Thanks for all the opinions! I think I will downscale to ASUS PH77-V. About the assembly and the CPU cooler: quest_for_silence pointed out that I might be able to install Scythe Mugen 3 without taking the motherboard out of the case. The photo was from Fractal Design Define Mini, whereas I am going ...

Active case fans: The whole purpose of getting the Asus ATX mobo is for the fan control :D The argument is without merit. It really comes down to what is quiet enough for you. It may be a cheaper PSU is quiet enough. Don't know until you try it, eh? You can plan a build down to the last fan..and ev...

If they will build you the system and install Windows with updates and drivers... you could pay 20euro and get the stock Intel cooler (almost same price as tray I think). Then you'd just have to order a CPU heatsink of choice and install it. They would not install Windows and updates for that price...

Thanks for all your help, I think I will take the i7-3770 CPU as there is almost no price difference between i7-3770 Tray and the i7-2600K. Unfortunately the 20€ assembly would be sans CPU cooler so I will bite the bullet and try doing it myself and hope it goes fine. Perhaps I can then ask you guys...

A month ago, the conservative answer would have been: build a SNB system. In a month or two, the conservative answer would be build an IVB system. Today, it's go ahead and build an IVB system, but you probably will do a couple of BIOS/firmware updates over the summer. OK, which IVB CPU would you th...

The real negative to getting an IVB CPU now is that the mobo firmware/bios/drivers are all still being updated on a regular basis and prices may be a tad higher for CPUs and mobos now then they will be in a few months when supply increases. So, getting a SNB CPU and putting it on an IVB mobo doesn'...

How much PSU power do I REALLY need for making orchestral music with virtual instruments? I do not make music, but I guess the answer is: how do you make orchestral music with virtual instruments? Are CPU+motherboard+RAM+disk all the tools you need, or is there something more to be considered? Talk...

Hi and Welcome to SPCR. Here's a couple of forum builds with the Design Mini. It's a nice MicroATX Tower. Jen Lyns IV Das_Saunamies You might consider doing some fan replacement - but that is always easy to do after the initial build and you've had a chance to test/tweak. The main difference betwee...

I am thinking about P8Z77-V because of the Fan Xpert 2 you mentioned as well as 4 internal SATA 6 Gb/s (for eventual additional SSDs) and I am also considering Fractal Design R3 for aesthetical reasons, I would like to have another colour than black, Arctic White might actually look great in my room...

Greetings to everyone! So happy to have found this forum. I am going to make a new DAW build for making music with virtual instruments. For this I will acquire large orchestral sample libraries, Cubase 6 and an audio interface which will probably be RME Babyface, using USB 2.0. A silent PC would be ...