Rage: The chosen Corsair PSU is $70 and also ships with a rebate and the difference is negligible. If the prices hold over the next two weeks I will add the OCZ unit. Just so you know, we don't take rebates into consideration when generating the lists because there's no guarantee that a user will purchase from a given retailer, nor is there a guarantee that the rebate will actually be available the next day -- and most people find them to be a hassle anyway.
As for the ASRock boards, you can say what you will about their build quality, but they generally offer more features for less cash, and based on our reviews, they perform rather well. I've used many ASRock boards (as well as Gigabyte and others) and I haven't been disappointed with any of them. In my opinion, this is just nitpicking.
It's worth saying that none of these components or systems are "the one". They reflect our opinions and offer a great starting point to anyone interested in building a new PC. Someone could buy every component in a given build and rest assured that they'll get the best bang for their buck, or damn near it. Likewise, they could take a few parts off our list and use it in something that more suits them.
Red: Also, I want to make this very clear: We absolutely do not make picks based on advertising or other monetary gain. You're reading too deeply into Julio's comment. What he said is very true, though, in that we do have reasons for choosing one component over the next, and I'll try to elaborate on that so we don't look like sellouts haha.
Believe it or not, we don't press a magic button to generate these lists. We spend a ton of time on each and every build. No part is selected blindly, but rather they are specifically chosen for one reason or another. In other words, there is a method to our madness. Whether or not that aligns with your taste and ideology is another story, and it's impossible to please everyone.
