Update time:

It's built!

I ended up getting the Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 and the i7 4790K. with a single 8GB stick of RAM, (I'll get another at the end of the month) and this machine is soooo quick!

I will need to get a graphics card at some stage, but it runs Windows 8.1 brilliantly, and OS X under VMWare.

I am officially happy!

Another update:

Bought some more parts on Friday.

Here is the latest spec list.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K
RAM: 32GB
GFX: Nvidia GTX 760
Hard Drives: Too many! Two SSDs, (112GB and 120GB) and about 4 or 5 TB of SATA Goodness.
Monitor: Two Edge 10 W223s, (had these a while, but I'm keeping them because they're decent enough for my needs)

Aside from possibly water cooling it at a later date, that's about finished, I think.

I saw you were doing the Hackintosh thing - interested to hear how that goes.

I've got it working on vmware with no problem. Installing it on the pc is proving interesting, but I'll crack it.

Couldn't you just run it over the VMWare hyper visor, with ESX?

It's currently running on VMWare |Workstation, but I want to install it natively, to see how much the performance improves. I'm running a music app, but it's not happy running virtually.

Bought a new keyboard over the weekend. THIS ONE

Ooooh. Clicky.

I would love to know how much ram does Windows 8 uses out of that 32gb, lets say when it is idling without anything opened and also once you open some programs.
Really good spec btw, I don't think I can justify getting myself a new system. Will probably be OK with what I have for another five years, the most demanding thing I do is some light photo editing...

This is the first pc I built since 2003/4 and it'll do me for a good ten years. I'm currently running Windows 7 and the tech preview of Windows 10 and I'll post up some figures when I switch it on next.

Sent from my big ass Sony Xperia Z Ultra tabphonelet, using Tapatalk 4.

Running Windows 10 and Task Manager is telling me that it's using 2.5/31.9GB (8%)

Bear in mind that this is a Technical Preview, and I'll update this post when I reboot into Windows 7.

Edit to add: Windows 7 reports that it's using 10% memory.

Thanks, it is good to know. My 6gb feel like enough at the moment and it looks like the windows will be quite low on requirements too. So I will be sticking with what I have...

Unless you notice that the machine is sluggish when you're trying to do something intensive, I wouldn't spend anything just to boost the figures.
I maxed out on the RAM because I designed this one with virtualisation in mind so needed the most memory and most powerful processor I could afford at the time. Running Windows 7 with Virtual windows xp, Linux and a windows server computer simultaneously didn't even make her flinch.

Sent from my big ass Sony Xperia Z Ultra tabphonelet, using Tapatalk 4.

Installed the 4K monitor this morning, and it's now running alongside one of the 22" monitors, until I get around to putting the other wall mount up, at which point I'll connect the third monitor.

First impressions are... WOW! The video clarity makes our 50" HD TV look like Minecraft! Once I adjusted the icon size, which was initially ridiculously small, it has become an instant hit. Put it this way, Mrs V. is asking if I want to buy another one, to replace the second screen.

I must say I am tempted, but I'll resist... for now!

As a completely unashamed monitor whore, I am extremely jealous.

Enjoy it.

Do it, nothing worse than mismatched screens for the OCD