Need expert help deciding on best price/performance desktop computer parts (Oct 14th, 2010?

My goal is to choose parts that give the best price/performance in the upper end of the spectrum.

I have selected parts based upon rating from Newegg.com as well as visiting Tom’s Hardware website as well as some Overclocking forums and benchmark forums. I have come up with the below list:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8 GHz
Reasoning: (Using this website: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html#) it shows that this is pretty much the only CPU that has a high performance and costs below US$ 200. It costs only US$192 where I live (Taiwan)

GPU: Nvidia GTX 460 1GB (MSI, GIGABYTE, ASUS, GALAXY)
Reasoning: (Using this website: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html) it shows that only this video card along with the Nvidia GTX 465 and ATI Radeon HD 5850 are viable options as they are similarly priced. According to reviews on various forums and websites however, they recommend this one as better than the GTX 465 (1 GB version) and gives the best price/performance. Also, bothe Nvidia videocards offer 3D options, which is useless now, but might be useful a year or two from now, something that ATI cards don’t have.
I am however, open to suggestions as to why HD 5850 or GTX 465 is better. (please give in depth reasons).

RAM: G. Skill 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC312800) Ripjaw Series
Cas Latency:7 Timing: 7-8-7-24-2N
Reasoning: Truth is I am going with recommendations on a forum (don’t remember which), the persons reasoning is that DDR3 2000 does not have any significant performance advantages over the 1600, plus 1600 can be overclocked, and with good ventilation lowing the timing of this G. Skill memory will give very adequate performance when compared to the higher and pricier DDR3 2000s. There is a whole article written on why DDR3 2000 offers almost no performance/too little performance advantage over the DDR3 1600 to even be considered.
I checked, and G. Skill is the only memory that offers this timing (relatively low) at ~UD$94 compared to all other major brands.

Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W
Reasoning: Again I am going with Newegg best rated power supply, which is the an 80 Plus Certified, the only gripe I have with this one is that it is not Modular so it will make a mess inside the case and cause bad ventilation. I am open to suggestions on this one because it Taiwan they charge almost UD$190 which is twice as much as in the US!! I would really like to have a second option here.

Motherboard: I wanted to get the MSI NF980-G65 AM3 (nForce 980a SLI)
Reasoning: AMD CPU with a Nvidia Video card I just didn’t have a lot of choices here. This motherboard is kinda pricy and it is not locally available in Taiwan (god knows why, we manufacture these things…) however, so I am definitly open to suggestions on older and good models as long as the motherboard is not going to become a bottleneck for the system (CPU and video card are in comparison, semi high-end). Also if someone can explain to me how the motherboard affects overall performance, I will be eternally grateful. I don’t find a lot on the new talking about motherboard, its mostly on the other computer parts.

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5
Reasoning: It’s what everyone recommends

CPU Fan and Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 120mm
Reasoning: Most recommended and cheap (~US$30) on newegg. However, I read negative reviews about it and they claim that it is hard to install, its heavy and can stress the board and stuff like that. So taking that into account, is there a better option? Open to suggestions.

Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower
Reasoning: Lots of recommendations both on newegg and other websites. I like the design of the case and it is reasonable in price (~UD$ 100)

Sound Card: ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192 KHz
Reasoning: I always went with Creative products many years ago, and the last card i have from them is the X-Fi Fatality but I absolutely hate their drivers (I think its their drivers causing all the problems in my system, slow start up ,hanging and stuff like that). So I am DEFINITIVELY going to go with something else this time around. This is the highest rated card I could find. I know this one is NOT bang for the buck, but because I already have a set of Klipsch 5.1 surround and Seinnheiser HD 650, I wanted the best sound card available as I am a little bit of a audiophile. This one, I would seek recommendations if BETTER card is available.

I already have the keyboard, mouse, screen, HD, etc. so those I will not be replacing.

All the experts that see this post, please kindly advise (correct) me of my choices, I want to make the most educated purchase possible. Thanks in advance for all your help!!

Sincerely,
Yun De Wang
Maplestoria – Thanks, at least I am assured that I am not way off mark on this one.

Buford T. Justice – Did you have a good meal? Haha..

Your input is greatly appreciated. You are right, the HD 5850 does run most games better than the GTX 460. However, when I did some researched, it seemed that GTX 460 (and GTX 465) handles DirectX 11 much better than HD 5850 (nVidia cards better at tessellation). The last time I built a computer was almost 7 years ago, so I am a little out of touch with the current tech, but won’t most/all future software/games run on DirectX 11 environment (then Dx12, 13, 14, etc.)? If so, wouldn’t it be wiser to kinda “future-proof” the hardware a little, at least for a couple of years?

Oh and, could you recommend two or three motherboards that fit my build? The one I want is not sold in Taiwan, I would have to imported from the US (a hassle).

Looking forward to your reply, thanks!!

Yun De