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[malvado]

My personal recommendations :

*Memory : A few people here recommends the fastest possible memory (DDR3) , however you also have to take into consideration that some Cpu's and motherboard combinations wont benefit from that extra speed so it's important to pick something that is reliable and fast. Personally I think that if you put in at least 8 to 16Gb ( I have had 16Gb for 6 years now) you can probably use that extra memory to put Dwarf fortress into a RAM disk that will have much faster speed's than an SSD have.

*CPU : Theres some differences between AMD and INTEL cpu's and honestly I can't say I have seen any benchmarks comparing these two in DF , however Intels Cpu's have better IPC than Amd and on pre windows 8 versions you won't be able to squeeze as much out of an Amd FX cpu compared to windows 8. Anyway if you are looking into buying either and Amd or intel Cpu you have to look at least at the i7 4790K or an FX 8350 or better from AMD (although the FX 9xxx iterations are really power hungry consuming up to 250Wats). I'd say go for Intel.

*Graphic Card : If you went for an cpu with integrated graphics (APU) then you probably won't need one, but if you did buy an expensive Intel (or Amd) it would make sense to add a good graphic card as well for other games.

*SSD : Definitely. Can't say I'm the best to recommend one , but there's quite a few reliable and fast one on the market right now, This one is pretty good

[Zarat]

The timeframe also matters somewhat. Broadwell and DDR4 should be coming to the fore in six months or so, which should make a noticeable difference. That'll be the last major boost for some time, given the increasing difficulties of shrinking dies - the 14nm process was already a huge pain and led to substantial delays.

Make sure you get a gold-rated PSU, at least. Never want to cheap out on the PSU.

You should be looking at single core speed for the CPU, RAM as fast as you can afford (your motherboard choice will limit you there) and probably an SSD (over M.2, Sata Express, or whatever the new trend in high-bandwidth standards is). I'm not sure there's much more to keep in mind beyond that, although I'm sure someone more experienced than I at building PCs can step in and correct that. As far as OSes go, I am definitely not a fan of Windows 8; any operating system that increases by an order of magnitude the screen space my cursor has to travel (charms, anyone?) and doubles or triples the number of times I have to click to get where I want to (control panel, command line, run bar, windows explorer) gets a thumbs down in my book. If you're comfortable with windows 8 however, there are a good number of low level OS improvements that might be worth it.

I am not sure when you have last used Windows 8, but there is no need for the normal desktop user to ever even be aware the charms bar exists. As for the rest, the clicks to get to the Control Panel, command line, run bar, windows explorer, etc. are the same or better. Check out the context menu on the start button, for example.

[NobleNecromancer]

The timeframe also matters somewhat. Broadwell and DDR4 should be coming to the fore in six months or so, which should make a noticeable difference. That'll be the last major boost for some time, given the increasing difficulties of shrinking dies - the 14nm process was already a huge pain and led to substantial delays.

Even tho DDR4 is coiming out soon, its speed is not really going to be faster than DDR3 for a while. The same thing happened with the transition from DDR2 to DDR3.

Make sure you get a gold-rated PSU, at least. Never want to cheap out on the PSU.

Gold rated just means it should be more energy efficient, and I would say that it is up to the buyer whether they care about how green/how much they want to pay for power tho they should at least get bronze 80+. What you really need to look at is what company make the PSU you are looking at, I know Seasonic and Antec usually make good PSU.

[Zarat]

The timeframe also matters somewhat. Broadwell and DDR4 should be coming to the fore in six months or so, which should make a noticeable difference. That'll be the last major boost for some time, given the increasing difficulties of shrinking dies - the 14nm process was already a huge pain and led to substantial delays.

Even tho DDR4 is coiming out soon, its speed is not really going to be faster than DDR3 for a while. The same thing happened with the transition from DDR2 to DDR3.

The minimal specifications of DDR4 as fast as the maximum for DDR3. DDR4 memory exceeding that minimum is already out, but because of processor and mobo compatibility it probably isn't worth it unless you really want to build a DF computer from server-grade components. (I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything, but you'd spend a few $100 extra.)

Make sure you get a gold-rated PSU, at least. Never want to cheap out on the PSU.

Gold rated just means it should be more energy efficient, and I would say that it is up to the buyer whether they care about how green/how much they want to pay for power tho they should at least get bronze 80+. What you really need to look at is what company make the PSU you are looking at, I know Seasonic and Antec usually make good PSU.

Yes, but energy efficiency is correlated with quality to a sufficient degree to serve as a marker.

[NobleNecromancer]

The minimal specifications of DDR4 as fast as the maximum for DDR3. DDR4 memory exceeding that minimum is already out, but because of processor and mobo compatibility it probably isn't worth it unless you really want to build a DF computer from server-grade components. (I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything, but you'd spend a few $100 extra.)

As far as I know the fastest DDR3 is 3200 MHz(and maybe more since this was only a casual look through google.) and has decently tight timings for its speed, while the fastest DDR4 is only 3000(as far as I can find anyway.) and while I can't seem to find the timings, I kind of doubt that it will be much(if any) better than what DDR3 has right now. But we will see. Either way it is kind of a moot point for now.

Yes, but energy efficiency is correlated with quality to a sufficient degree to serve as a marker.

Not all the time. I had a bad experience with a Gold rated PSU which I had to RMA not once, but twice. Its one of the reasons why I care more about what company made the PSU over what the rating is. Then again, that was a few years ago, so maybe things have gotten better.

[Zarat]

The minimal specifications of DDR4 as fast as the maximum for DDR3. DDR4 memory exceeding that minimum is already out, but because of processor and mobo compatibility it probably isn't worth it unless you really want to build a DF computer from server-grade components. (I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything, but you'd spend a few $100 extra.)

As far as I know the fastest DDR3 is 3200 MHz(and maybe more since this was only a casual look through google.) and has decently tight timings for its speed, while the fastest DDR4 is only 3000(as far as I can find anyway.) and while I can't seem to find the timings, I kind of doubt that it will be much(if any) better than what DDR3 has right now. But we will see. Either way it is kind of a moot point for now.

That's overclocked/nonstandard. DDR3 2133 is as far as standard DDR3 goes.

There is standard DDR4 already out in excess of 3200mhz. We have some at work.

If this is something OP wants to do tomorrow, DDR4 is not a concern. If he can wait, it's worth it.

[NobleNecromancer]

That's overclocked/nonstandard. DDR3 2133 is as far as standard DDR3 goes.

If the OP is interested in overclocking his CPU(had to reread the thread to see if he was interested or not and found nothing.) then his motherboard is likely able to use nonstandard ram.

Of course, overclocking brings its own price bump.

There is standard DDR4 already out in excess of 3200mhz. We have some at work.

Are those early samples? Because I tried planning a computer build with Haswell-E just to see how expensive it might be, and all I could find are DDR4 speeds of 2133 and 2400.

If this is something OP wants to do tomorrow, DDR4 is not a concern. If he can wait, it's worth it.

We still need to wait about a year before DDR4 becomes available for the mainstream consumers. Do you think DDR4 3000+ will be out by then? Personally I don't know, I paid little attention during the transition of DDR2-DDR3 so I have no reference.

Never liked the "wait for X before buying/building" because by the time X is out people will be saying "wait for Z before buying/building".