Need some suggestions for a new computer case

[Major_A]

Your CPU will turn off the computer before it allows itself to blow, imagining the pump went out. All new motherboards can also monitor fan headers and alert you if it isn't working, ala the header where the pump motor plugs into. Just use distilled water with a non-conductive additive and in theory it can't short anything out.

[bubba]

yup there are non-conductive fluids out there, but they are not cheap. I run distilled deionized water in my rig, with silver coil. No dyes, no additives.

Running quality hoses, with compression fittings or 7/16"ID hose on 1/2" OD Barb fittings, and taking your time building leaks are avoided.

You can run air only in a MM case as well, but if you think you may go to water cooling decide what radiators you will use as the spacing will need to be specified when you order from MM. Bang for buck you cant beat Swiftech RADs.

In going water and going big, you can easily spend in excess of $600 if you cool everything in a single card system. Most of the cost will be in waterblocks for CPU, card, and mobo. If going with quad video cards you can easily spend $500 on just waterblocks for your cards, they average $100 to 120 each.

[AzureNightmareX1]

man, I really need to visit this place more often, you guys are just amazing. Thanks to your combined expertise this is looking to be my biggest and grandest build yet. I'm definitely gonna have to do a build thread.

Edit So here is the current planned build as it stands right now:

EVGA 141-GT-E770-A1 Link

Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition Gulftown Link

Patriot Viper II Sector 7 Edition 24GB Link

LITE-ON 12X BD-R Link

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX40G Link

Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS (x2+all of the hard drives i already have) Link

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RSC00-80GAD3-US Link

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (already own)

Swiftech H20-320 EDGE Link

ASUS ENGTX580/2DI/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 580 (x2 for now may switch to the Radeon 6970s or 6990s based on performance) Link

Danger Den DD-GTX580 (X2) Link

Mountain Mods CYO Ascension Link

As for the fans I will inevitably need, I already have plenty of every size (including the massive 250mm!).

If I have missed anything let me know. I am seriously excited about this build thanks to you guys. Thanks again!

[bubba]

you will need a couple extra fittings for the water GPU water blocks, may need to pick up a couple extra feet of tubing to cover the "oops" factor and changing your mind on hose route (it will happen).

Looks like the bulk of its there, you will run across something when your building, I normally do

[AzureNightmareX1]

Yeah, that seems to be the case normally, its happened on every build I've done up till now. I'm also thinking about modding the case myself to add casters and handles, just in case the big bastard needs to be moved.

[Major_A]

Bubba, you'd know off hand sooner than it would take me to look it up, when is Sandy Bridge hitting the market? I thought it was December, that still the initial release? If so I'd wait to see what Sandy Bridge looks like AzureNightmareX1.

*EDIT*
I noticed you have an EATX board (extended ATX) but your Mountain Mods build has ATX selected (unless the link is just the basic options with no build selected). If you do configure the case make sure it supports EATX or you might run into some grounding issues.

[AzureNightmareX1]

Bubba, you'd know off hand sooner than it would take me to look it up, when is Sandy Bridge hitting the market? I thought it was December, that still the initial release? If so I'd wait to see what Sandy Bridge looks like AzureNightmareX1.

Isn't Sandy Bridge that CPU/GPU hybrid chip? I think it is, which likely means it won't be replacing the current high end intel cpu. I don't really know all that much about the chip, but the mere mention of integrated graphics along with the name intel is enough to make me skittish.

[Major_A]

Sandy Bridge is the new code name for the CPU core (or so I thought). Right now the i7 is Nehalem or Westmere. The i3/i5 are running either Arrandale, Clarkdale, or Lynnfield cores. I'm assuming Sandy Bridge is right around the corner due to review sites posting pictures of the upcoming boards.

Example: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1466/1/

[AzureNightmareX1]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20022893-64.html
this is where i got my info on sandy bridge.

[Major_A]

Right now the i3 and i5 have built-in GPUs. So the CNET article is just talking about the performance of the new GPU. While I'm not big on quoting Wikipedia here is the page on Sandy Bridge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Sandy_Bridge

However, with Sandy Bridge they don't have an Extreme Edition posted. So sticking with the i7 980X is still a good choice.

[skier]

However, with Sandy Bridge they don't have an Extreme Edition posted. So sticking with the i7 980X is still a good choice.

sandybridge isn't high end at all, just a bit more efficient version of the 1156 platform (at least as far as the known versions of sandy, just goes up to 4C-8T, dual channel RAM. X58 systems would still all be better than any 1155) except with more overclocking limitations outside the K family

[Aniki]

Silverstone TJ07-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811163067

Lian Li PC-A71F-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811112244

Thermaltake Armor+-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811133056

Coolermaster Cosmos 1000-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119138

NZXT Phantom- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811146068

I can recommend any of those.

[AzureNightmareX1]

Silverstone TJ07-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811163067

Lian Li PC-A71F-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811112244

Thermaltake Armor+-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811133056

Coolermaster Cosmos 1000-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119138

NZXT Phantom- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811146068

I can recommend any of those.

Thank you Aniki, but I have already chosen the Mountain Mods CYO Ascension to be my case

[AzureNightmareX1]

Update: My build is put on hold due to unforeseen and unfortunate financial difficulties. The build will still invariably happen, but not as soon as I would like it to happen, I am still holding onto this thread though for reference, so all of your valuable advice definitely won't go to waste.