for the other components. Things WILL change in a month.

In a nutshell:

Asus motherboards
Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, or A-Data ram
Asus, Diamond, HIS, or EVGA video cards
Western Digital hard drives
Intel or Crucial SSD's
Seasonic, selected Corsair, or selected Antec power supplies
Anything but a Samsung DVD burner