I've been planning, researching and saving up for this build since July. I used to game on my laptop and my PS3. It was my laptop that made me take the leap. I played most of the new games on it but I was tired of having the games be barely playable. It started with an $800 budget an a plan to buy a FX 6300 and a GTX 650ti Boost. Well, let's just say I didn't really stick to that budget. I went only with manufacturers I trust. Here's how I picked my parts:

Intel i5 4670k- As this is primarily a gaming rig with some light photo editing/drawing. I decided the good old i5 was all I needed.

Corsair H100i- Since the 4670k is an unlocked processor, I knew the stock cooler wouldn't cut it for when i eventually overclock the CPU. I decided to go with what I consider is one of the best performing/looking.

Asus Maximus Hero- It is a nice board, I love the post LED and it was the most affordable ROG board.

Asus GTX 780- This was me not being able to stop my self. I kept telling myself "well if you spend just a little bit more, you can something you really like". It started with the 650 ti boost, then 660, 760 and I ended up here. well at least I dont have to wonder if my PC can run it anymore.

Corsair vengeance pro- it looks good and matches the build, not really much else to say really. I plan on adding two more sticks sometime in the future.

Corsair Air 540- I wasn't sure what case to get. Then Corsair came out with this beauty. plenty of room for everything I need. The window shows off all the ROG goodies inside and the space behind the motherboard makes cable management a non-issue. I highly recommend it.

Cooler Master V700- It's a Seasonic rebadge, 80 plus gold fully modular with flat black cables. I knew not to cheap-out on the PSU. This is a bit overkill but I might a second 780 sometime in the future.

Samsung 840 pro- I knew I wanted an SSD for a boot drive and Samsung is the only company that manufactures every part of their SSDs.

WD caviar black- for mass storage, it's designed for performance. To be honest I didn't really think too much about this one.

My plans for the future are to light is with some red LED strips, add more ram, maybe a second 780, an audio card, and ultimately to watercool it. but that's a long ways away. I do plan on overclocking my GPU and CPU. If anyone can link me to some good guides, that would be very much appreciated.

I'd love to know what you guys think :)