Froghammer's Build: Core i7 4770K - Z87X-UD5H - 32GB RAM - Radeon 5770

[unbiased1]

Thanks for all the info. I am very new to all of this. I'm planning my first build using all the components you listed (Samsung 120GB and 250GB SSD) with either the Fractal R4 or NZXT Silent Chassis case & 2 samsung monitors. The computer will be mainly for recording and producing music but will also be used for photo editing and possibly some video editing later down the road.

I have 1 quick, possibly stupid, question:

1. Will I need the CPU cooler if I do not overclock?

 

[Stork]

...Will I need the CPU cooler if I do not overclock?

Yes! You have to have one. Use the one that came with your processor (it's loud) or get a better one for $25 USD and higher.

 

[froghammer]

Sorry guys, life got a bit busy there for a bit.

Dracon- Yeah, the Gskill memory is still great. I've had very (like, once every two or three weeks...) occasional freeze/lockups. Still not sure what's causing that because otherwise it's been running amazingly over clocked to 4.3 GHz

unbiased1- Like Stork said, you definitely need A CPU cooler. Whether or not it's a water cooler like the one I got is up to you. I was trying to maximize silence because.........well, silent is good. Or at least as silent as possible. There are lots of great air and water coolers out there. You just have to sift through about a thousand comparison reviews. It's worth it though.

 

[dougoftheabaci]

Hi Froghammer, are all your USB3.0 ports working? Also, are all your drives plugged into the Intel SATA ports or have you tried the Marvel ones?

 

[froghammer]

dougoftheabaci- all of my usb 3.0 ports work, but I can't say for sure they're running at 3.0 speeds. I do know that they can be kind of finicky with certain USB3 peripherals, like a particular card reader I have.

And yeah, I'm using the Intel ones and none of the Marvell ports. Read a few times to stay away from the Marvell ones and haven't needed to add any more drives yet.

 

[SDB49]

Nice build! I just bought the same Z87X-UD5H and 4770k i7. Did you ever have issues with the USB ports not working? I also plan to run 10.8.5 As far as the ra, many people have reported the same thing with that mobo. I had always heard Corsair ram was junk and to use Kingston. Any problems these days?

 

[froghammer]

No problems with the USB 3.0 ports not working, but I have had problems with one peripheral I have, which is a usb3 memory card reader. I have to put that one in the 2.0 header for it to work.

No problems these days. I still have the occasional hard freeze about once every two or three weeks and I still don't know what that's about. Today I just installed 10.9.3 and was able to use GraphicsEnabler=Yes instead of No like before, so maybe that will fix it? Previously my card wasn't showing up as a 5770- it was showing up as a generic "5000 series" card. Time will tell.

I can totally put up with a random freeze every once in a while for how great the computer runs otherwise. Plus, most of the programs (as well as the OS...) I use save as I go, so I rarely lose anything.

All in all, still a very happy camper.