First Build - Advice

[compbuild]

I've been researching online for weeks as I look to build my first computer.

Budget: $4500 - $5000 (including 30" monitor)
Primary Use: Gaming & some web development
Time Frame: 2-3 months

Processor: I7 920 2.66Ghz
Memory: Corsair Dominator 3GB DDR3 1600 Tri-Channel @ 8-8-8-24
GPU: 2 x GTX 280 SLI FTW Edition
Hard Drive: VelociRaptor 300G 10000 RPM SATA
Power: ABS Tagan BZ 800W
Case: Antec 1200
Monitor: Dell 3007WFP-HC 30"
Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe or EVGA 1366 X58

• I want SLI support for 2 GPUs (not going for 3)
• I probably want to overclock this system a little for best performance but reliability might be a little more important to me.
• I'll probably have a basic DVDRW drive. Don't need BlueRay. Don't need Floppy or Zip.

Besides the obvious questions about actually building the rig since I've never done it (I'm hoping there is a guide somewhere), I have a few more specific ones.

1. What type of cooling system (possibly liquid) should I get and is there enough room on the Motherboard and in the case for it? The Antec 1200 looks like it has plenty of room but I've always used stock cooling before.
   
2. I was really leading towards the Asus P6T Deluxe Motherboard but then read many concerns about the V2 being released shortly after V1. I'm looking for something to work out the box, I can't spend a month fiddling and patching it to get it to work.
   forum thread talking about it
   
3. Will the two GPUs also need their own cooling and is there room for that too? As you can see, most of my concern is the room for all of these large components. lol
   
4. The monitor requires dual link DVI-D. I'm assuming the GTX 280s can handle this.
   
5. With the 6 fans in the Antec 1200 I would think it would help keep the CPU and GPUs much cooler. My problem now is noise. I don't want to hear if from across the house. Will I need to mount any internal radiators?
   Forum thread talking about it
   
6. Do you see any general roadblocks or conflicts that I might face based on the build so far?

Thank you for your help. I'm really looking forward to my first build and hope many more will follow.

 

[saltynay]

Ram Newegg.com - G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
gpu get a pair of these and sell the extra games Newegg.com - XFX GX285NZDFF GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
hdd: pair of these in raid 0 Newegg.com - Patriot PE32GS25SSDR 2.5" 32GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Solid State Disks and move your paging file, "my documents" and defualt install path on here Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives Only keep the Os and your favourite games on the ssd's
Psu Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies
mobo: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
audio card Newegg.com - ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express Interface Sound Card - Sound Cards

aspire is the water cooling guru he will be along eventually look here Petra's Tech Shop there forums are very knowledgeable on the subject of watercooling.
get the mobo I suggested
Everything will fit
yes
You can mount an internal rad if you want an internal rad but with an sli loop and that processor I will doubt there would be enough room and you may need dual radiators I would hedge my bets. Thermochill 120.3 rads are designed for low cfm, low noise fans.

 

[compbuild]

Thanks for the help Salty. What made you choose the Gigabyte board over the other two?

Is the G.Skill Memory better than the Corsair Dominator? Both are Tri-Channel.

Wonder if those GTX 285s are awesome but i wonder if they will need additional cooling. Any recommendations on the cooling of this I7 920 and a pair of the 285s?

 

[saltynay]

I chose the gigabyte as its cheaper and it has all the same functions that you would utilisebut have changed my mind Newegg.com - BIOSTAR TpowerX58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards why its good at overclocking, its cheaper and its just as reliable with support for sli. The biostar can't do tri sli but you say that doesn't matter, however I would encourage you to as you can get tri sli if you have the funds. For $940 (after selling 4 of the spare free games for a fair price) and it will be the most powerful graphics that you can currently buy better then the gtx295 quad. It would also mean upping the psu though

The g-skill has twice as much (6gb instead of 3gb) with better timings making it faster.

They will not need additional cooling, for the cpu get the thermalright ultra-120 extreme 1366 version bit of a mouthful and it needs a 120mm fan look for one with the minimum db but the max cfm

 

[compbuild]

do you think i should wait for Windows 7 coming out this year or build with Vista?

 

[saltynay]

Build with vista, no point waiting in the tech world or else you will never have an item always something shinier, faster, better round the corner.

 

[compbuild]

i was originally thinking of the Corsair Dominator RAM because it has the 1600 rather than the 1333 on the GSkill. do you think that makes a big difference?

Corsair also has a 6GB

 

[saltynay]

Have you seen the price difference? Unless your planning on some nitrogen cooling or phase changing and giving reliability the finger go with the g-skill set. You would be much better spending that money on an extra gtx285 if your a gamer. You could also burn money on a pair of these in raid0;
Newegg.com - Intel® X25-E Extreme High Performance Solid State Disk (SSD) - 32GB, SLC flash technology, 2.5” form factor, SATA (3.0Gb/s) - Solid State Disks

That will give you the fastest hdd's currently available in the retail market.