So, here is the final part list of what I need to purchase.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908


Here is the list of parts that has been ordered/bought already:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145261

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131699

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073 (No, I didn't pay Newegg's price, I bought it at Microcenter yesterday for $95.)

The memory is overpriced and that list of approved RAM is outdated and limited anyways. Should have gone with two dimms...not 4. Would have been fine with this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

Better thermal compound with no cure time:
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch.asp?scriteria=AA77214&pagetitle=Arctic%20Cooling%20MX-2%20Thermal%20Compound%20-%204gram

I don't understand. I had one poster saying to buy memory off of the approved vendor list in the book and now you are telling me it was a poor choice? I don't see how the list is limited? What do you mean by limited?

I looked at the XM2 but for some reason eight years ago the Arctic Silver 5 was the one to go with. I do admit, I've been out of the computer building thing for a very long time so maybe this isn't going to be the best PC out there right now, but if it'll run BF3 and Skyrim then it works for me.

It's a poor choice because it's overpriced for what it is. 8GB of RAM is only going to cost you $50-$60 for a decent set. And two dimms will give you less potential of stability problems should you decide to overclock your processor. But it just frees up two slots for further expansion if it becomes necessary (likely not)

Limited because they don't list every single compatible RAM that works with the board....only the ones they got around to testing.

AS5 is old stuff these days. Still works fine and most still use it, but there's a whole lot of better compounds now. The MX-2 is so cheap right now...there is NO REASON to not go with it.

QVL is something of a choice. I choose to stay with it to play it safe, as I've been burned twice by unsupported RAM (though given the number of memory upgrades I've done, twice isn't much), it's not something necessary, but I choose to stick by it due to being burned in the past and it's only a small premium even though I know the chance of being burned is relatively small.

I do agree with Tig in that you should get a 2x4GB kit instead of a 4x2GB kit for better stability.

Ok, so I bought the power supply today.

Drove to Microcenter in a bad neighbor hood to buy this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017.

Final item to buy is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353.

Does everyone still think this is a good buy? A decent buy? I've been looking all over for a better price on this card but it seems Newegg still has the better price.

Now, this card will be used for Battelfield 3 and Skyrim as well as Fallout: New Vegas (cause I still need to button that one up too).