MOBO / CPU / CPU Cooler / RAM Advice

[Warmacblu]

Hi all,

I am currently running an i7-920 on an eVGA X58 SLi motherboard with 12 GB of G.SKILL RAM. In the next few months I will be using these parts to build my parents a computer and will be looking for replacements.

I have been looking around for a few weeks now at some processors and I am pretty certain that I would like to purchase the i7-3770K and 8 GB of G.SKILL RAM; however, I am still uncertain on a motherboard and a CPU cooler.

I would appreciate it if you could recommend some parts for me:

1) Motherboard - I do not plan on overclocking much at all and don't really care if it supports SLi or CrossfireX, I just want a nice stable board that will offer me great system stability.

2) CPU cooler - Not too sure what coolers are the best for this generation of Ivy Bridge.

3) RAM - If anyone has another recommendation besides G.SKILL, I am open to ideas. Like I said above, I don't really care for overclocking and have had great experiences with G.SKILL in the past so I thought I would stick with them.

Budget - the good news is that I have a 1000 USD budget, which should give me a ton of room to spend for a nice motherboard.

Lastly, if anyone wants to try to talk me down from the i7-3770K, please feel free. Or if you have any other recommendations that can fit a 1000 USD budget, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading, I am looking forward to your recommendations.

 

[blazorthon]

What are they going to do? If they're not doing some rendering or something similarly well-threaded and CPU-intensive, then an i7 is an extreme waste of money even if you're simply trying to future-proof the computer.

If decent overclocking is not being considered, then an after-market cooler is not needed unless you buy a unit that doesn't come with a stock cooler.

G.Skill, Crucial, and Corsair are generally regarded as the best RAM brands at this time.

Unless this specifically needs to be a high-end build, then spending more than about $500 is a waste of money.