First Gaming Build - Guidance Please

For the mobo, get yourself a ASRock Z77 Pro4 or Extreme4. The first should be about $15 cheaper the second $10 more than the one you picked. Both are overall better boards and will also give you room to expand to Ivy Bridge if you wish.

The 570 would be worth it but the 560 Ti is still a great card. The 560 Ti is definitely better value than both of those cards but the 570 would be worth the extra money if you want the extra FPS.

For the PSU I would suggest Corsair they sell great quality PSUs and have a great warranty. The more you spend the more you get, not just in wattage but also in features like being modular or better protection and reliability (like comparing the CX to the GS to the TX to the HX and AX series). Depending on your budget depends on which one to get, don't cheap out if you don't have to, especially not on the PSU. The TX series is a good mix of price and quality but if you can afford them the HX and AX series are better.

For your HDD, Western Digital and Seagate are the industry leaders and are great drives (I know from experience not just reviews).

For your SSD if it is just for your boot drive a 64GB Crucial M4 should be fine or if you want to keep key components on there possibly a 120GB Intel 330 series or OCZ Vertex series would be down your ally.

The CM Storm Trooper is a good case but I guess you can call me a NZXT fanboy when I recommend the NZXT Phantom, but that is for a good reason. It is actually a little bit cheaper and is an excellent case. It has amazing airflow and upgradeability and I just love the way it looks personally. There is a little bit of personal preference involved when it comes to cases but I have always found NZXTs great to work with and of excellent build quality so I must suggest one any time I have the chance.

If you do not plan on overclocking dont buy the k series it is unlocked for overclocking . and if you are not gonna overclock and get a 2500 cpu the stock heatsink is fine. even the 2500k can be overclocked to around 4-4.2ghz on the stock heatsink. Honestly though you can get an overclock of 4.6-4.7ghz with one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 . Just an idea if you wanted to save a few bucks because the ssd is gonna be expensive. A nice video card is worth it because technology moves fast and its hard to keep up with game's graphics. The mobo seems nice but the reviews would make me not buy it. i own this board and know a few people with it and everyone is happy. maybe im a little bias but the reviews are good and as far as having what you need it has plenty, and if you do want to overclock it can handle a decent clock. i got 5.2ghz no problems so far. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
this psu is a little overkill on power probably for sli even, but the price is right and its good to have more power than not enough. gotta love the modular also. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

Here's a complete alternative build. Superior processor, quieter cooler, no SLI upgrade capability (I don't think it's useful unless you're going multi-monitor, and it saves money to not do so), and a pretty decent case. No monitor, windows, or peripherals included. All items were from scan.co.uk, because I didn't want to take the trouble to look at other retailers. You may be able to find some parts cheaper in other locations.

CPU - i5-3570k (168)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-core-i5-3570k1155-ivy-bridge-quad-core-34ghz-5-gt-s-dmi-650mhz-gpu-6mb-smart-cache-34x-ratio-7

Motherboard - Gigabyte Z77 (72)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-z77-ds3h-intel-z77-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-d-sub-dvi-d-hdmi-a

CPU Cooler - HR-02 Macho (39)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/thermalright-hr-02-macho-cpu-cooler-with-140mm-silent-fan-for-775-1155-1156-1366-amd-am2-am3

GPU - Palit 670 (300)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-palit-gtx-670-28nm-pcie-30-(x16)-6008mhz-gddr5-gpu-915mhz-boost-980mhz-cores-1344-2x-dl-dvi-dp-h
A high end graphics card that should do most games on maximum and the hardest on extremely high settings (assuming 1920x1080 monitor).

RAM - 2x4gb 1600mhz (42)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-ddr3-xms3-pc3-12800-(1600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-15v

Case - Fractal Design r3 (73)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fractal-design-define-r3-usb-30-black-pearl-mid-tower-case-new-cable-routing-noise-absorbing-w-o-psu
Also comes in different colors.

PSU - Be Quiet 430w (37)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/430w-bequiet-bn105-pure-power-l7-80plus-sli-120mm-fan

SSD - Samsung 830 128gb (78)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/128gb-samsung-830-series-ssd-basic-kit-sata-iii-read-520mb-s-write-320mb-s

HDD - Seagate 1TB (64)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb-seagate-st31000524as-barracuda-720012-sata-6gb-s-7200rpm-32mb-cache-85ms-ncq

DVD-burner (13)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/sony-ad-7280s-0b-24x-dvdr-12xdvddl-dvdplusrw-x8-rwx6-12xram-sata-black-oem

Total - 886 pounds. Dunno how much shipping will be.

Best ways to spend more money:
Upgrade your monitor situation.
Get a motherboard capable of handling SLI. Paired with get a PSU capable of handling SLI.
Get ever MOAR hard drive space.
Get fancier peripherals.

Best ways to spend less money:
Get a non-overclockable processor (i5-3450 + H77 mobo, drop the HR-02)
Get a crappier video card (like one of the ones you were thinking about, or a 7850)
Get a crappier case.
Drop the SSD.
Edited by MisterFred - 6/24/12 at 8:45pm

Whoa. That's heavy.

Zero - on the subject of a case........... The LianLi Lancool K62 is an outstanding case and a real value for the money. It is getting long in the tooth now, but you'll find a huge support and customization community here and elsewhere on the net. IMHO you simply cannot beat this case for the price;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112239&Tpk=lianli%20lancool%20k62
And if you shop around you can usually find one on sale for less than that.

While the GTX570 is another part that is getting long in the tooth, it is still a very good card. If you can find one on sale it might be a good choice. I've been running two in SLi for about a year now and they simply smoke. But keep in mind that at resolutions up to 1920x1080 with reasonable eye candy a single 570 will work just fine. Personally I'm running the eVGA SC versions of the card, but anything from eVGA, XFX, MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, Powercolor etc. will be just fine. Pick one that has a cooler design you like, good cooling capabilities and near silent operation.

Not sure where you live at, but if you can order from Newegg;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127682

At that price the MSI card is a steal. Of course you can buy a factory overclocked card, but honestly you should be able to get a decent core overclock out of that MSI card without much effort.

I like the previous suggestion about opting for one of the ASRock boards, but there certainly isn't anything wrong with the Gigabyte UD3H board either. I'm currently running the UD4 board and it is pretty solid, except pretty barren in features compared to some other alternatives out there.