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I like that Corsair case, but it seems like it wouldn't be quiet once you finished adding all those optional fans, plus it'd be pretty expensive once you factor in the additional cost of choosing it over the Antec and the additional fans. What would you recommend in terms of optional fans?

No no, the Corsair case is REALLY a lot quieter, since it's specially designed to quiet noise down (sound absorbing material, etc). A PC case like this can last about 10 years, and last several PC upgrades in the years ahead, so don't save on that one.

Noise dampening of the Obsidian 550D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l59tSalJy_Q Impressive (Notice the Triple SLI cards)!

And about optional case fans, Corsair adds enough case fans with the stock case, it's all about taking the heat OUT (outtake fans), you don't really need intake fans unless you're going extremely advanced with 8 harrdisks in a RAID array and triple SLI. The air will come in naturally without the addition of intake fans. A PSU = outtake + 1 extra outtake fan on the rear (corsair already build one in) is more then enough and makes it nice and quiet.

I'm kinda iffy on the cooler in general. I haven't actually assembled a PC prior to this so I'm a little shaky on scraping off the old thermal paste, applying new thermal paste and mounting everything correctly. The fact that it's gonna have issues fitting is just one more thing.

Getting the old thermal paste of isn't that hard, just take your time and watch some tutorials on youtube.

Also, with adding the thermal paste, don't add too much, enough is enough, thermal paste =/= COOLING paste, all it does is transfer the heat from 1 surface to the other extremely well, and too much paste actually lowers the heat transfer. But again, look at some youtube video tutorials for this one, its not that hard, especially with arctic silver 5, which is in my opinion the best paste out there since it's not that "liquid" like other paste out there. Just apply paste to the top of CPU only, just enough so you can't see the shiny metal headspreader anymore, just make sure to wash your hands carefully afterwards, because silver "paint" with micro silver particles on/in your clothes is not that easy to wash out.

I definitely don't have any attachments to that motherboard in particular and I'm all in favor of getting the cheaper one; motherboards are one of those things I don't know much about. Assuming I switch motherboards will I still need the low profile ram to accommodate the heatsink if I decide to get one?

The need of low profile RAM is always present if you're choosing for a non-stock cooler. Stock coolers are terrible with noise on high cpu load. Aftermarket coolers are designed with large fans and large heatsinks which leave only space for low-profile RAM.

Regarding the motherboard, a Asus P8Z77-V LX will do fine for you, since it has all the basics you need (SATA-600, USB3.0, etc) and still is high-end Asus quality.

I can't really see any definitive evidence one way or the other on one video card being better than the other, but the 7870 is about $50 cheaper and the model in particular I picked has 3 fans, meaning it should stay cool and quiet even a lower speeds.

Always use this as reference: http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu (uncheck DX9/10 and Laptop).
- Nvidia 660 Ti => 8560 points
- Nvidia 660 => 6807 points (not implemented yet, taken from a good review site)
- AMD 7870 => 6780 points

Also, more fans =/= cooler and more quiet. The new 660 Ti is designed on a new ultra small GPU-Core technique which results is a LOT lower power consumption then the AMD one, and combining that with the asus ultra quiet double fan cooler, it's the better thing to choose.

You could also choose the Asus 660 (non-Ti) for saving money, while having the same performance as the 7870 but a LOT quieter.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814121660

I'm not very knowledgeable about power supplies, so I can definitely go with a 650 or 550 watt one instead if you think that's suitable and have a decent one in mind. I just figured the price difference wouldn't be that big.

Well it's not nessesary that you go down with the watts, just don't get a very expensive Corsair PSU if you're aiming for a normal PC without Triple SLI and 8 harddisks. 750watt is a good aiming point.

What about this one, COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 700Watt:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817171037

Not sure if you saw my point or not in the other post about why I wanted 2 SSDs instead of 1 256gb, but if I change my mind about getting an SSD for my existing desktop I could certainly go with that 256gb one instead. I'm under the impression that the real world performance difference between any two SSDs is pretty negligible, though.

Yeah I missed that post of the 2 separate SSD's. Well Samsung also has 128GB models, but choose the brand-new 840 series for extreme performance. And yes, there is still quite an increase of speed with the new SSD-technology each new generation, unlike old harddisks.

Hard drive's pretty much the same thing, I just figured by buying a more expensive one I would be less likely to get something dead on arrival. I really don't need one for performance and I don't really need storage, so I could probably go as low as 500gb and still be perfectly fine. I'll be sure to switch to something cheaper for the final build.

Expensive harddisk =/= fail proof. In fact, green harddisks are in theory more durable then "power" harddisks, because their internal timings aren't as strict.

Just get a 1GB version of the Seagate Green / Western Digital Green then. 500GB models aren't even made anymore I think.