I have about 1500-2000 bucks to spend on a new computer

Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:53:55 -0400, Paul wrote:

Ok I am going for it.
I will get this chip
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070
This board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475

I would like to get 8GB memory, but I am not sure what would be
compatible with this board.

I was counting on getting a very nice HD monitor, but I am open to
suggestions on what would be a good buy. I was planning to spend
around 500 bucks for a 26".

Although I don't plan on doing any games at the moment, I do hope I
get to play Diablo 3 and the next Oblivion, so it would be nice to
have a graphics card. Again, I am waiting for someone to put their
finger on one. I have no clue which one is good. Guess I have to
pick a card before I ask for the size power supply.

Anandtech likes to include a table in some of their articles, comparing
the two brands of video cards on price.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4260/a...p-short-at-150

At the high end, they use two GPU chips inside the same module. So
the very highest performance cards can be cheating. The power consumption
would match.

http://www.gpureview.com/Radeon-HD-6990-card-646.html

http://www.gpureview.com/GeForce-GTX-590-card-648.html

If you go down a step, the module has one GPU.

http://www.gpureview.com/GeForce-GTX-580-card-637.html

http://www.gpureview.com/Radeon-HD-6970-card-638.html

You can look at them, based on the power they draw.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...Draw,2678.html

You can look at them, based on performance. On some games, the
game prefers one brand of video card over the other (optimizations
are different in the game code).

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...iast,2672.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...iast,2666.html

You can list a group of cards, and sort them by reputation. You'd be looking
at both the price (performance level) and whether a lot of people are having
trouble with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...NG&PageSize=20

You take a specific card, then read customer reviews. Some people
have the odd problem with the card. Reading the reviews is pretty
important. One reviewer says "Idles at 30 degress Celsius,
under load about 50-65", which is excellent as video cards go.
In the past, some of the cards would be hitting 90C. Or the users
would have to increase the fan setting, to get a decent temperature.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130593

You can do the same search on some ATI cards. Look at the 6000 series.
Sort by ratings. Look at reputation and price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Subcategory=48

Look at a specific card, like this 6970.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102915

"runs my games without a hiccup starcraft 2, crysis, sims medieval,
fallout new vegas, all on max settings and 1920x1200

good temps 30c idle and 55c on load

slipped right into my haf x with no problem

fan is loud but i play with headphones so it does not bother me"

"Long as hell. Make sure to get a large enough case. You will need it."

"Runs real quiet when idle at 58c and under load runs at around
85c with the fan running at about 30% which you can barely hear"

High end cards are mainly to allow the usage of a lot of pixels on screen.
Like the 1920 x 1200 native resolution of that one reviewer.

Operating temperature range is going to vary somewhat, depending
on how the case provides cooling, and moves warm air away from the
card.

You can get some idea of what happens to system power consumption with
the graph here. A GTX 570 or a HD 6970 bring *system* power up to about 600W
in their example. You need a decent power supply for it. These power numbers
are likely measured at the wall with a Kill-O-Watt meter. 600W wall, times
83% PSU efficiency (a good one), means about 500W coming from the case, and
100W coming from the power supply vent.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid..._13.html#sect0

Some of the articles, show the 12V current used by the various power inputs
on the card. The GTX 570 and GTX 580 use the same GPU, but one card uses
a wider memory. The GTX 570 uses 2+9.2+9.1 from the three 12V power sources.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...0_4.html#sect0

The GTX 580 uses 2.7+7.2+14.4, and the 14.4 is a bit high for the connector.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...0_5.html#sect0

We could allow 9 amps for your processor, 20 amps for your GTX 570, 0.5 amps
for fans, 0.6 amps for a single hard drive, 2.5 amps for a BluRay burner.
A rough number is 33 amps from 12V. You can get power supplies with
a single large output. This power supply is 60 amps on 12V, so leaves
some margin. It's smaller brother, a few dollars cheaper, is 52 amps.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

You also do a rough check of power in watts. It's also important. We can
take 12V * 33 amps and get 396W. To that, add roughly 50W for motherboard
power and RAM power draw. 10W for USB power of various devices. The drives
draw some 5V power, throw in another 15W. About 471W total. The power supply
is rated at 750W, again, some margin is available so the supply isn't at
its limit.

So a slightly-less-than-top-of-the-line solution costs $360 for the video
card, and $110 for the power supply to run it.

Since the video card is long, you have to check there is room within the computer
case. One person mentioned a HAF-X case. You can find reviews for cases. This
case has room for E-ATX (12"x13") and that means there'd be a bit more room
for a long card. The review also mentions some other cases. If you could get
precise measurements on the video card length, it might be possible to
shop for a cheaper case.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cas...haf-x-review/1

Once you move to the "monster video card" build, your build details and
the character of the machine change a lot. You have a lot more fans
present. The video card will speed up its fan when you play 3D games.

Without the video card, you could build a lower power system, the computer
case wouldn't be an issue (even a piece of cheap junk would work). Putting
in a 200W+ video card, means providing the necessities for it. It's like
owning a big dog, and having to buy two cans of dog food per day.

Paul

On Apr 10, 3:22*am, Paul wrote:
Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:53:55 -0400, Paul wrote:

Ok *I am going for it.
I will get this chip
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...?Item=N82E1681
Once you move to the "monster video card" build, your build details and
the character of the machine change a lot. You have a lot more fans
present. The video card will speed up its fan when you play 3D games.

Without the video card, you could build a lower power system, the computer
case wouldn't be an issue (even a piece of cheap junk would work). Putting
in a 200W+ video card, means providing the necessities for it. It's like
owning a big dog, and having to buy two cans of dog food per day.

* * Paul

Monster video card??? What do you do with such high tech $1,000 video
card? Play video game emulating virtual reality monster in your
face????
That's it huh... The giant 36" LCD screen display gorilla size of
monster showing
up in your screen and would make you damn scare. That's what big
screen and high tech video card does for you by emulating virtual
reality monster.

Red Cloud wrote:
On Apr 10, 3:22 am, Paul wrote:
Metspitzer wrote:
On Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:53:55 -0400, Paul wrote:
Ok I am going for it.
I will get this chip
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...?Item=N82E1681
Once you move to the "monster video card" build, your build details and
the character of the machine change a lot. You have a lot more fans
present. The video card will speed up its fan when you play 3D games.

Without the video card, you could build a lower power system, the computer
case wouldn't be an issue (even a piece of cheap junk would work). Putting
in a 200W+ video card, means providing the necessities for it. It's like
owning a big dog, and having to buy two cans of dog food per day.

Paul

Monster video card??? What do you do with such high tech $1,000 video
card? Play video game emulating virtual reality monster in your
face????
That's it huh... The giant 36" LCD screen display gorilla size of
monster showing
up in your screen and would make you damn scare. That's what big
screen and high tech video card does for you by emulating virtual
reality monster.


The high end cards help when the screen resolution is large.
2560 x 1600 would be high resolution.

My video card is a 7900GT and my resolution is 1280x1024. So
I'm hardly an "enthusiast". I'm not rich enough to afford the
good stuff.

Paul

On Apr 6, 5:44*pm, Metspitzer wrote:
My main reason for upgrading is to have around a 24" HD monitor to
play 1080p files. *My nephew wants my old computer. *This will be the
first time ever that I have no spare parts I want to use.

Take something off the shelf seems like a good way to go.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to spend the cash?


I would rather spend on taking vacation than buying $1500 worth of
computer.
I can make what I need the system with less than 200 bucks. I don't
need fancy, high tech latest model because I'm not that impressed
with all the latest gadgets.
For example, I don't like Windows 7.

I could not even spend 1/10th of that money on new system... I tried
to upgrade
my old system but I was so disappointed new system has no AGP,
secondary
video output, extra PCI slot. They are all missing. On top of that,
new system was not render faster than old system.

On Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:44:46 -0500, Metspitzer
wrote:

My main reason for upgrading is to have around a 24" HD monitor to
play 1080p files. My nephew wants my old computer. This will be the
first time ever that I have no spare parts I want to use.

Take something off the shelf seems like a good way to go.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to spend the cash?

Ok.
This chip
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070
This board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475
This graphics card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102915
This memory cost 230 for 16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231429
This memory cost 99 for 8 2 of these seems cheaper ???
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314
This power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-006-_-Product
This burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204
This case (I think a top fan is a bad idea)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147023
This drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227543
This mouse
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826105178
This keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-149-_-Product
This monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005203
I am keeping my mic/speakers

What did I forget? What did I mismatch?

Metspitzer wrote:
On Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:44:46 -0500, Metspitzer
wrote:

My main reason for upgrading is to have around a 24" HD monitor to
play 1080p files. My nephew wants my old computer. This will be the
first time ever that I have no spare parts I want to use.

Take something off the shelf seems like a good way to go.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to spend the cash?

Ok.
This chip
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070
This board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475
This graphics card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102915
This memory cost 230 for 16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231429
This memory cost 99 for 8 2 of these seems cheaper ???
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314
This power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-006-_-Product
This burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204
This case (I think a top fan is a bad idea)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147023
This drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227543
This mouse
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826105178
This keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-149-_-Product
This monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005203
I am keeping my mic/speakers

What did I forget? What did I mismatch?

Core i7-2600K $314.99
GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 $139.99 (motherboard for QuickSync)
HD 6970 2GB $364.99
F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL 4x4GB $229.99
CMPSU-750TX 12V @ 60A $109.99
ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD Burner $ 20.99
OCZSSD2-2AGTE120G Sandforce 120GB 285 MB/s $204.99
Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 $ 21.99
Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 $ 18.99
LG E2750VR-SN Black 27" 1920 x 1080 5ms LED $419.99

You need an OS to install! This would be enough to give you
WinXP Mode $139.99. OEM means it'll be "locked" to this build.
A "full" or "retail" would be transferable to another computer,
but would cost more. Since you have 16GB of RAM, you want the
64 bit version.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116758

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

Total as you propose
314.99+139.99+364.99+229.99+109.99+20.99+204.99+21 .99+18.99+419.99+139.99= 1986.89

*******
The motherboard comes with two SATA cables. This is just enough to hook up
the SSD drive and the DVD burner. The motherboard does not have an IDE connector
or ribbon cable for IDE drive.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/13-128-475-Z03?$S640W$

In terms of slot usage, you'll have a free PCI Express x1 up top. You
could put a TV tuner in there. I don't think that would interfere with the
back of the video card.

The video card goes in the top blue slot. The video card is double width,
so that covers the adjacent PCI Express x1. You'll likely end up leaving
the second blue slot empty, so that the "blower" on the video card
can pull air in easily.

That leaves three PCI slots on the bottom. For sound, you can easily
use the built-in sound. Or, if you want, later you can upgrade to a
PCI sound card. I don't know if I'd waste that one accessible PCI
Express x1 slot on a sound card. Right now, I'm using built-in sound
on mine (because I don't have room for my PCI sound card).

In terms of PCI Express lane count, you have x16 lanes on the primary
video card slot. Those go directly to the processor. The chipset has
8 lanes total. The second video slot is wired x4, but if you plug a
card into the PCI Express x1 slot (the one that's now covered by the
video card), it drops the slot wiring on the second video slot to x1.
This really isn't such a big deal. (It's only a problem if you wanted
to use all the PCI Express slots available.) The block diagram in the
users manual shows this detail, but is a bit hard to decipher. The lane
switching is between the second PCI Express x1 and the second PCI Express
video card slot, and doesn't involve the functioning of any other chips.

This wouldn't be a great board for Crossfire (using two video cards),
and the slot spacing wouldn't make that easy anyway. (I don't like the
cards too close together.)

*******
The four stick RAM kit is guaranteed to reach 9-9-9-24-2N DDR3-1600 @ 1.5V
with all four sticks in place. F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL

http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=358

The two stick RAM kit is guaranteed to meet it's spec with two sticks,
but with four sticks you can't be certain of the same thing. They sure
look like the other sticks... 9-9-9-24-2N DDR3-1600 @ 1.5V F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=239

One reviewer on the Newegg site, using the 2 stick kit, had trouble
mixing two kits together on the same motherboard and getting 1600.
The reviewer got 1333 but not 1600 stable with 4 DIMMs total.
If you could be happy with 1333, then you can always use two
kits of the $99 ones.

So maybe the four stick kit, really was tested as a set of four.

There is no real reason for having 16GB of memory, but at least
you'll be "future ready". You could make a very nice RAMDisk out
of the excess. (To test, I installed 6GB on my motherboard here,
and had a 2GB RAMDisk to play with. Sample bench is next.)

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8...am2gbabove.gif

*******
Computer case side panel doesn't have an easy release latch. It's got
thumb screws and slide action. I had a computer case in the past, that
as it got older, the side got more and more difficult to remove. Of course,
I take the sides off these things, a lot :-)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147023

"I was able to squeeze in my 260 GTX, though I had to place
all my hds on the very bottom of the case."

http://hothardware.com/Articles/XFX-...Black-Edition/

GTX 260 10.5" length

http://www.legionhardware.com/articl...970_2gb,2.html

HD 6970 27cm = 10.63" (some sites quote slightly longer)

So the 6970 may fit in there.

One reviewer for the Rosewill case, mentioned he fitted fans right up
against the side vents. That's only practical if the case is wide
enough for it. The case has an exterior dimension of 7.28", which
does leave room for them, but if it was me, I'd want a bit more
clearance. When fitting a fan to a vent area, sometimes you have to make
a plenum or an adapter to get a good fit, and that eats up a bit
of headroom. There is no reason to assume that is necessary at this point.

This review for the video card type, shows it uses vapor chamber cooling
with fins, and apparently vents all the air through the faceplate. Which
is great if it is true. A lot of these monster cards, they vent out
several places, and the less air they vent back inside the case, the
less the cooling fans on the case have to work. Otherwise, you end
up with the "warm cloud" problem. Even my pathetic little video card
suffers from "warm cloud", and I had to add a cooling fan to move
the cloud out of the way.

When it comes to me reviewing cases for people, my philosophy is to
try not to get too bent out of shape about them. There are hundreds
of cases, and I don't like some of them. Not a big deal. It's a taste
thing, and I have to allow some latitude for others to select things
they like. The properties I like a steel with heavy weight metal
for vibration damping, all metal screw fasteners (I hate tool-less plastic),
rational cooling fan positioning (as if they could envision an air flow,
rather than peppering all surfaces of the case with fans), smooth
rectangular finish (no bulbous noses), no top fan (spilled drink resistance),
sufficient internal space so there is room for my hands to work inside
(8" case width, no crossbar to block access), some place to cable tie
loose cables to, support lip to hold power supply (so there is no risk
of it falling). Those are a few things. I usually remove the original
fans the case comes with, and choose fans from the "junk pile" as
required. If the build calls for more air, I fit a higher capacity fan.
The biggest fan I've ever used on the back of the case, is 120mm square
by 37.5mm deep, 110CFM (which is way overkill and deafening when run
full power). My current build, being relatively low power, doesn't
get a monster fan. It's got a Vantec Stealth bought locally.

So, your case passes. I think your video card fits, but you can never
be 100% sure, unless the review comments for the case include someone
actually fitting that card. You can't have zero clearance on length,
because sometimes you have to tilt the card a bit to guide it
into place. Fortunately, the power connectors on your card, are located
along the top edge, which is a good thing. (Uses a 2x3 and a 2x4).
The four connectors on your power supply, can fit either 2x3 or 2x4.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psucon...plus2index.jpg

*******
The SSD includes a 3.5" adapter plate and four screws. The screws
may fit into the bottom of the drive, then your toolless case
fittings may hold the tray in place. Some people use nylon tie wraps
to hold an SSD, which is another option.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-agi...i-2-5-ssd.html

The claim here is, the Agility II uses 34nm flash, but who is
to say they haven't substituted 25nm flash instead. The most
recent MLC devices, have a lower lifetime write count.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3667/o...-mp-firmware/2

OCZ switched over to 25nm flash, and you should know there are some
subtle differences. A smart company would have assigned new
SKUs to the products, so customers would know what they're getting.
Now, I don't know whether this applies to Agility II, and the
web page on the ocztechnology.com site doesn't tell me anything
about the issue.

http://www.storagereview.com/ocz_ver...czssd22vtxe60g

More of the "smell" here. This has more to do with how you run
a business, than anything else. A little dishonesty, goes a
*long* way.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthre...2143367&page=4

*******
This mouse would match the color of your keyboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826105185

*******
For keyboards, I like to test them in a store if I can. That
way, I can find one with the right feel (I like long travel,
rather than short travel).

*******
Video card ships with HDMI cable. Monitor has none. Monitor has
VGA and DVI cables. DVI would work too.

One review for your monitor selection, mentioned uneven lighting from top
to bottom.

The following monitor likely uses CCFL instead of LED lighting,
but it gives you 1920x1200. Stand sucks. Speakers suck. You can fix the
stand with wood blocks. (I use a stack of wood 7" thick for a monitor
stand. You bolt planks together until you get the required
positioning. It took 9 pieces of 3/4".)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824254052

HTH,
Paul

On Sun, 10 Apr 2011 22:09:15 -0400, Paul wrote:

Metspitzer wrote:
On Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:44:46 -0500, Metspitzer
wrote:

My main reason for upgrading is to have around a 24" HD monitor to
play 1080p files. My nephew wants my old computer. This will be the
first time ever that I have no spare parts I want to use.

Take something off the shelf seems like a good way to go.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to spend the cash?

Ok.
This chip
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070
This board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475
This graphics card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102915
This memory cost 230 for 16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231429
This memory cost 99 for 8 2 of these seems cheaper ???
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314
This power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-006-_-Product
This burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204
This case (I think a top fan is a bad idea)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147023
This drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227543
This mouse
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826105178
This keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-149-_-Product
This monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005203
I am keeping my mic/speakers

What did I forget? What did I mismatch?

Core i7-2600K $314.99
GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 $139.99 (motherboard for QuickSync)
HD 6970 2GB $364.99
F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL 4x4GB $229.99
CMPSU-750TX 12V @ 60A $109.99
ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD Burner $ 20.99
OCZSSD2-2AGTE120G Sandforce 120GB 285 MB/s $204.99
Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 $ 21.99
Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 $ 18.99
LG E2750VR-SN Black 27" 1920 x 1080 5ms LED $419.99

You need an OS to install! This would be enough to give you
WinXP Mode $139.99. OEM means it'll be "locked" to this build.
A "full" or "retail" would be transferable to another computer,
but would cost more. Since you have 16GB of RAM, you want the
64 bit version.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116758

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

Total as you propose
314.99+139.99+364.99+229.99+109.99+20.99+204.99+2 1.99+18.99+419.99+139.99= 1986.89

*******
The motherboard comes with two SATA cables. This is just enough to hook up
the SSD drive and the DVD burner. The motherboard does not have an IDE connector
or ribbon cable for IDE drive.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/13-128-475-Z03?$S640W$

In terms of slot usage, you'll have a free PCI Express x1 up top. You
could put a TV tuner in there. I don't think that would interfere with the
back of the video card.

The video card goes in the top blue slot. The video card is double width,
so that covers the adjacent PCI Express x1. You'll likely end up leaving
the second blue slot empty, so that the "blower" on the video card
can pull air in easily.

That leaves three PCI slots on the bottom. For sound, you can easily
use the built-in sound. Or, if you want, later you can upgrade to a
PCI sound card. I don't know if I'd waste that one accessible PCI
Express x1 slot on a sound card. Right now, I'm using built-in sound
on mine (because I don't have room for my PCI sound card).

In terms of PCI Express lane count, you have x16 lanes on the primary
video card slot. Those go directly to the processor. The chipset has
8 lanes total. The second video slot is wired x4, but if you plug a
card into the PCI Express x1 slot (the one that's now covered by the
video card), it drops the slot wiring on the second video slot to x1.
This really isn't such a big deal. (It's only a problem if you wanted
to use all the PCI Express slots available.) The block diagram in the
users manual shows this detail, but is a bit hard to decipher. The lane
switching is between the second PCI Express x1 and the second PCI Express
video card slot, and doesn't involve the functioning of any other chips.

This wouldn't be a great board for Crossfire (using two video cards),
and the slot spacing wouldn't make that easy anyway. (I don't like the
cards too close together.)

*******
The four stick RAM kit is guaranteed to reach 9-9-9-24-2N DDR3-1600 @ 1.5V
with all four sticks in place. F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL

http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=358

The two stick RAM kit is guaranteed to meet it's spec with two sticks,
but with four sticks you can't be certain of the same thing. They sure
look like the other sticks... 9-9-9-24-2N DDR3-1600 @ 1.5V F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=239

One reviewer on the Newegg site, using the 2 stick kit, had trouble
mixing two kits together on the same motherboard and getting 1600.
The reviewer got 1333 but not 1600 stable with 4 DIMMs total.
If you could be happy with 1333, then you can always use two
kits of the $99 ones.

So maybe the four stick kit, really was tested as a set of four.

There is no real reason for having 16GB of memory, but at least
you'll be "future ready". You could make a very nice RAMDisk out
of the excess. (To test, I installed 6GB on my motherboard here,
and had a 2GB RAMDisk to play with. Sample bench is next.)

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8...am2gbabove.gif

*******
Computer case side panel doesn't have an easy release latch. It's got
thumb screws and slide action. I had a computer case in the past, that
as it got older, the side got more and more difficult to remove. Of course,
I take the sides off these things, a lot :-)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147023

"I was able to squeeze in my 260 GTX, though I had to place
all my hds on the very bottom of the case."

http://hothardware.com/Articles/XFX-...Black-Edition/

GTX 260 10.5" length

http://www.legionhardware.com/articl...970_2gb,2.html

HD 6970 27cm = 10.63" (some sites quote slightly longer)

So the 6970 may fit in there.

One reviewer for the Rosewill case, mentioned he fitted fans right up
against the side vents. That's only practical if the case is wide
enough for it. The case has an exterior dimension of 7.28", which
does leave room for them, but if it was me, I'd want a bit more
clearance. When fitting a fan to a vent area, sometimes you have to make
a plenum or an adapter to get a good fit, and that eats up a bit
of headroom. There is no reason to assume that is necessary at this point.

This review for the video card type, shows it uses vapor chamber cooling
with fins, and apparently vents all the air through the faceplate. Which
is great if it is true. A lot of these monster cards, they vent out
several places, and the less air they vent back inside the case, the
less the cooling fans on the case have to work. Otherwise, you end
up with the "warm cloud" problem. Even my pathetic little video card
suffers from "warm cloud", and I had to add a cooling fan to move
the cloud out of the way.

When it comes to me reviewing cases for people, my philosophy is to
try not to get too bent out of shape about them. There are hundreds
of cases, and I don't like some of them. Not a big deal. It's a taste
thing, and I have to allow some latitude for others to select things
they like. The properties I like a steel with heavy weight metal
for vibration damping, all metal screw fasteners (I hate tool-less plastic),
rational cooling fan positioning (as if they could envision an air flow,
rather than peppering all surfaces of the case with fans), smooth
rectangular finish (no bulbous noses), no top fan (spilled drink resistance),
sufficient internal space so there is room for my hands to work inside
(8" case width, no crossbar to block access), some place to cable tie
loose cables to, support lip to hold power supply (so there is no risk
of it falling). Those are a few things. I usually remove the original
fans the case comes with, and choose fans from the "junk pile" as
required. If the build calls for more air, I fit a higher capacity fan.
The biggest fan I've ever used on the back of the case, is 120mm square
by 37.5mm deep, 110CFM (which is way overkill and deafening when run
full power). My current build, being relatively low power, doesn't
get a monster fan. It's got a Vantec Stealth bought locally.

So, your case passes. I think your video card fits, but you can never
be 100% sure, unless the review comments for the case include someone
actually fitting that card. You can't have zero clearance on length,
because sometimes you have to tilt the card a bit to guide it
into place. Fortunately, the power connectors on your card, are located
along the top edge, which is a good thing. (Uses a 2x3 and a 2x4).
The four connectors on your power supply, can fit either 2x3 or 2x4.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psucon...plus2index.jpg

*******
The SSD includes a 3.5" adapter plate and four screws. The screws
may fit into the bottom of the drive, then your toolless case
fittings may hold the tray in place. Some people use nylon tie wraps
to hold an SSD, which is another option.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-agi...i-2-5-ssd.html

The claim here is, the Agility II uses 34nm flash, but who is
to say they haven't substituted 25nm flash instead. The most
recent MLC devices, have a lower lifetime write count.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3667/o...-mp-firmware/2

OCZ switched over to 25nm flash, and you should know there are some
subtle differences. A smart company would have assigned new
SKUs to the products, so customers would know what they're getting.
Now, I don't know whether this applies to Agility II, and the
web page on the ocztechnology.com site doesn't tell me anything
about the issue.

http://www.storagereview.com/ocz_ver...czssd22vtxe60g

More of the "smell" here. This has more to do with how you run
a business, than anything else. A little dishonesty, goes a
*long* way.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthre...2143367&page=4

*******
This mouse would match the color of your keyboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826105185

*******
For keyboards, I like to test them in a store if I can. That
way, I can find one with the right feel (I like long travel,
rather than short travel).

*******
Video card ships with HDMI cable. Monitor has none. Monitor has
VGA and DVI cables. DVI would work too.

One review for your monitor selection, mentioned uneven lighting from top
to bottom.

The following monitor likely uses CCFL instead of LED lighting,
but it gives you 1920x1200. Stand sucks. Speakers suck. You can fix the
stand with wood blocks. (I use a stack of wood 7" thick for a monitor
stand. You bolt planks together until you get the required
positioning. It took 9 pieces of 3/4".)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824254052

HTH,
Paul

Thanks everyone.
My machine is on the way.