Another new PC build for a hobbyist

Question

Hi all, I've spent a couple of days searching around for recommendations on a new PC build and found a lot of good information on this forum. I'm replacing my home desktop, which is used for Premiere CS6 (family videos/enthusiast stuff - lately GoPro HD h.264 and some Canon 7D files) running on Windows 7 Pro x64. I'll be reusing some SATA drives but everything else is new. I realize that X79/i7-3930k provides far more performance, but mainly for budget reasons I think I'd prefer to stick with Ivy Bridge. Here's what I'm leaning towards:
CPU: Intel i7-3770k 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) Ivy Bridge
MB: Likely Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX
RAM: Probably CORSAIR Vengeance LP DDR3 1600 16Gb (or 32Gb) 2x8Gb (or 4x8Gb)
PSU: SeaSonic X-Series 1050W 80 Plus Gold (only $10 more than the 850W so why not)
CASE: Fractal Design Define R4
GPU: GTX 570 (likely this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127682)
DRIVES
     OS: 256Gb SSD (Crucial M4/Plextor 830)
     Media/Projects: RAID-0 2x 1Tb HD (reuse from old system)
     Previews/Cache/Exports: 2Tb 7200rpm HD
Add in misc DVD+RW, CPU cooler, etc. This prices out to ~$1,300 (without HD's but including the SSD) which is ok, little cheaper would be ok but couple of hundred more is fine too. I'm mostly undecided on the GPU, wondering if a GTX 660 is worth the $70 more (1344 vs. 480 CUDA cores and 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 vs 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 for the GTX 660 vs GTX 570 respectively).
I'd really appreciate any thoughts on this build overall and suggestions on alternate components; thanks very much for all the information!

Answer 1

CPU - agree 3770K is a better choice as you have newer instruction sets, superior performance, lower power consumption and support for second generation of QuickSync offer hardware transcoding support.
Motherboard - The Deluxe is an outstanding board depending on how much you may really want the Marvell option you may want to consider the P8Z77-V Pro which also offers Thundebolt natively on the board. ( Although the Deluxe has a TB header in place for when the Thunderbolt EX expansion card is released ).
Additionally on both they offer a TPU switch which you can enable to have a easy 4.2 to 4.3GHz OC without any other interaction or adjustment.
CPU Cooler - I would advise something basic at least like a Hyper 212Plus or Hyper212 EVO. If you want to more cost effective the Hyper TX3 is very low cost and solid but not as effective at heat disipation.
PSU - Seasonic is excellent choice especially the X gold series very effiicent and the load performance is outstanding additionally generally any loads undder 25% will not have the fan spin at all helping to keep a very quiet system.
Chassis is a very solid option
GPU - I would consider  GTX660Ti or the new GTX660 considerbly superior power efficiecy as well as there is hardware 4K econder support while not active it is there waiting for software applications to support. Additionally you have superior multi monitor flexibility up to 4 displays and it is quieter and cooler. Lastly performance is superior. I would consider ASUS GTX660 or GTX660TI DirectCU II.
SSD
Crucial drives have very solid firmware but write performance is not as strong ( this is relative overall a solid drive ). Depending on your write and read usage a different controller may make more sense.In this case you may want to consider a different SSD.
Corsair's new GS or GTX are very solid in the firmware development. If you will have a large amount of Incompressible data which includes certain types of TIF and PSD*, JPEG, video and sound files, ZIP files, etc. Then you may want to select a OCZ drive or a SSD based on a Marvell contrler or the new Corsair Neutron series. Those have the benefit of not taking a penelaty with incompressible data. With the overall price drops though on SSDs I would recommend 240GB especially as performance of the SSD will vary depending on capacity filled ( to a extent ). With that noted the Force GS and GTX which use SandForce have very strong performance for overall application usage.
Lastly depending on the maximum read and write speeds you may be better suite to use SSD Caching instead of the raid you are considering on the Marvell ports. Read speeds would be improved considerbly while writes would be stabilized but not overall extended
Hope this helps!