What motherboard and gpu

[onetimeonly]

Approximate Purchase Date: this month

Budget Range: variable

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming (rts and mmorpg: Eq, runescape), surfing for adult content, no video editing or work

Are you buying a monitor: Yes

Parts to Upgrade: Will buy i5 3570K from Microcenter and get $50 off any motherboard (walk-in )
MB ~$150-180, before reduction, leaning towards ASRock z77 extreme 4 or more money 6
Hyper 212 Plus Universal CPU Cooler $26 at MC Yes/No?
GPU looks like 7770 or 650 fits my budget ~$100-150 (upgrade in future), unless stock cpu graphics will work for now
Power supply should be quiet and reliable

Do you need to buy OS: Yes - Non OEM Winblows 7 home premium (want to be able to switch as time goes on)
Please note that if you're using an OEM license of Windows, you will need a new one when buying a new motherboard.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: none

Location: City, State/Region, Country - upstate New York/ New Jersey

Parts Preferences: None

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 (current) or better (would like ideas on sub $300 monitor)

Additional Comments: I would like a quiet PC, will go to water cooling eventually. I do not play FPS games, but don't want lag on RTS games. Want to be able to play with motherboard settings

What I have old: A full tower case, DVD ROM

new: 4Gx2|CORSAIR CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R RAM
250 GB HDD SATA 3 6GB/sec
SSD 256G|SAMSUNG MZ-7PC256B/WW R
Creative X-Fi Xtreme soundcard

My P4 3.00 GHz, 2GB ram and Radeon X700 can't handle all new games

 

[obsama1]

I would spend $4-$5 more and get the Hyper 212 EVO.
I would wait until next month to get a GPU. The 7850 will drop to $150.
I would get either the 4 or 6, depending on your needs.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Get the Z77 Extreme4.

You don't need a soundcard; onboard sound is fine.

Spend a few dollars more to get a bigger HDD, or get a 128GB SSD instead. Or you could go SSD-only. SATA 6Gb/s makes no difference to SATA 3Gb/s.

Get low profile RAM so it doesn't run into your CPU cooler.

Use the above savings to get (hopefully) a 7870.

PSU wise I would suggest an Antec, Corsair, Enermax, OCZ, PCP&C, Rosewill, SeaSonic, or XFX of at least 550W. You don't need more than 650 at all, even if WCing.

 

[excella1221]

You don't really need an Extreme4 or 6 if you say 'no' to SLI/CF.