About to hit "Order Button"...

[BoomerD]

That particular Noctua cooler is supposed to be as dead silent as their other coolers...and he started looking at that one when he was going to get the HAF 922 case. Coolermaster says the 922 will fit a CPU cooler up to 160 mm tall...and the bigger Noctua coolers are 158-160...but then again, so is the Hyper 212 Plus.
Personally, I'd buy either the Noctua NH-D14, or the Noctua NH-U12P SE2. Both will fit his case with room to spare, and with the larger fans, will do an outstanding job of keeping things cool and quiet. (I bought the NH-U12 SE2 for my build)

MFenn, I'm curious why you recommended "value RAM" for the build? I suppose there isn't a lot of difference between "value and premium" if he's not going to do much overclocking, but...why not just buy a "better" quality of RAM?

 

[fffblackmage]

I have a set of GeIL DDR2 RAM and it still works just as well as any RAM should. If you're worried that GeIL isn't a good brand, there are still plenty of choices for $40 DDR3-1333 2x2GB 1.5V RAM.

Patriot - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220537
G.Skill - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231396
Mushkin - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146748

I'll admit though, at the same price, I would pick any of those three over GeIL just because they're all better known..

 

[mfenn]

OP, looks good!

MFenn, I'm curious why you recommended "value RAM" for the build? I suppose there isn't a lot of difference between "value and premium" if he's not going to do much overclocking, but...why not just buy a "better" quality of RAM?

Because, as you say, there is no difference (except for the price!) when you're not overclocking. The "premium" stuff is no better or worse quality, it just has higher specs.

 

[Anomaly1964]

What's so ironic about all of this is I have been concentrating so hard on the PC, I have not been gaming at all...LMAO!

 

[mfenn]

What's so ironic about all of this is I have been concentrating so hard on the PC, I have not been gaming at all...LMAO!

So we can expect you to go away once you get it? D:

Just kidding! Be sure to post here if you have in questions during the build itself.

 

[Anomaly1964]

So we can expect you to go away once you get it? D:

Just kidding! Be sure to post here if you have in questions during the build itself.

Oh dude, I am gonna drive ya'll crazy, pics of EVERY stage from boxes to assembly!!!!!

 

[mfenn]

Oh dude, I am gonna drive ya'll crazy, pics of EVERY stage from boxes to assembly!!!!!

I'm gonna hold you to it! I expect to see a picture of every single piece of cardboard!

 

[mnewsham]

I'm gonna hold you to it! I expect to see a picture of every single piece of cardboard!

be sure to include pictures of any and all little scraps of paper they put in there to advertise all of their other products

 

[Anomaly1964]

i'm gonna hold you to it! I expect to see a picture of every single piece of cardboard!

guaranteed!

 

[Davidh373]

guaranteed!

lol, can't wait!

 

[dpodblood]

What's so ironic about all of this is I have been concentrating so hard on the PC, I have not been gaming at all...LMAO!

Same here. I've been spending so much time looking at reviews, benchmarks, and forum posts lately that I haven't been gaming at all.

 

[gregoryvg]

FIRST...

[FONT=&quot]GeIL Value PLUS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10660) Desktop Memory
Item #:N82E16820144478
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]$39.991[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Since you are building such a nice PC and dont' seem to be scrimping I would recommend you go with 8GB of RAM for your system. Tom's H/W had a nice article about it here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778.html

 

[Anomaly1964]

Since you are building such a nice PC and dont' seem to be scrimping I would recommend you go with 8GB of RAM for your system. Tom's H/W had a nice article about it here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778.html

From TOMS:

Conclusion and Recommendation
Based on our measurements and impressions (and taking falling prices into account), we thoroughly recommend a minimum RAM size of 8 GB. Using 12 or 16 GB only makes sense if you're planning on using 4 GB of more of this higher amount as a RAM disk, helping accelerate the reading and writing of temporary files. This applies equally to file compression, video encoding, and heavy image editing.
Other than this, you might want more RAM so the graphics card can allocate more system memory for its own use. We saw this pay dividends in GTA IV, for example. You won't see an overwhelming performance increase unless you're using very memory-hungry programs, but you will get a system with enough RAM for the foreseeable future.
Given our observations and low prices on memory upgrades, this is the time to hunt down a high-capacity memory kit for your system. In the end, it’s never wrong to make a step knowing that it will [COLOR=blue ! important][FONT=inherit ! important][COLOR=blue ! important][FONT=inherit ! important]improve [/FONT][COLOR=blue ! important][FONT=inherit ! important]performance[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] and provide some reserves.




What do you guys think?

 

[gregoryvg]

For $125 (only $25 more) you could get the Windows Home Premium family pack which gives you licenses for 3 computers.

Checking that out on Newegg It seems to me that is only for upgrading your version of Windows and can not perform a clean install (in other words, you already have to have a previous version of Windows installed on your PC).

 

[BoomerD]

From TOMS:

Conclusion and Recommendation
Based on our measurements and impressions (and taking falling prices into account), we thoroughly recommend a minimum RAM size of 8 GB. Using 12 or 16 GB only makes sense if you're planning on using 4 GB of more of this higher amount as a RAM disk, helping accelerate the reading and writing of temporary files. This applies equally to file compression, video encoding, and heavy image editing.
Other than this, you might want more RAM so the graphics card can allocate more system memory for its own use. We saw this pay dividends in GTA IV, for example. You won't see an overwhelming performance increase unless you're using very memory-hungry programs, but you will get a system with enough RAM for the foreseeable future.
Given our observations and low prices on memory upgrades, this is the time to hunt down a high-capacity memory kit for your system. In the end, it’s never wrong to make a step knowing that it will [COLOR=blue ! important][FONT=inherit ! important][COLOR=blue ! important][FONT=inherit ! important]improve [/FONT][COLOR=blue ! important][FONT=inherit ! important]performance[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] and provide some reserves.




What do you guys think?

FWIW, I went with 8 Gb for my new build. (4x2 Gb. I probably should have gone with 2x4 Gb, but I didn't think about the extra power to run all 4 sockets) <shrug> Everything works fabulously and it's lightning fast.

 

[mnewsham]

2x2Gb is fine, you can always add another 2x2GB after all.

 

[BoomerD]

2x2Gb is fine, you can always add another 2x2GB after all.

I'm skeptical about adding memory later.

I've had too many "compatibility issues" over the years, even when buying the "exact same" RAM from the same company.
IMO, it's better to buy a matched set of what you want right off the bat.
The companies all source their chips from a variety of manufacturers. Some "play well with others," some don't...

 

[Davidh373]

Checking that out on Newegg It seems to me that is only for upgrading your version of Windows and can not perform a clean install (in other words, you already have to have a previous version of Windows installed on your PC).

That is exactly that... It's an upgrade pack. The true OEM 3 packs are at least $280

 

[mfenn]

2x2Gb is fine, you can always add another 2x2GB after all.

:thumbsup:

 

[Davidh373]

Well this has been a long one... over MANY threads actually. So I wanna see this beast BUILT! lol

 

[Anomaly1964]

Well this has been a long one... over MANY threads actually. So I wanna see this beast BUILT! lol

LOL!

Like I said, I will take pics start to finish...

Thanks again for all the support!

 

[Davidh373]

LOL!

Like I said, I will take pics start to finish...

Thanks again for all the support!

No problem, recommend us to your friends, as long as they aren't total tools, we'll guide them as we have guided you .

 

[BoomerD]

No problem, recommend us to your friends, as long as they aren't total tools, we'll guide them as we have guided you .

Just tell them to bring lots of cash...we're easy...but we're NOT cheap.'


(well, ok, some of us are easy and cheap)

 

[dpodblood]

If you've got the money then might as well buy 8GB up front.

 

[Blain]

Hit that order button and don't look back!