Noob needs help on mid-level budget gaming rig

I am looking to buy a rig for gaming.
I would also like to be able to use 3ds max well.

My budget is 1500 but I will go 1750-2000 if you can help me understand why I should spend that much.

I want an i7, I was thinking 16gb ram but the amount of ram doesn't matter as much as quality right? I don't mind upgrading later so that I can stay within budget now.
I also would like a decent graphics card. I think gt580 and gt590 are too expensive for my budget so I was thinking I should get a single gt570 and get another one in the future for SLI. My point being that I would need the rig to be SLI capable.
I don't know anything about cases, fans or cooling but I am willing to listen.

I really wanted to ode because I thought it was a good deal but I realized it cant do SLI and you cant customize it. So I tried to pic a diff model and customize that to match the ode but to have sli . I know that's prob not going to get me good pricing comparisons so I came to the forums for advice.

So basically Im looking for an i7 2600k, sli enables,  with 6gb ram 1600MHz and a gt570, and maybe a blueray player/burner option if you think that's viable.

Thanks for the help!

Here you go Ticket# 619600 --- $2,076 (To see this build click here)

Copy of Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO (Intel Z68 Chipset) (Features Intel Quick Sync Technology)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 1050W Corsair Pro Silver 1050HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) (Model: Blue Edition)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB (Includes PhysX Technology) (EVGA Edition)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Corsair A70 Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

assuming that you game at 1900 x 1200, if your res is lower then you don't even need sli.

here you have much much better case, psu, cpu cooler.

the case has amazing airflow the best around.

the psu will allow you do to sli 580, you can drop the psu to 800w but then in the future if you want to upgrade the sli to future cards and they have needs of a 580 sli the 800w can't do it, plus the 750w hx is more powerful then the 800w, it can't do sli 580 but it can do sli 570 better then the 800w.

the cpu cooler is much better then vortex and is not as loud.

now that is a quality build, if you don't want sli 580 ability for future upgrades go with the 750w hx psu but don't change anything else in my build otherwise performance/reliability will suffer.

I just config the lowest model that is already built to be honest with you.

there is no way to set the page to zero.

there are 2 sections of forum, blackops and special opps, each has options the other does not.

95% of your noise comes from gpu's fan when under load, only way to make that quiet is to put it under lc.

this has lot less noise than your config, but if you want to make it more quiet, you need to go with noctua or stage 4 lc, that stage will add lots to the cost.

If you get lc on gpus, if something goes wrong with gpus or its time to upgrade, you need to take out the gpu from the lc loop, take off the water block from the current gpu and put it in the new gpu, then add the new gpu back to the block.

its something that takes a few times to get uses to but after that its not difficult.

If you tell me your res I can make the work easy for you and tell you whats your money's worth.