Total Novice Needs Help Building Super Computer

[deadpixel]

I am a TOTAL novice. I spoke to a techie who told me that the starting point pf building a PC is the processor so I went and got myself an intel core i7 3820 Quadcore chipset with LGA 2011. I believe this is an amazing Chip. Now i need a motherboard. On Monday I will buy the Asus Rampage IV Extreme. I have read that this one is the best out there at the moment and it has the same socket as the the chipset so i think this is a good combo. Please feel free to tell me otherwise. Next is the RAM. I have no clude what ram to buy or how many sticks I will need. This is where your advice comes in.
As you can tell, I am trying to buid a high spec/performance PC so what RAM is best. I have read RAM comes in 8,16 and 32GB sticks.

• I suspect that 32GB is probably the best? what brand?
  

It seems that Corsair Dominator 32 GB is the one everyone is talking about. Gskill Rip Jaws also seems to be a premium RAM

• Would I need four 32GB sticks?
  
• Will either Corsair Dominator 32GB and Gskills Z series fit into my mother board assuming i get the Rampage IV extreme?
  
• Is it possible to get too much RAM?
  

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[xeromist]

deadpixel wrote:
If I went the 8x4GB route then in a few years I might need to upgrade which would mean removing some of my 4GB ram chips and replacing them? If I go the 4x8GB route then I will have space and in a couple years when it comes to upgrading, it would mean keeping all existing RAM chips and just adding more ram to the remaining empty slots. Is this thinking of mine reasonable?

Zka already addressed the performance aspect pretty well so I'll just say to this that yes your thinking is correct. In fact, sometimes populating all 8 slots can make tuning more difficult. So it would be best to start with 4 slots and then add another kit later once you have the hang of things if you needed more.

[XZEMi]

Mushkin makes the best ram ever and its an american company so if you are american and dont buy mushkin shame on you. Hey its no worse than telling someone they suck over the internet is it?

[Zka17]

As for start, you could check the compatible memory kits from the Asus Rampage IV Extreme's webpage...

Here is a 64GB (8X8GB) GSkill kit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231513
a 32GB (8x4GB) GSkill: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231504
or two of these 16GB (4x4GB) Corsairs: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233230

These are just my first results after few clicks on the net... I think, the last one (Corsair) is the mostly suggested one.

As I said before, you have to think a little bit more ahead! What cooling you want to install? If you want water blocks on the memories, I would choose Corsair Dominators...

[HiVizMan]

http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=425

Go have a look at the link I provided and find your motherboard. 🙂

[Arne_Saknussemm]

You will want the Ripjaws Z series not X.

I know from experience they will fit under a Noctua NH-D14 which is (in my opinion) the best aircooler you can buy. It is big though so choose a case carefully........

[Retired]

i say u want Dominator.........:p

[deadpixel]

I have decided to go for a 16GB kit. so what's the deal with Mhz? I found a bunch of RAM kits on Google shopping the only difference is the price and the Mhz. the more Mhz, the bigger the price tag. Is there a significant advantage? Here is what I have been looking at from RipJaw Z series:

• G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 16 GB : 4 x 4 GB Memory - DIMM 240-pin - 2133 MHz ( PC3-17000 ) - £101.
  
• G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 16 GB : 4 x 4 GB Memory - DIMM 240-pin - 1866 MHz ( PC3-14900 ) - £90
  
• G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 16 GB : 4 x 4 GB Memory - DIMM 240-pin - 1600 MHz ( PC3-12800 ) - £80
  

Will all of the above fit my motherboard? What difference can I expect from the more expensive RAM?

Thanks again

[Arne_Saknussemm]

deadpixel wrote:
Will all of the above fit my motherboard? What difference can I expect from the more expensive RAM?

Hard to say without part numbers....but probably.....I think you're looking at the right stuff now....red kits I presume.

The difference is only noticeable in bench-marking...1600 (pc3 12800) is great.

[Xtreme-Performa]

Well I researched mine before purchasing it... I did a research because I was impressed with i7-3960X but costs like $1300.00 bucks so I purchased a i7-3820 also and purchased a RIVE... But basically I just researched informations that's related to compatibility to a LGA 2011 MOBO...

For my build I chose a 2400mhz 8GB DDR3 Kingston because I'm on a budget and figured I'd purchase main componants then later on I can upgrade my Build.

I'm not sure what kind you wanted to build but if it's for extreme performance I'd suggests to purchase 2400mhz DDR3 for examples at a lower mem... after all I purchased mine because I wanted to O.C. it later on once I've got a decent cooling system going on to cool down the O.C. PC componants... after all the main enemy for a O.C. Mobo is heat... since heat damages hardwares...

I'm also a novice builder so I'm not knowledgable in building since my RIVE is also my first self-custom build... My first ASUS performance PC was purchased in ibuypower.com

So I basically studied my old PC P5N-D then do a research the requirements for Rampage IV Extreme. Basically just follow the requirements and it even shows the hardware on the websites that's compatible to RIVE... like I purchased a Phantek heatsink.

And I had to purchase other things that I never thought I would require... like heatsinks and extra fans... since I'm not familiar with liquid cooling... Cos I'm a cautious person when it comes to anything liquid... I don't want to have accidents or leakage... Since water conducts electricity and all... LOL...

At first I was thinking of Corsair H-80 ot H-100 what it suggested but instead I wanted to learn how to O.C. it since I was limited to my P5N-D cos my PSU broke and had to be replaced so a local bestbuy supergeek told me I don't need a high PSU.. which they replaced it with 750watts But then I couldn't overclock my P5N-D with 750watts Corsair... Everytime I O.C.'d it at 20% it keeps restarting and shutting down multiple times... And I recall supergeek technicians said we never seen a PC like NZXT before... I was like "oh.. oooo... I'm in trouble..." Cos I'd expected supergeek to know these things... but I was surprised that in my local area they don't seem to know these custom PCs just a regular office build PCs...

So just basically do what I did... just research the hardwares that's related to the Rampage IV Extreme which is in the website... Like if it has PCIxE and how many SLI's and the spec requirements for other hardware componants...

I guess it was sort off 99% successful for me for a first time custom build myself since I was able to make Win 7 64-bit working... I'm just having problems with my EVGA 560Ti incompatibility... heh heh... At least I can say I don't have a degree unlike my local PC technician supergeek... they don't know the type of MOBO's that can O.C.'s requirement extra wattage helps instead of limited watts that cannot overclock...

And I heard main concerns of 32GB DDR3 is stability... Most softwares required 2GB SDRAM but I dunno why people would want more than 16GB cos I heard about Skyrims that they're still having updates to hold up to 12GB to 16GB of SDRAMs... and I heard they don't support 32GB SDRAMs yet...

[Xtreme-Performa]

The only thing I had a problem with my build at first is a black screen due to EVGA 560Ti GTX it doesn't auto-adjust my screen after it restarts after installing Nvidia drivers 296.24

So just give you some heads up since we both have same CPU and MOBO... And if you were to tweak it to overclocking I'd suggests you'd look for hardwares that is able to overclock and cooling system to make sure it stays cool and not overheat... it's basically like a car engine if it overheats it'll breakdown...

I choose Antec Darkfleet-85 because it has 7 120 or was it 150 mm fans to cool it down and also has 3 filters in the front

So here's an option of a fan cooling like Corsair Obsidian 800d Antec Customer Support said this is not a original design but copied from other Tower ATX Case... But the only thing is that it requires 7 4 Pin outlet for wattage directly to the PSU... I was hoping I could install the fans directly on to the RIVE MOBO.. but the pins are way too small lol... requires a PWM cable... I like the design that I did a little crafting were I made a filter in the top 2 fans like a warehouse type of fan housing the hardware...

So it's basically filtering dust when it turns on... Cos I noticed old PC's tend to get a lot of dusts especially dealing with fan cooling system... But as far as overclocking I don't think fan's no matter how many I have can overclock it too high... unless you live some place colder than a tropical island LOL then cooling fan should be no problem...

Yeah I noticed there's only a few DDR3 that has 2400mhz like Kingston XMP...