Until very recently I was still using a X48 / 775 C2Q.
It worked OK, but I wanted something newer, that would take advantage of my upgraded SATA3 SSD (which remains in the old pooter which I have kept as a spare)...

Most people seem to be pretty meh about the 1150 / z97 gear, but for me it was quite an upgrade.

Budget was not unlimited, but I did end up spending a bit extra to get what I wanted performance and looks wise.

I love big tower coolers, and I change GPU's fairly often, so wasn't interested in water cooling.

I spent a few weeks researching and asking questions on a couple of forums, and in the end purchased:

ASUS Maximus VII Ranger MB - my first (and only) ROG product.
A second hand (but near new) 4790k
2 x 4 GB G.Skill Ripjaws - CL10 / 2400mHz
Phanteks Enthoo Pro (white)
A big Noctua cooler (NH-D15)
Samsung 840 Pro ssd, 256gb
some power cable sleeved extensions and some white LED's.

I already had an ASUS R9 280 + ASUS R9 280x,
EVGA G2 850 PSU
1 TB HDD (storage)
Intel 80GB SSD (ancient! - SATA2. Now has WoT on it)

The build went smoothly, thanks to the design of the case, the fully modular PSU, and of course the good layout of the Ranger MB.

Everything "just worked".
Within minutes I had the RAM OC'd to 2488mHz, and the CPU to 4.688mHz

A few weeks later, and I had added another 2 x 4gb RAM, changed the Noctua cooler to a Phanteks one, found a ROG Xfire bridge to replace the gold/beige one, and slowed the CPU back down to 4.488gHz (which is more than fast enough and runs much cooler and quieter) and added a new 2TB HDD so I can put the old 1TB one back into my backup PC

I have some black plexiglass to make a cover for the top GPU and hide the PCB, and an ROG sticker coming to put on that.
I got some "cable combs" -but they were too loose, so I tried using some string. Might get some thinner string and re-tie one day...

Pretty happy with my new PC, both performance and looks.

Here it is: (old Xfire bridge in this pic)