Alright so i figured i'd get some advice from some of you guys in this forum (you seem pretty knowledgeable, or at least some of you). Here's what i'm thinking so far:

CPU: i7 2600K
PSU: Corsair HX-850
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3, or the P67 UD7-B3
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 1280MB Overclocked
Case: NZXT Phantom
HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB 7200RPM
Ram: G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-17000CL9D-8GBXLD (2x4GB) DDR3, 2133mhz version
Monitor: ASUS VE247H 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor

I think when i was doing rough price searches all this equated to a little under 2k. I realise i'm missing a few odds and ends(cooling, optical drives and whatnot), however there is still room to add that within my budget. Mainly i'd just like some opinions on the build so far and a suggestion on a good CPU cooler. Also i'm not exactly sure what the difference between the Z68X and the P67 UD7s are, aside from the different chipsets. I think it's about $50 difference between the the two. Is it worth taking the newer chipset?

Note: I realise the mobo is a little overkill for the current set-up, however, i'm thinking in the future i may SLI the 570. My reasoning is when i was looking at the 1155 socket i realised most of the mobo were only 1x PCI-E x16 slot and the other slots were only x8, or that dual GPU would force the PCI slots to run @ x8/x8. Performance difference might be negligible though so i'm unsure. Also i'm wondering whether 850W is enough for the future (dual) SLI setup.

Feel free to add or adjust anything you think could be better.

1 - 2 % difference between x8 - x8 and x16 - x16. Wont really notice it with a 570

heard from good sources that you shouldn't be buying non-120hz monitors :>

there is noticable difference between playing on 60hz and 120hz. 120hz way smoother

CPU: good cpu's
PSU: decent psu, have a look at the full modular striders also
Mobo: good boards, z68 is overrated and provides no real gains over p67. you also wont really need ud7 unless ur benching multi gpu's. gigabyte have dropped the ball this time round, go asus
GPU: good cards, tho the asus DCU II's are stronger
Case: top case, good features, fits pretty much anything
HDD: beatufil drives, good speeds, sata 3 wins
Ram: you wont ever use that ram maxed out, i would get some of the 1600mhz c8 vengeance kits
Monitor: nice lcd's, good value

cpu cooler, you can pretty much get away with almost anything, the sandy chips are good like that. Any of the premade water kits, antec H20 or corsair h60 etc are solid. Antec Kuhler box, TT frio, even some of the cheaper xigmateks etc all work fine for 4GHZ +

you will not see a difference EVER between x16 and x8 sli setups, unless your doing world record level benching

the 850w will be plenty for sli etc, having done several systems very similar to this.

happy hunting

Fair enough. Could save me a fair bit of dough since x16/x8 isnt all that different. If not the UD7 then which asus board would you recommend? I'd prefer to keep it <300 but anything up to 400 is fine, if necessary. With the monitors.. 120hz seems a tad pricey. Don't really know if the "smoothness" justifies the price increase, if so, any suggestion on which monitors? I'll take a look.

This was my original choice, don't think it'd provide a huge increase if i switched to 120hz:
www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=558_1087&products_id=16708
then again i'm no monitor expert so -shrug-

Cheers.

www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/office/monitors/lcd/LS22CMFKFV/ZA/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

Resolution - 1680 x 1050: No. Don't see the point of paying around $300 for something i cant even watch Full HD on. =/

Everyone I've ever talked to who's used one has said that there is no way they would use a 60hz over a 120hz monitor for anything, and of those people, the ones who actually bought them said they'd never buy another 60hz again.

p8p67pro or p67 sabretooth

P67A UD5.

Then dish out another $199 to get this bad boy.

www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=558_1210&products_id=16166

Or get an LG 1920x1080 120hz For $320.

Hmm.. alright, looking at the alienware 120hz also. Anyway thanks for the help guys. Pretty much cleared up all my problems and such. Cheers

www.scorptec.com.au/computer/37926-w2363d

get one of those instead.