I looked into the liquid cooling thing, and that's a bit more work/maintennance than I really need for the type of useage. It looks like it can become a complete hobby in building a cooling rig...LOL.
 
The NH-D14 is certainly a beast, but it will fit and it's just a fan that covers the ram sticks (which can be removed when replacing sticks).....a user with this board had built it here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1738712
 

 
 Thanks JJ for pointing this out as I would've hated going through the headaches of replacing the cooler (if needed) and I appreciate a second pair of eyes.
 
  

Mesh

chefmike8888
Me likey too.
Nice build.
 
Mike

I owe a lot to you for the advice/recommendations, and have referenced your rig (when doing comparisons etc..) in making the component choices. Thanks Mike for all the detailed info!!!
 

AWW, shucks....
No problem. It just so happens that I just finished my build when you were planning your's.
 
As far as liquid cooling goes there are a few different way's.
1. There are sealed pre-filled, sealed units like the H80i or the H100i which are easy to install.
2. Then there are the units that require the pumps, filling the reservoir, routing tubing and and that whole messy debacle.
3. Liquid Nitrogen....... Not for actual PC use. Mainly used in extreme OC'ing
I opted for the first version.
 
I had my PC OC'd to 4.4GHz, stable and highest temp was 74c average on all cores
I have since lowered it to 4.2GHz with highest temp reaching 71c on one core the rest were no higher than 67c.
Cooler = longer life but since the ****k chips are made for OC'ing I went with just a smidge.
 
Mike 

chefmike8888

Mesh

chefmike8888
Me likey too.
Nice build.
 
Mike

I owe a lot to you for the advice/recommendations, and have referenced your rig (when doing comparisons etc..) in making the component choices. Thanks Mike for all the detailed info!!!
 

AWW, shucks....
No problem. It just so happens that I just finished my build when you were planning your's.
 
As far as liquid cooling goes there are a few different way's.
1. There are sealed pre-filled, sealed units like the H80i or the H100i which are easy to install.
2. Then there are the units that require the pumps, filling the reservoir, routing tubing and and that whole messy debacle.
3. Liquid Nitrogen....... Not for actual PC use. Mainly used in extreme OC'ing
I opted for the first version.
 
I had my PC OC'd to 4.4GHz, stable and highest temp was 74c average on all cores
I have since lowered it to 4.2GHz with highest temp reaching 71c on one core the rest were no higher than 67c.
Cooler = longer life but since the ****k chips are made for OC'ing I went with just a smidge.
 
Mike 

I'm not planning on doing any extreme OCing, but I'll put it through a few tests as this system is certainly ready for it :).....regarding the water cooling, most of the stuff I read were stuff like option 2, and that kind of discouraged me from getting it. I had read so many good reviews on the NH-D14, I ended up getting that.......but if it doesn't do the job, I'll definitely look into the H80i. 
 
I had a few minor changes (faultiness of too much researching:)) in my build and finally ordered the following:
 
1) MB  -  ASROCK_Z77_OC_Formula
2) CPU -  i7-3770k
3) RAM - G.SKILL_Ripjaws_X_Series (16GB - 2x8Gb sticks)
4) GPU -  HIS-IceQ_Radeon_HD_7870
5) CPU Cooler - Noctua_NH-D14
6) SSD OS Drive - Samsung_840_Series_MZ-7TD250BW
7) PSU - OCZ ZX Serries 850W Fully Modular Gold
8) Case - Rosewill THOR V2 Gaming Full ATX Tower (4 fans installed) 
9) Mouse - Logitech G700 (13 button programmable gaming mouse)
10) Win 8 Pro 64

 I'm just totally excited in being able to have a super-fast system (just take a look at what I've been working with for the past 6 yrs.....LOL!!) and hopefully, this new build will last me a long time. I even got an Asus 24" LCD monitor just to complete this build.

 
(not sure why it's bold )
 
It should be here within the next few days.....did I say I was excited!!??? 

So, Mesh, are you X-cited?  

Old55
So, Mesh, are you X-cited?  

Jan, I'm just
 

 
I forgot to thank you for that link (I did read quite a bit in there). 

You're welcome, Mesh.  Good luck with the new rig.  

Looks nice!
Good luck with it. I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun!

Best Regards
Ludvig

Done yet? 
 
Mike

chefmike8888
Done yet? 
 
Mike

Not yet...
 
I ordered through NewEgg and they seem to be shipping parts from 3-4 different locations. Some of them are arriving today and the rest should be here tomorrow....
 
I'll tell ya Mike, this whole project is just a total mental rush.....I'm even actually dreaming of the components and parts on this build....(I didn't think it would be this exciting). LOL!!   
 
I'll definitely keep you posted.
 
I'm trying to sort out what's the best way to load all my VST's (some may only be 32 bit) into this new machine. I saved all the registration/authorisation numbers, so I suppose I'll just have to go to each vendor site and download the 64bit vesions?
 
For the moment, I was planning on removing my Projects HDD & Samples HDD from the older machine and just installing them in the new build. Are there any things that I should be looking out for in this transition?
 
TIA, 

Mesh

chefmike8888
Done yet? 
 
Mike

Not yet...
 
I'll tell ya Mike, this whole project is just a total mental rush.....I'm even actually dreaming of the components and parts on this build....(I didn't think it would be this exciting). LOL!!   
 
I'm trying to sort out what's the best way to load all my VST's (some may only be 32 bit) into this new machine. I saved all the registration/authorisation numbers, so I suppose I'll just have to go to each vendor site and download the 64bit vesions?
 
For the moment, I was planning on removing my Projects HDD & Samples HDD from the older machine and just installing them in the new build. Are there any things that I should be looking out for in this transition?
 
TIA, 

Yeah I was all antsy like that too. And it is very satisfying building your own PC and having it work all nice and smooth.
 
The way I did it was just to install everything fresh.
A pain....yes but on the bright side I did some major house cleaning and got rid of stuff I even forgot I had installed.
 
As far as swapping HD's. Sorry I can't help.
My old rig was a laptop with an external HD so I just plugged that in and dropped the files where I wanted them.
 
Enjoy the build.
 
Mike