New computer build opinions

Now that Intel 6-series chipsets are available, I'd recommend something more like this:

• Intel Core i5-2500K ($220) - easily overclockable to 4.5GHz with almost no effort
• Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($30) - good performance for the price
• ASUS P8P67 LE ($145) - excellent UEFI-based BIOS, very easy to use
• G.Skill Ripjaws X 2x4GB DDR3-1600 CAS 9 ($100) - 8GB with good speed
• EVGA SuperClocked GeForce 560 Ti ($260) - good balance of performance and price
• Corsair TX650 V2 ($100) - fairly efficient (80+ Bronze), good price for the quality
  If you want to step it up a bit:
  
  • Intel Core i7-2600K ($330) - adds hyperthreading for 8 virtual cores
  • ASUS P8P67 PRO ($?) - adds SLI support and uses Intel Gigabit LAN instead of Realtek
  • G.Skill Ripjaws X 2x4GB DDR3-1600 CAS 8 ($130) - a bit less latency for a bit more money
  • EVGA SuperClocked GeForce 570 ($350) - performance as good as or better than the 480
  • Corsair AX750 ($170) - high quality Seasonic-built PSU, very efficient (80+ Gold)(Aside from memory and heatsink, this is pretty much the system I built recently. I used 4x2GB CAS 7 but would use the 2x4GB CAS 8 if I were doing it over again. I also used a Noctua NH-U12P SE2, which was fairly expensive, very large, and doesn't support PWM fan control.)
    
    The only remaining components you'll need are the case, hard drive, and optical drive.
    
    I happen to like the Antec P183 V3 case though it's a bit spendy at $160 without a PSU and very heavy so the shipping is steep. If you aren't a stickler for low noise, it might not be worth it.
    
    The ASUS DRW-24B1ST is cheap ($20), quiet (surprisingly), and highly rated on Newegg. Blu-Ray readers and burners are a lot more expensive.
    
    I went with two 500GB Western Digital RE4 drives in a RAID-1 arrangement, but I store all my bulk files on a NAS so I don't need all that much space. You'd probably want something bigger than that. (I highly recommend RAID 1, though, since it's saved my bacon at least twice already.)
    
    TechReport has a good system builder guide, though it was geared for the lack of Intel 6-series chipsets at the time so it's a bit out of date now.

I'm on a $1500 budget not $800 as much as I am not wanting to just blow my wad, I don't want to build some actually weaker than my build. Problems I see with your suggestions and please feel free to debate them with me I am not elitist a-hole, I would like to constructively learn more about technology if I am wrong.

Your first build:
CPU - Has less cache, and has features that are not needed like Intel graphics with the chip. No Hyperthreading support.
Mobo - Only supports CrossfireX technology no SLI. Yes it can do 32Gb ram and mine only will be 24Gb in 64-bit mode, but I think that is more than enough. Other than that good mobo.
Ram - I am downgrading from 24Gb to 8Gb even though it is 1600Mhz and not 1333Mhz like my build. I could upgrade mine to 2200Mhz probably change that to my build if it isn't too expensive.
Video - It is weaker than the 480 according to Nvidia it has a lower relative graphics/compute performance rating, less cores and less memory.
PSU - As great as that corsair is, it is just as good as the XFX one except the XFX one is SLI Certified and is a little cheaper.

Second build:
CPU - Integrated graphics, not needed and it is a little heavier in price although the sandy-bridge tech is supposed to be top notch. Seems like same bang for more bucks.
Mobo - Unless I was getting the mentioned CPU would be pointless to get this board, but it is a great board.
Ram - Same as above.
Video - Is about equiv to the 480, it has x68 instead of x67 for the graphics rating, everything else is same except less memory (which I know not always the higher number is better).
PSU - Has extra power that is a plus, not SLI Certified but I could live with that since it is more powerful, but it is also double the price of the XFX and both are 80+ gold just 100 more watts.

Overall: The first suggestions was a step down and cheaper, I would be more likely to choose number 2, but for about the same price in the end which to me isn't much of a purpose to change builds. I do rather enjoy seeing your builds though, good job.

There wasn't anything wrong with your component choices, especially since the i7-960 and X58 have the big advantage of being readily available everywhere right now while P67 motherboards are harder to find at the moment. The main advantage the second-generation i7 provides is efficiency. It's slightly faster at stock speed and overclocks higher, but consumes much less power--especially at idle. My i7-2600K system idles around 60-65 watts, which is less than half what my 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo system used. I thought my power readings were wrong at first...

The main reason I proposed the i5-2500K build first is that my i7-2600K build cost around $1800 total. A full computer needs several more components than the ones I listed, of course, and they add up fairly quickly; you'll need a decent case, at least one hard drive(s), one optical drive, and an operating system. Windows 7 Home Premium OEM is $100 by itself, for example. I might have been able to bring that figure down to around $1500 with some changes but it would be a stretch. $1600 would be easily doable, though. (My case, power supply, processor heatsink, two enterprise-grade drives, and OS all cost a bit more than average, so there's clearly room for savings.)

The integrated graphics are indeed a bit of a waste with the P67 chipset, though the upcoming Z68 chipset enables the integrated GPU so you can use QuickSync for fast video encoding. It doesn't take up all that much space on the die so it doesn't really hurt anything being on there. It also lets Intel serve two different markets with the same chip family so there's some economy of scale.

The GeForce 570 is neck-and-neck with the 480 in most benchmarks (some faster, some slower) as architectural improvements and increased clock speed compensate for the reduced shader count. It draws less power, produces less heat, and has a quieter cooler. On Newegg, at least, it's also significantly cheaper ($350 versus $400+) since the 480 is now end-of-life. I personally think the 580 doesn't provide enough benefit to justify the $150 higher cost, but it's always an option. You could also go with a second 560 or 570 in SLI if that's how you roll.

Memory above 1600MHz doesn't seem to provide much benefit beyond higher memory benchmark scores. Real-world benefits are fairly limited and not worth the price premium. You could go for 4x4GB if you needed more RAM, but I've found 8GB more than sufficient so far. (Windows 7 is more efficient with memory than Vista was.)

An enthusist machine for $1500 seems a bit dubious. The enthusist market is for those with money to burn. It isn't about the power, but the bragging rights. Enthusist stretchs clear up to $10k. The high end of mainstream makes more sense than the low end of soon to be outdated enthusist. When it comes to bragging rights more people will be impressed by Sandy Bridge. When it comes to actual power Sandy Bridge holds it's own against the current generation of enthusist.

Well, you're free to spend your money as you see fit, but personally I never spend much more than $1000 on my own machines, and I'm always happy with my purchases. Basically my thinking is this -- I can spend $1000 every 2-3 years and never fall out of the acceptable performance range to do everything I do and play modern games, or I can spend 1500-2000 every 4-5 years, and basically suffer through those last 12-18 months -- I make good money, its not that I can't afford $2000 even every year if I wanted to, but I want to get some longevity out of my investment and there are plenty of other things I could do with that money... Heck, with a video card upgrade somewhere in the middle, I'm usually able to get 4+ years out of my builds.

A couple comments I'll make on your build --

• The value of Socket 1366 is pretty overblown. Basically all you get is more PCIe lanes, which is only any value if you're running 3x or more high-bandwidth devices (ie triple-SLI or SLI + a high-end RAID card) and triple-channel RAM which gets you tons more bandwidth on paper, but perhaps only 5-10% more "real-world" bandwidth -- on, and having to buy more-expensive triple-channel RAM kits.
• 12GB is probably more than sufficient. Unless you do a lot of photo, video editing, run large VMs, or work with very large in-memory data sets, you're not ever going to use more than 12 gigs -- the only thing that makes 24 tempting is that RAM is so cheap -- but that's kind of like buying something you'll never use just because its on sale.
• Once again my own preference, but I think spending $400+ on a GPU is kind of ridiculous -- I haven't ever spent more than about $200 (on a 9800 pro, back in the day) and, in fact, my two most recent cards have been even cheaper, a 9600GT for about $150, and most recently an AMD 5770 on sale for $130 6 months or so ago. A friend of mine just picked up a pair of 460s for $300, and performs as well as nVidia's top-end, dual-GPU card at half the price.
  A few other things to be aware of --
  
  • AMD has much better performance/price and performance/power consumption ratios right now (although nVidia did a really nice job with power consumption on the 400 series).
  • AMD is releasing Llano (improved Phenom + integrated GPU) and Bulldozer (next-gen enthusiast/server CPU with double the integer cores) in June. It might be worth waiting a few months if you can -- even if you don't end up getting an AMD-based system, its presence will at least apply downward pressure on intel's prices.

Raid HDD or two separate hard disk in separate sata channel is a big boost. As data always comes from hard disk. compiles game executables and what not all goes to be saved on hard disk, those obj files and stuff from visual studio. so hard disk matters more than any other.