Haz's build sheet recommends "low profile" RAM. How do I find out the height of RAM chips and what is considered "low profile"?
Manufacturer's website should list it, so you need to do a little research. If you're looking at parts via PCPartPicker, most of the RAM info pages have a picture of them. Noctua's website has a handy listing of compatible RAM modules for people who will be using their air coolers, you need to go to the product page for the heatsink and click on the compatibility link on the left hand navigation bar.
Corsair RAM will say if it's low profile or not in the name.
G.Skill's Eco and Ares models are low profile.
Crucial RAM is low profile if the name is just "Crucial" (no heatspreader), the other models like "Crucial Ballistix" and others vary, but the "Ballistix Elite" are tall.
Team Group's Vulcan and Zeus are very short, basically bare.
A-Data's Premier and XPG V1.0 models are short, while everything else is tall.
Mushkin memory all have the same height heatspreader, not very tall, could be considered low.
Hey GAF, I just recently picked up an i7 4790K on sale, and I plan on probably OC'ing it. I have an old H50 Corsair cooler that I used for my old AMD Phenom XII, but I'm unsure of whether it'll do the job or not.
Of course, I can just test it out when I finish building my new rig, but I didn't know if anyone had a clear answer on this. I could always upgrade to the H100i, seen some good prices there. But I'd rather not spend if I don't have to.
If you still have the unused mounting brackets that came with the H50, then you'll be fine. AMD and Intel motherboards have different mounting holes and brackets. You will also need thermal paste to apply to the CPU before mounting.
At the very least, it'll be better than the stock cooler when properly installed.
Yeah that makes sense. I decided to take the safe route and order a 1 TB external drive to back up my HDD to. So I'm planning on basically just copying my entire HDD to that, format my HDD, install Windows to my SSD, and copy back the files I need from the external. That should be all good right? Thanks for your help.
Yep. Keep in mind, most applications need to be reinstalled to work well with Windows, don't just transplant the folder from "Program Files" and expect it to work.
How stable are those third party mods for Windows 8's start menu?
I haven't had any problems with Classic Shell. It's pretty seamlessly integrated into Windows on startup, even on my agonizingly slow Windows 8 netbook.
I just picked up a 980 GTX (EVGA, SC), to replace my 680 GTX (Twin Frozr OC), but I think I really need to upgrade my CPU (got it in 2010.. it's time!).
I currenlty have an i7 930 stock 2.8ghz, OCed at 3.3ghz.
2 Choices: Waiting a bit to get an i7-5930K + a good mobo, or going with one of the deals for a i7 4790K (roughly about 290$ nowadays) + mobo.
I'm just not sure if going with a 4790k now is worth it, as I will have to change the motherboard again if I need to upgrade within the year... thoughts?
The i7 5930K and X99 motherboard will require new DDR4 memory, just in case you didn't know, and that's quite expensive right now. Microcentre currently has the i7 4790K for $250 but only for in-store purchase.
If you don't mind me asking, what are you using the computer for? The i7 4790k is quite good and will satisfy most people for a few years at least, and for games the i5 4690K is sufficient and performs close to the 4790K. Would you really need to upgrade again next year if you buy into Z97?
Z97 and socket 1150 aren't due to be made obsolete any time soon. The Broadwell line of CPUs is due out in the middle of 2015 for Z97 and socket 1150. Skylake's Z170 and socket 1151 platform is apparently releasing at around the same time, but isn't going to be replacing Z97 and socket 1150. Next year's Skylake CPUs won't be unlocked for overclocking and might not be totally performance-oriented.
