Assistance in refining a (near) future build

[Maian]

Hello everyone. I've been looking around on this forum for a few months, and finally decided to register and post some things (mainly due to the nature of this post). I stumbled across this forum while looking at liquid cooling and then haven't been able to stop coming back daily.

Anyways, to the topic at hand:

By the end of this upcoming summer, I want to have a desktop rig put together. I have a decent general knowledge of parts for about everything except PSU details (basically I just know that the 12v rail is important).

Here is what I have put on my list as of now:
Case: Cooler Master CM-690
PSU: Corsair 650TX
Mother Board: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale
RAM: 8GB Patriot Extreme Performance DDR2 1066
Video Card: eVGA GTX 285
HDD: 1TB WD Caviar Black
Optical Drive: LG SATA 22x DVD+/-R
CPU Cooler: Noctua 92mm NH-U9B

Keyboard: Logitech Thin Illuminated
Monitor: Acer 22" Widescreen
Operating System: Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit

With shipping, it comes out to about $1,560.

I don't have a strict budget, but I would preferably like this build to be $1500-ish. $1600 would be the most I would want to spend (I don't really have much money at all right now, but I plan on working a bunch over the summer to save up money and build it then).

I plan on keeping this computer for the rest of the time that I am in college (Texas Tech University). Anyways, this rig will have two primary functions:
1) Gaming
2) Rendering (Architecture stuff)

I don't really want to get a workstation graphic card (Quadros) because they are pretty expensive as far as I can see (most expensive card being $3100).

I don't own Crysis, and don't plan on owning it, so I don't need SLI or anything (the mobo doesn't support it anyways).

Now, three things I was looking at:
First, is a E8400 processor fine for what I'm gonna need, or should I get a quad-core processor?

Second, I don't have many components that are gonna need power, so I'm getting a 610W PSU. I was originally looking at the OCZ StealthXStream 600W PSU, and then read where people recommended Corsair or PC P&C. I would rather keep the PSU under $100. Once I graduate, I plan on building a completely new system and liquid cooling it, so I don't need this one to be too future proof.

Third, I want to change the fans on the CM-690 case to Red LED fans, and saw these Cooler Master 90 CFM fans (with a 19 dBA noise level), but cannot find anywhere in the US that sells them. If I can't get these, I'll just stick with the Rosewill 120mm Red LED fans that I have picked out right now. When I buy the fans, I'll also purchase the Side Panel w/ Window for the 690.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I won't be overclocking much if at all.

[Oats]

It doesn't look like a bad system right now, but the end of summer is a long way away for technology. Things change pretty fast, new products, lower prices, etc. By the end of the summer you can probably build the same system cheaper, or a better system for your budget.

[Maian]

Yea that’s almost a given.

I’ll monitor prices of everything and either just keep this system and just get it for (hopefully) $500-ish less, or just get a better system. I don’t really keep up with lineups for companies and their upcoming releases (like the successor to Intel’s Core i7 or something), so I don’t know what’s coming out before I’m ready to build this and how that’ll affect prices.

I thought I remember reading somewhere that either a straight-up successor to the Core i7 or just a more efficient version of it was supposed to be released this summer or this fall. That may have changed since I read it though.

I figure that if Intel does release another line of processors, the C2Q lineup (Q9650 possibly?) may fall more into a reasonable price range for this build.

But this is pretty much an ever-changing setup (as any computer system is). But once I build it, I really want it to last another four years with virtually no upgrades required. Maybe in two years I’ll throw another graphics card on it (and PSU equivalent) or hopefully the GTX 285 will do well enough to last for four years until I graduate and can get a top-of-the-line system with the GTX 680 or whatever will be out at the time lol.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I won't be overclocking much if at all.

[Maian]

So, after adding some fans and things to it that I'll want, my build comes out to about $1630. Unless the parts I have picked out get a collective price-drop of $1000+ by summer (highly unlikely) then this is probably what I'll be building.

I also edited my first post to reflect my change in PSU choice from the PC P&C 610W to the Corsair 650TX.
I've decided to get 6 of the Red LED 120mm Yate Loons (from Petra's). I'll most likely just get this and upgrade the CPU at a later date, if need be.