Need some advice on the following for a new rig

[doomius]

Hello, I am undertaking the task of building my first computer. Below is a list of the items I am thinking of purchasing and I was just wondering if I had some incompatible parts, if some of the parts are just bad in general, or if there is anything I'm missing. I've done quite a bit of research on consumer reviews and the like and I just wanted to get some last advice before I make my purchase. I intend to use this computer for gaming and introductory 3d modelling and digital art (Blender, DAZ studio, etc).

Some notes: The mobo I originally was going to buy was an ASUS P8P67 LE but I read too many bad reviews on how it is pretty faulty (mainly boot loops and freezes). My budget is ~1000 USD.

The parts I'm thinking of getting are:

Motherboard: Intel DP67BGB3 Desktop Extreme Board
CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 BX80623I52400 Processor
Memory: Corsair 4GB - PC12800 RAM, DDR3, 1600MHz, Core i5, Dual Channel (model no. CMX4GX3M2A1600C9)
Graphics Card: ASUS ENGTX550 TI DC/DI/1G GeForce GTX 550 Ti
PSU: Cooler Master RS750-ACAAE3-US GX Series 750W
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922M ATX Black Mid-Tower Case
HDD: Seagate ST31000524AS Barracuda Hard Drive - 1TB, SATA 6Gbps, 7200 RPM, 32MB
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST 24X Internal DVD Burner - DVD±R 24X
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64BIT
Cooling Unit: Corsair CAFA50 A50 Air Series Performance CPU Cooler (works with 1155; a lot of reviews say it is large and it may block RAM slots)

The total for all this comes out to ~$999 USD after tax/shipping. Also, does anyone prefer tigerdirect over newegg or vice versa? Thanks in advance for any advice and/or recommendations.

[glc]

How about $1015 shipped after rebates with a stock cooler?

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - LG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH24NS70 - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems

[doomius]

@glc
I do like that setup. In fact, I originally had selected the i5 2500k cpu but dropped it when I was price tweaking. I've read that GIGABYTE makes good mobos but I was wondering, did you select that one based on price or is it a brand that you prefer? I've been having trouble selecting one myself because the reviews seem to be hit or miss for the ones in that price range. Also, If I do go this route, I will still get a cooling unit (I'd rather be safe than sorry, plus it will be handy if I decide to get into overclocking). Thanks for info!

[glc]

I picked it on price, and because Gigabyte seems to have more Z68 boards than anyone else. They are not a bad manufacturer - I do prefer Asus, but they seem to be having some issues lately. I'm reasonably confident in Gigabyte and MSI as alternatives. If you can bump the budget up a bit, there are plenty more to pick from, and I feel the Z68 is the way to go, it's what the P67 *should* have been.

For a cooler, look at the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus.