Thanks, everyone.
To answer, I live outside Chicago, USA. Life-long Mac user, no pressing projects to complete, and yes, I will have to learn Windows (yuk).
Here is what I am looking at so far. (I have a friend that is an engineer at Ford Motor and is helping me design and build this)
Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2 GHz, six core desktop processor
Asus P9X79 Deluxe LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6 Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI Bios
Rosewill THOR V2-White Edition Thor V2-W Gaming ATX Full Tower Computer Case
2 One-TB Seagate Barracuda Internal Drives
ASUS EAH670/DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128 =-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
XION AXP-1000K14XE 1000W ATX SLI ready CrossFire Ready 80+ Bronze Modular Power Supply
G SKILL Ripjaws X Seris 16 GB (2 x 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 (total of 32 Gig
Noctua NH-U9DX 1366 Dual Heat-Pipe SSO Bearing Quiet CPU Cooler
Windows 7 64 bit
So far, this is where I am with a parts list.