Overdue

[z06dragon]

Hello Everyone, I'm new to the forum and stumbled on here while researching my new build. I'm asking for your advice since I've been out of the build scene since my last rig about 7 years ago. I was playing BF, Quake 3 and Crysis. Yes, enormous changes since then. I would like to build a rig that can easily run on the latest graphics intensive games at full throttle and also I dabble in home video/photo editing. What are your suggestions on a new build?

Here's what I built back then:

Existing
CPU: Intel E6600 Conroe 2.4Ghz (OC)
Mobo: EVGA 780i SLI
RAM: 4Gb Dominator DDR2 SDRAM 1066
GPU: 2 EVGA 8800GTX in SLI
PS: Enermax 1000W
OS: XP Pro
SC: Fatality Pro 7.1
HD: WD Raptor 150Gb
HD: 3 WD Cav Blue 500GB
Zalman CPU cooling fan

New:
CPU: Intel i5 3570k
Mobo: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77
RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600
GPU: ?
PS: SeaSonic X Series X-850W
OS: Win7 64bit
SC: ?
HD: SSD Samsung 830 128GB
HD: Reusing old drives (filled with data)

[chazus]

Budget?
/10char

[z06dragon]

Budget?
/10char

I'm thinking ~$1500

[Asphyxiate9]

I'm not really an expert on this, but keep in mind that a new console gen is on the way(1-2 years), and because most games are ports, their graphics will be updated too. So try to plan ahead

[chazus]

Taken from Marest's Builds

Gaming 1550
MoBo: ASUS Sabertooth Z77 – $229.99 Review
CPU: Intel i5 3570k – $229.99
RAM: G.Skill Sniper 1600Mhz 2x4GB – $48.99
GPU: ASUS DCII 7970 – $469.99
SSD: Samsung 830 128GB – $129.99
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint 1TB – $109.99
PSU: Corsair TX550M – $99.99 Review
Heatsink: Thermaltake Frio – $59.99 Review
Case: Corsair 650D – $179.99 Review
--------------------------------------------------
Estimated Total Price – $1559

Notably, I'm under the impression that anything over 8gb of ram currently doesn't have much performance benefit.

[z06dragon]

Marest's build suggestions are quite inline with my proposed build. I'll research those components for this build.

Any additional suggestions so my build doesn't become obsolete in a year or two? I like to have options and input from those who are intuitive and experienced with builds.

[z06dragon]

Update. Here's what I've purchased so far...

MoBo: ASUS Sabertooth Z77
CPU: Intel i5 3570k
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB)
GPU:
SSD: Samsung 830 128GB
HDD: Reusing Old Sata drives (Data filled)
PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX)
Heatsink: Thermaltake Frio
Case: Reusing ThermalTake Armor