I will be interested in hearing how the setup goes and your first reactions/stumbling-points.
I, too, am assembling some computer parts that will allow future VR use. They haven't arrived yet, but it will be fun to put it all together and max out my eye candy in some games.
Krusty I found setup pretty easy overall, and I'd say easier than I expected, other than getting the mic to work, and with a little guidance from Kanth and Jazzi, was quite simple to solve. I referred to Easyscor's post a couple times, and the VR board in general. Easy has some very good suggestions in his post that will help keep you on track. My puter has plenty of USB ports, and had absolutely no issues with USB, and see no need for external powered hub, at least for my setup.
I saw no indication on the rift or in the materials that the unit even had a mic. My starting assumption was that I'd need to add one. But it is there. Once I found it in Windows, and the in the Aces High sound option and made sure it was appropriately selected it started working, and seems to be very good quality. Wish I could be a bit more specific here, but am 2500 miles from my system at the moment....
I have never experienced a 3-d movie or VR before, so the Oculus intro demo was pretty mind-blowing for me. Others have summarized comparisons to flying with a monitor, and I agree, except perhaps, if anything for me folks have understated the amazing feeling of immersion IN the game. I think I'm quite hooked after only an hour or 2 and can't wait to get back to it!
Good Luck Krusty, there's a great bunch of folks here to help you, and my guess is you'll love it!