Looking at building a new PC using an Intel i7 3770K, I would welcome comments on this motherboard -

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1155 - GA-Z77X-UD5H (rev. 1.0) (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4139#ov)

I intend using an SSD boot drive for OS only, with a separate drive for programs, and other drives for files. Not interested in Raid & am not a pro but a serious amateur shooting AVCHD in PAL with prosumer equipment, - Canon HF-S10 & editing in Vegas pro 11.

RonC.

I would go with this one. Higher performance all around. No one editing video ever said they bought too fast a computer. AVCHD demands a TON of processor power.

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 2011 - GA-X79-UD5 (rev. 1.0) (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4049#ov)

I would go with this one. Higher performance all around. No one editing video ever said they bought too fast a computer. AVCHD demands a TON of processor power.

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 2011 - GA-X79-UD5 (rev. 1.0) (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4049#ov)

Except that the CPU the OP planned to get will not even physically fit the CPU socket of that motherboard. Besides, if getting an X79 motherboard, the total system budget must be raised by at least $400 as the cheapest LGA 2011 CPU, the i7-3820, does not perform sufficiently better (and might perform worse) than the i7-3770K to justify the higher total cost of the higher-end CPU platform.

Thanks Randall, - yes , I think this is the most practical solution as this seems to be a sweet spot for performance & price.
Any advice on Display cards (this Mbd. has built-in VGA), and RAM types or amount ? I was going to use 16g Corsair.

RonC.

Any advice on Display cards (this Mbd. has built-in VGA), and RAM types or amount ? I was going to use 16g Corsair.

RonC.

I strongly recommend the ATI FirePro V4900 for 10-bit monitoring and some solid firepower.

RAM? For your setup 8 GB should be fine, but no harm in going to 12, 16 or 24 GB.

Thanks Sareesh, but is there a similar card which has HDMI out as well and I only need two monitor outs ?

RonC.

Nothing at this price point for 10-bit, afaik...but then again, if you don't want 10-bit there's no point worrying about that.

I haven't used this personally, but for 8-bit dual monitoring this one should work great:Radeon HD 6750 1 GB. It's also almost cheaper by half.

Most consumer grade GPUs handle 2 monitors via DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI. The problem is, not all of them have two HDMI ports. You could use them with a DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter or DVI to HDMI Adapter.