Please critique this 680i / E6600 build

[dobbs]

I am upgrading from an old FX-55 platform and taking the Core2Duo plunge. I plan on ordering everything late this evening, barring any contradictory advice.

EVGA 680i motherboard
E6600 CPU
Tuniq Tower 120
Teamgroup TXDD2048M800HC4DC 2 gig PC6400 800 mhz sticks
Cooler Master CM830 case
Silverstone SSTST75ZF 750W PSU
EVGA 8800 GTX
2x WD 150GB Raptor X
Samsung 18x DVD burner
Logitech G15 keyboard

The questions I have are as follows:

I'm pretty solid on all of these parts - I want to overclock pretty much as high as the E6600 will go on air or close to it. My only question is whether or not I need a case as large as the CM830, but I figured with all of the potential for heat issues, it makes sense to get a top quality spacious aluminum case. I have the 750W power supply in case I ever want to go SLI, but at this time I feel like I wanna wait and see what ATI brings to the table. That way I only have to sell off 1 vid card instead of two, haha. Can I go with a smaller case for these components? I've read that the Antec P180B is too small and some other cases, fitting the Tuniq is an issue. Suggestions welcomed on the case.

The power supply was between the Seasonic M12 700 and the Silverstone -- I figured I'd go
with the extra wattage for $10 more. Good/bad/indifferent?

The memory was between the G.Skill and Teamgroup sticks, but I've read better reports of
overclockability with the Teamgroup. I just can't bring myself to pay $600 for Dominators.

I have read about the potential for issues involving the 680i reference design and running
pretty much any SATA drive -- there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, RAID, no RAID,
whatever. For the record, I plan on going RAID 0 with the Raptors and then chucking in 2
more 300gb drives for storage. Basically from what I can tell I just have to cross my
fingers and hope I'm not one of the ones with problems. True or false?

Total for all of these parts, the lowest price I could find on the web (sans shipping)
was $2500, all from different stores.

Please critique this build, tell me I'm insane / good to go / whatever. Suggestions
always welcomed... but you only have all of today before the order gets placed, so fire
away! Thanks in advance.

 

[Arcygenical]

It'll be powerful, that's for sure...

Can't really see anything wrong with it, cept for the pricetag . (well justified IMO)

You don't need the extra wattage of that PSU, as your system might draw upwards of 350w under load, but you're right for 10$...

Have you considered buying the WD1500ADFD drive rather than the Raptor X? They're the same drives, just without the window and cost about 50$ less. Or at least, buy one of them, as I doubt you'd be in a position to see both drives running.

Those raptors will be loud as hell during a long seek and read operation BTW! Very satisfying for the first few weeks, then really annoying after a few months (no alternitives for good IO speeds, however). Raid0 will have very minimal impacts on your gaming speed (Initiate flame sequence) especially with such a fast drive to begin with.

 

[artmonkey]

I've read that the Antec P180B is too small and some other cases.

The P180 is big enough for the 8800, as long as you don't use the upper bay for HDDs, which you shouldn't anyway.

The power supply was between the Seasonic M12 700 and the Silverstone -- I figured I'd go with the extra wattage for $10 more. Good/bad/indifferent?

I think the Seasonic is going to be more stable under the same power anyway, I'm not saying that the Silverstone is bad, just the Seasonic is so very, very good.

You don't need the extra wattage of that PSU, as your system might draw upwards of 350w under load.

For the whole system? 350w for the graphics card on it's own perhapse. I think if you plan on overclocking that CPU you are going to be using the upper limits of either of these PSUs. You can forget using two 8800 GTXs in SLI on a 700w PSU, I think you'll need 1000w+ for that to be safe.

 

[Youri Carma]

Maybe if you want to overclock easy without worries spend an extra buck ($62,-$55,-=Amzing little $7 more for real watercooling!) on the:
$62,- Coolermaster Coolermaster Aquagate Mini R120.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835103165

I have very positive experiences with the closed sold Coolriver Deluxe watercooling sytem. Still running without any trouble after 3 years and hardly any sound.(Only videocard heatsink holder is tricky!)
http://www.octools.com/index.cgi? caller=articles/coolriver/deluxe/coolriver.html

 

[1erCru]

If you want to go SLI or corssfire in the future I would go with a 1000 watt top end psu. 750 is the minimum recommended spec for SLI and the 8800 series.

 

[dobbs]

Everything I've read, including on this site, suggests that 750w is plenty adequate for SLI 8800 GTX. Kyle himself said that he has put the Silverstone through some ugly torture tests (see the holiday system build article/thread) , so I'm not worried about the need for more than that. I really think that the need for 800-1000 watt psus is really overblown unless you're doing some super extreme overclocking with crazy dry ice action or something.

@youri - I don't think I'm ready to take the watercooling plunge just yet. Probably on my next build. I can't really explain why I feel I'm not ready for it -- worries about leakage , all that typical stuff that anybody who recognizes they know nothing about water cooling worries about ...

@arcygenical - I discovered that I actually DO have the non Raptor X's specced out in my system. So I'm good there.

 

[Boyo]

You won't need water cooling, so I don't blame you for staying away from it. As for the Raptors, I think it's like $20 difference between the window and non-window. From what you are buying, I doubt $40 is going to break the bank.....