SteveCRV7

I have a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 case with a 140mm Fractal Silent Series R2 fan (came with case) mounted in the top in exhaust configuration. It worked great for several months, with the setup being very silent. Over the last month it's started making a clicking noise (appears to be at fan RPM). I have 2 other instances of the same fan in the front an back - no problem at all with those. I thought these were supposed to be pretty good fans with fluid bearings that shouldn't have a problem in horizontal configuration. But maybe not. Or maybe I just got a bad one. In any case, anyone else have similar problems? Or anyone have a strong recommendation for a fan with similar specs that would work well in this config (140mm, quiet, similar airflow, 3-pin)? Thanks, Steve

MSI MPower board

Will the normal size Crucial Ballistix Tactical (not the LP) fit under a Dark Rock Pro 3? I can't find enough measurement specs to figure it out. So I'm wondering if anyone has practical experience and can confirm that this would work. Or....any other suggestions? - I'm looking for blue or yellow 2x8GB sticks, 9 or better CAS that will fit with DRP3. There are blue Corsair Vengeance LP sticks that I'd like, but can't find them for sale in the US. Thanks.

I have a Gigabyte 8knxp with a P4 that's been running since 2003. It's been used daily and often runs 24/7. Never had any problems with it.

Thanks, guys. Duh! - And I just realized I could have filtered for that on the Newegg site. When I look at reviews for some of these boards (and not just Gigabyte) there seem to be a disturbing percentage of reviews complaining of various quality problems. Is it just a case of people that write these reviews are usually the ones who have had problems? Or is quality with these boards really such a problem?

I'm working on a new Z87 build and will be using a i7-4770k. The system I'm replacing has an M-Audio Delta 44 audio interface that I really like that I use for audio workstation work. I'd rather not replace it. Unfortunately it's a "legacy" PCI card. So I'm looking for what motherboard options I have here - really looking for the best board I can find with a legacy PCI slot. Any thoughts?

Thanks. I'll take a look at all of these recommendations. I already took a quick look at the video card. That looks like it would be a good fit for what I'm after. I particularly like that a many of the reviews indicate it's quiet. And I noticed that NewEgg has it for $490 right now. Bonus! Thanks again.

After a little more reading I think I've been swayed towards an air cooler. I like the clean look of an AIO. But it looks like you're right - for my application a good air cooler would work OK for the amount of OC I'll likely do, and would be quieter (unless I did a custom loop, which I have no plans for doing). I like what I've read about the Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 3. Regarding games... I just don't know. It's been so long since I've played any games... I couldn't even name any of the popular games right now. But if I have a system that would run them OK I may get into that a little (though certainly not a focus). So given that, I certainly have no intention of spending $1500 right now for a high-end dual-GPU system like some folks build. but who, knows, a year from now I may want to do that. So don't want to be too short-sighted that I wouldn't have the some flexibility in the future. But that's not a priority and not part of my budget today. Is there a GPU in the $400-$500 range that would be a decent "game-worthy" GPU that would fit well with my proposed system? So here's what I'm currently looking at: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/SteveCRV7/saved/4svJ

Why do you say I'd be better off with an air cooler? Any particular one you have in mind? Specifics of games are a ? I haven't played many games for years (partially because the system being replaced couldn't run them). So not sure if I'll need/want to SLI/CF. And I don't even have any particular games at this moment I'm targeting. I know that doesn't help at all, but that's the situation. I will be running 2 monitors.

Cost is under $1300 currently with everything but a graphics card.

With all of the options out there I feel like my head is going to explode. I've gone back and forth on compenents numerous times. I know I could research this forever and not come to a "right answer" on anything. So at this point I'm just ready to make some decisions and move forward, and I'm hoping some of you with real world experience with some of these particular components (or better yet, combinations) could give me some feedback. This isn't my first build, but it's been a while since I researched components - believe it or not the system I'm replacing with this new build is a P4 running XP that I built about 10 years ago (yeah, and that's the system I'm actually typing this on :-) ). Although I've been reading here for the past week or so, I'm new on this forum and am not sure if it would be better for me to post specific questions on the component-specific forums, but I thought I'd start here and give this a shot. Sorry, this is a bit lengthy, but here goes... 1. Budget & Location No "hard" budget, but it would be great if I could stay under about $1500 US. If necessary to get performance I'm after or allow for better future flexibility I'd consider going over that. I am in Houston, TX, USA. 2. Aim This will be a system I use daily for general productivity tasks (MS Office, finances, web, mail), as well as video editing and rendering, audio editing and DAW, and some light CAD (not profession high $$ packages). I'll play some games on it and would like them to perform well, but I'm not a hard-core gamer and this isn't my top focus. 3. Monitors I'll run 2 monitors 4. Peripherals Peripherals and OS aren't a concern. But I'll likely run Win 8.1. 5. Why are you upgrading? System it is replaceing has definitely lived out its useful life. In fact, I don't think a Win OS newer than XP would run on it. I'm ready to purchase as soon as I make decisions on components. Here are some general guidelines I'm working from: I'd really like this system to be as quiet as reasonable (I know this is relative and there are tradeoffs) Mid-tower, quality case; that the size system it's replacing and I have no desire for full-tower, and any flashy "gaming case", but want good airflow and cable mgmt Want to build a system that will last and give me some flexibility; I don't plan to replace in 2 or 3 years, and don't know the specifics of what I'll want to do with it in 2 years; so want to allow for some flexibility (hence shying away from options of building a mATX system that adequately serves my needs today, but doesn't give me much flexibility - but I may be able to be persuaded differently if I'm off base here) Pretty set on an i7 4770K; I don't plan to push it to the limit, but would like the option for some mild overclocking to continuing eeking a little extra performance out of it So given all of that, here's what I'm thinking: Case: Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 - pretty set on this unless someone knows of some good reasons this wouldn't work for me. CPU: i7-4770K - pretty set on this. Mobo: MSI Z87 MPower - this is one area I've really gone back and forth on. Others I've considered: Asus z87-Deluxe, others in the MPower line? CPU Cooler: Corsair H105 - this is another area I'm really unsure of. I've also looked at the Kraken X60. My reason for leaning toward the AIO CPU water cooler is the thought/hope for lower temps at lower sound levels. But I've also read some that say the pump noise can be louder than a comparable air cooler. The water cooler does seem cleaner, without all the weight hanging off the Mobo. But I'd really like your thoughts here, particular from any folks with experience with the other components I'm considering. PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 Memory: ? - I'm planning to get 16 (2x8), but not sure of specifics yet. Based on some reasearch will probably opt for lower speed with lower CAS (9 or 10) vs. higher speed/higher CAS. But if anyone has feedback on this in light of my intended use that would be great. Drives: ? - not too concerned with this. I'll get a 250 GB SSD; probably something like a Samsung 840 EVO + some tradition disk storage. I just haven't figure this out yet - I'm contemplating setting up a NAS box and just haven't figure out how I want to configure and use all the storage yet; I won't go into that more - probably a subject for a different forum. Graphics: ? - This is the area I know the least about and have done the least research on so far. Any suggestions here would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for all of you spending time to help out folks like me. -Steve