i7 HTPC Gaming rig build sheet - needs some polish

I have scanned through the forums and several reviews and articles the last few months on the latest hardware out there. I feel I have picked some descent hardware, but would like to see if the [H] posse would help me polish this build up. I am a cost-conscience buyer, and am looking to get the most for the money. I am building this for a cousin of mine.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
mainly watching ripped blu-ray movies and gaming, including some web browsing; play the latest games, and will be a standalone gaming HTPC; will want pure HDMI with audio/video eventually; currently has NHT speakers with Sony ES receiver (non-HDMI) and separate amps. Has a Logitech Harmony ONE which will be used for remote controlling it, so a wireless HTPC receiver is a requirement.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
As close to $1500 as possible, including tax+ship (few things already purchased)
3) Where do you live?
midwest USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
everything except a monitor (using an HDTV)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
no
6) Will you be overclocking?
yes but possibly not right away; plan to buy hardware that can overclock well (air cooling, and not looking to get every last hair of clock speed)
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
unsure if it's 720p or 1080p; might as well plan for 1080p
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP, hopefully order parts by Monday (04/13)
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
nothing special, but NEEDS to fit in a HTPC ATX casel; planning to run a small primary OS drive, with 2 large drives for media and games (RAID0 most likely); dual video cards highly unlikely
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes - plan on using Win7 beta until Win7 goes final (but not considered in build price yet)

Here is what I have decided on so far. Feel free to offer suggestions.

$215 CPU- Intel i7 920 C0 (purchased from local Microcenter for $215 with tax)
~$90 MEM- Corsair 3x2GB DDR3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145236
~$220 MOBO- Asus P6T, Gigabyte EX58 (UD4 or UD5), or possibly the EVGA 132-BL-E758-TR
~$220 VCARD- Nvidia GTX275, or ATI 4890 (unsure of ATI because of driver history)
~$100 POWER SUPPLY- Corsair HX620
~$50 CPU HEATSINK- ? (needs to fit in HTPC case)
~$260 STORAGE- 2x Seagate 1.5TB drives (really want 2TB, but can't fit in budget; go with Western Digital instead?); will use old 40GB or 60GB drive until SSD drives become reasonable
~$90 OPTICAL- Blu-Ray drive (Lite-On?)
~$150 CASE- Trouble picking one. See links below. May fudge a bit on price a bit to get a better case
~85 KEYBOARD- Logitech Dinovo Edge (I purchased mine for $85 w/MIR, so would like to find similar deal)
$40 MOUSE- Logitech G7 wireless (purchased direct from Logitech)

Notes:
A Logitech Harmony ONE is already purchased and not considered part of the budget. Will need to have a wireless receiver for using the ONE in media center. Some cases do not come with a receiver - will this be a separate purchase? If so, what is recommended?
Will eventually upgrade the primary OS drive to SSD once they become affordable.
Should I be concerned with an aftermarket cooler in a HTPC case? I think it would help. Trouble is finding one that fits on the mobo and the case.
The HTPC case will need to be black and look nice, plus have good (near silent) cooling. I desire a 120mm fan solution, but will downgrade to 80mm if needed to get a good case.


To give you an idea on what cases I'm looking at, here are a few:
SILVERSTONE GD01B-MX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163076&Tpk=SILVERSTONE GD01B-MXR

Antec Black Fusion Remote Max
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129055&Tpk=Antec Black Fusion Remote Max

LIAN LI Black Aluminum PC-C32B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112147&Tpk=LIAN LI Black PC-C32B

Zalman HD160Plus
http://www.zalman.com/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=281

Silverstone LC16M
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=lc16m&area=usa

Black nMEDIAPC HTPC-2000B
http://directron.com/htpc2000b.html

I started with the $ numbers a month or two ago, so likely a few of the components have become cheaper (like memory), and will allow to add a little more to other components.

let me know how your build goes. i'm looking to do something similar in the next couple months (i7 HTPC Gaming machine). sorry i can't really help you on your build since i'm still in the research stage myself.

but two issues i'm currently trying to figure out:

1. best "long-range" wireless mouse/keyboard combo for use on a couch. that Logitech Dinovo looks pretty sweet!

2. you mentioned watching blu-ray rips so i'm assuming you're gonna want LPCM 5.1/7.1 (uncompressed sound) support. as far as i know routing both video & sound through hdmi is somewhat tricky to do. some video cards allow you to route SPDIF through hdmi but that won't be sufficient for blu-ray rips if you wanna go LPCM. you might need to go the analog route. something to keep in mind.

good luck with your build!

I assume I would get at least a few responses. I'm not sure why I haven't. Did I ask too much, or is it the "gaming" part of HTPC that is scaring everybody off?

At a minimum, I was mainly looking for some advice on two things:

1. The best performing video card in the ~$200-$250 range (since the market seems so diluted right now /sigh). The GTX 280? 285? 275? ATI 4890? 4780? I went through all the benchmark reviews, but they seem all over the board. I was leaning towards the 4890, but I never have liked ATI's drivers.

2. Has anybody used those cases personally? Thoughts? How would I go about making sure all my components fit inside one of these HTPC cases?

@georgexi: I will post up my build once it is complete. I'm not sure if it will be by this weekend or not since no advice has been offered yet. As far as your issues:
1a) The Dinovo Edge has been awesome for a HTPC keyboard. It is as small as you can get without losing functionality, and it's sleek and super cool looking. I have yet to go out of range with it yet (it works over 30 feet away and through walls)! The touchpad works very well for non-gaming use, except the only complaint I have is they put the mouse buttons directly under the touchpad. Using those buttons requires you to remove your finger off the pad which is awkward for me.
2a) Yes, I am looking for lossless audio plus video through the same HDMI cable. This particular build won't need it right away as the person does not have HDMI on his receiver. My own build will need it, but my Auzentech Prelude with analogue outs is sufficient for the time being. Once their X-Fi HomeTheater HD card comes out, I will be waiting for reviews to see how well it works.

For a video card, go with either the GTX 260 or the GTX 280. The new NVIDIA cards don't provide enough of a performance increase to justify their higher prices at this time. However, several models of the ATI HD4870 and HD4970 come with HDMI built in -- and they have onboard 5.1 or 7.1 audio (depending on the brand and model).

Go with the Western Digital drives instead, as some people are still having firmware issues with the Seagate 7200.11 series drives. Supposedly, the new 7200.12 drives don't have firmware issues, but since they've recently arrive, they are more expensive than the older models.

I don't have any recommendations for you regarding an IR receiver or a CPU cooler that can fit the HTPC case you have in mind. You may want to head to FrostyTech for CPU recommendations.

I got the Antec Fusion Remote Max. It comes with an IR receiver. The remote is cool, but I haven't installed the Antec software yet, so its just a remote power button and kb/mouse right now, lol. The case is very spacious. I have a Thermalright Ultima90 in there right now, cooling an E7200 with a 120mm low rpm fan. I had the stock intel fan in there for a while, but the Ultima freed up, so I stuck it in. I have no expansion cards, though, lol. Specs: E7200, Gigabyte GF 9400 HDMI, SD HDHR, 1TB Caviar Black, LG HD/BD drive, EA380.