These deals might expire by the time you get around to buying.
Case options, with/without PSU:
I found 3 excellent cases which are all different sizes:
NZXT Whisper:
Ex wants one, it's supposed to be quiet. Full tower, so huge and heavy. Combo with windows 7.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.437504.11-146-051Lian Li A05NB:
My personal favorite case due to its unique design. It reverses the normal airflow, with the PSU in the front. There's only 1 place to put a fan intake, and no outtake other than the PSU, so it's not superb in the airflow department, but is a small, quiet case, so long as the cpu/gpu fans aren't too loud (aluminum doesn't dampen sound at all like the whisper). If you want a small case, this is it. Ridiculous savings on combo with the god tier seasonic x650 (80 plus gold, so ~90% efficiency, has a temperature monitor which turns on/off fan when needed).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.466902Lian Li Lancool K7B:
My case. Comes with 2 fans in the front, one in the rear, top mounted PSU. With 2 fans in the front, you have a positive pressure/null pressure system, so the only air in the case is coming through the front, meaning you can filter it (comes with filters too). No more needing to clean your fans/case every few months! Mid tower means it's not as big as a full tower, but still enormous compared to many other computer cases. The best part is the removable motherboard tray, which makes assembly so much easier. This one has a $50 combo with the Seasonic x750. Same deal as the 650, just more powah.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.472236Cooler Master 690:
Excellent case. Comes with 3 fans, holds up to 7. Good layout. No combo deals I could find other than windows 7 again. The one thing the CM has that Lian Li plainly sucks at is eSATA ports. For some reason, LL doesn't bother with them. It's something to consider.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137Power supply:
Since we're going for quality here, it's seasonic, or anything else gold. Anything over 500W is overkill, but drawing 50% is optimal efficiency, so drawing 325 W is ideal for a 650 W unit. I just can't find anything I like better than the x650/x750. Don't be confused by the other power supplies rated for 900W for the same price. Unlike most computer parts, in PSUs more does not mean better. We can skimp on this down to $50 if need be.
CPU/Mobo/RAM:
Gotta be i7. Found a combo deal with the gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5. The major difference between the UD5 and the UD7 is 12 phase capacitors, aka overclocking stability and $90. That's the difference between high end and enthusiast. Also included is generic 6GB ocz ram. I find it hard to believe one could use more than 6 GB, but if you're worried, we can find a 3x4 GB kit instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.466588Hard Drive:
You say you want 500 GB. That's cheap. $50 for 500 GB. $65 for 1 TB. Hard drive deals are a dime a dozen, but you've really only got 2 choices in hard drives: spinpoint f3/f4, and caviar black (64 MB cache version). The spinpoints are cheaper and faster, but the caviar black is better quality.
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=HD-HD502HJ&title=Samsung-SpinPoint-F3-HD502HJ-500GB-SATA2-7200rpm-16MB-Hard-DriveDVD Burner:
That's all you're going to get. $20 is the going price. I think there's still a $10 off $75 on ewiz, so you can get a 1 TB drive with dvd burner for $75.
GPU:
Looking at everything, I simply can't recommend workstation graphics, unless you have a workstation use for it (crazy intensive 3-D modeling with GPU number crunching). That being said, the second best bet is a high end normal graphics. Normally I'd pick a fermi since it's better than ATi's current offerings, but nVidia put a limiter on their gaming cards to prevent people from number crunching on gaming cards. They want you to spend $2k on a workstation (which is ~10x faster). ATi doesn't have quite the same limitation. You've got a few options. All are going to be XFX due to warranty. We can save some money here too if need be.
Run anything: XFX 5870 (PSU combo if you want the NZXT whisper case)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.430647Run anything slightly worse: XFX 5850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150494Run almost anything: XFX 5770 - can add 2nd one if you want.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150447SSD: Corsair Force CSSD-F60GB2-BRKT
This thing looks too promising to recommend anything else, especially for the price. There's so many SSDs out there now that it's ridiculous.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233124The total will be well under $2000
The only thing we can do to make it more powerful is drop the gpu down to a 5770 and upgrade to a dual LGA 1366 server motherboard. I can finalize this if you let me know which case/graphics you want.
"Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Chairman - do we have to call the Gentleman a gentleman if he's not one?"