Gettin ready/planing a new build

Hi everybody, good evening/afternoon/night.
Hoping to get your suggestions and commentaries for a new build.
My current PC is getting old, surpassed by the demands of apps and if that wasn't enough, it is starting to fail. Currently Im running on a....lets say "rented" cpu, since the first cpu (pentium 4) I had in this pc died in service DDR1 is obsolete, my graphics card is heroical but cant keep pace with new stuff, my dvd burner died 2 months ago, and last but not least Im catching now and then some noise that if Im not mistaken is coming from my old HDD which by the way, is almost filled completely.
So.......given all this inconveniences, Im getting ready to get a new PC, and thats why I came to you guys to get advice. Bear in mind that by new pc I mean NEW PC, case-cpu-gpu-ram-mobo-psu etc etc etc.
Having said that, lets commence with the show.
First, I need a new case, I've been trying to sketch/model something but Im not advancing fast enough, and i want to make it the best I can, but......time is running and I better hurry up, I really do want to order a custom made case to some modders out there, but, if thats not possible, Im a lil bit reluctant but ready to go with a retail model. So far my 2 top (and almost only) candidates are the new Vento by Asus and the Xaser VI by thermaltake, I would like to get info from you guys as to which 1 do you consider a better option. The new Vento is fine, not a lot of info but what I have read seems fine, I prefered better the outer look of the original vento, but the new 1 looks fine, but I dont know what guys here who might have tried it have to say about it. The Xaser....it looks good too, with many functional things up its sleeve, I like the huge space it haves, the arrangement of the HDD bay is interesting, the mobo plate seems a good idea too and the case comes with lots of well placed fans to allow good ventilation; but again, I want to know what you have to said about it. Also theres the Xaser vg400lsna variant, with water cooling , now, I dont know about water cooling, I mean, it is tempting but it is complicated and very risky. I want a high end system, but at the same time Im no millionaire so I dont want my new pc to get ruined by some defective hose or some crap like that, I cant waste money like that. So I really realy need your advice people, Vento or Xaser? and if its Xaser....with or without water cooling?
After the case decision here come a crucial decision of course, the CPU. I want to get a quad, a yorkfield, but I cant realy make my mind, I wanted something with a high clock speed, but the offerings are kinda dissapointing, the best candidate I found was the q9550, reasonable speed and not so big high price, but so far the only e-store I've found that selles it is amazon. Im reluctant to go with something clocked lower but theres not many options, of course my first intention was to get some 3GHZ model, but, for "only" 200-300 MHZ more the price difference its just to much, maybe if the damn extremes were running at 4 GHZ (as tested some time ago here at Tom's) or more I would be willing to pay over 1000 dollars, but for only 200-300 MHZ, I dont think so, Im tempted by the lil extra performance but the price difference is just huge, so I want to avoid the extremes if I can. Later on comes the mobos, Im going either asus or gigabyte, not sure yet, and well everything else too.
So far this are my questions, the show has started, and I wait your replies.
Hope you can help me build a super duper system.

Thanks in advance.

Nu uh, $150,000!? . .

apple, why. so you spend crap loads on a system getting worse fram rate than a £500 family PC.

the MAc Pro only wields a 7300gt

This topic has been moved from the section CPU-Components to section Homebuilt Systems by Jake_Barnes

C'mon people. No one can cooment on the cases, or give more input on the cpu?
I still have to find ggod ram and all that stuff.
Help me please.