First Time Build i7 920 - Need Cooling Advice!!

[rgrwaters]

1. APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
2. ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
3. LG Black Super Multi Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA Model GGW-H20L
4. EVGA 01G-P3-1180-AR GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
5. LG W2353V-PF Black 23" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor
6. Antec TPQ-850 850W Continuous Power ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active
7. CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model
8. Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920
9. Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme 1366 RT CPU Cooler
10. Antec Cyclone Blower 3 Speed Dual Expansion Slot Cooler
11. Seagate 32mb cache 7200rpm 1.5tb HDD

So this is the build as I've purchased so far... my big concern is that the Apevia Mid-Tower case I purchased won't have adequate cooling. I'm not planning on SLI'ing the GTX 285 as of yet, but I most likely will add a WD Velociraptor HDD to this build and this case only features one rear fan, one small fan at the top of the case, and an air duct which I am not even sure I will be able to fit after the Thermalright cooler is in. I don't plan on doing any serious overclocking, but I may bump it a little. Lastly, and of least concern, in order to skip purchasing an o/s for right now (all i have are Dell copies of XP :-( ) I was going to try and throw Win7 RC on here for now.... yikes? Any thoughts/recommendations? I barely know what I'm doing here so I've been reading a lot and trying to be as informed as possible, so any advice is welcomed. I assume that the 850w psu will be more than adequate for this build or even any future add-on's but there seems to be a varying opinion on the require wattage for SLI'd systems etc. Planning on trying to put this together in the next week, wish me luck if nothing else. Thanks for anyone who took the time to read and consider my concerns.

link to case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144151

 

[Proximon]

I can't ignore anyone with a nickname like that

Yes you pretty much blew it on the case. It's a shame too with all those nice components. You may fit the cooler by removing the air duct.... possibly return it or replace it with an Antec 300, 900, or Cooler Master 690. If you really want more flash I could likely come up with a better recommendation.

As to the PSU, we don't even normally recommend one GTX 285 around here. It's a fine card, but it's very poor FPS to dollar ratio keeps it out of most builds. That makes it hard to say what wattage you need right off, but I'll get back to you in a minute on that.

 

[Why_Me]

Congratulations! Your the first person Iv's seen on this board and a few others I troll that have ever put that kind of money into such a crap case. You have managed to put a Ferrari engine into a 1974 Ford Pinto. Send that case back...and get something decent. Why in the world did you ever get that case in the first place ?

 

[Why_Me]

There's three great cases that have some "bling" and great cooling, ventilation, and most important...room for dual vid cards. The feet on that Storm Sniper case screw off so it doesn't look like a duck as it does in that link.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137 $74.99
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197 $129.99
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
New Arrival

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119194 $159.99 ($109.99 after $50.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
COOLER MASTER Storm Sniper SGC-6000-KKN1-GP Black ABS Bezel, SECC Body ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

 

[Proximon]

850W will be fine. You should pull about 600W max from the wall in SLI, so that's about right for the PSU.

 

[rgrwaters]

I can't ignore anyone with a nickname like that

Yes you pretty much blew it on the case. It's a shame too with all those nice components. You may fit the cooler by removing the air duct.... possibly return it or replace it with an Antec 300, 900, or Cooler Master 690. If you really want more flash I could likely come up with a better recommendation.

As to the PSU, we don't even normally recommend one GTX 285 around here. It's a fine card, but it's very poor FPS to dollar ratio keeps it out of most builds. That makes it hard to say what wattage you need right off, but I'll get back to you in a minute on that.

The case was the first thing I bought when I thought I knew what I was doing. I still don't, but I smartened up enough to know I fubar'ed the case choice. The 70 dollar case is going to cost me prob 30 bucks to return so maybe that'll make for a nice end table. I appreciate your help, thanks.

 

[rgrwaters]

There's three great cases that have some "bling" and great cooling, ventilation, and most important...room for dual vid cards. The feet on that Storm Sniper case screw off so it doesn't look like a duck as it does in that link.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137 $74.99
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197 $129.99
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
New Arrival

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119194 $159.99 ($109.99 after $50.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
COOLER MASTER Storm Sniper SGC-6000-KKN1-GP Black ABS Bezel, SECC Body ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Thanks for the recommendations, after realizing how bad of a choice I had made I scoured newegg (the source for 60% of my build so far) and probably will just hack it out with one of the first two cooler masters or the antec 900/1200. I don't care aesthetically what the thing looks like I just want to be sure I'm not potentially compromising the components with such seemingly little airflow. I'm not beyond upgrading the fans I just am trying to weigh the cost effectiveness of replacing the case at this point.

 

[rgrwaters]

850W will be fine. You should pull about 600W max from the wall in SLI, so that's about right for the PSU.

Thanks for the reply, it's such an advantage to being able to ask my own questions as oppose to looking all over to see if a similar ones already been answered! Great forum support on here.

 

[Why_Me]

Thanks for the recommendations, after realizing how bad of a choice I had made I scoured newegg (the source for 60% of my build so far) and probably will just hack it out with one of the first two cooler masters or the antec 900/1200. I don't care aesthetically what the thing looks like I just want to be sure I'm not potentially compromising the components with such seemingly little airflow. I'm not beyond upgrading the fans I just am trying to weigh the cost effectiveness of replacing the case at this point.

Hold off on ordering the Raptor. You can buy a WD HD 32mb Black 640gig for 74.99 at the egg, or a 1T WD 32mb Black for $100. Those black edition HD's are only a hair slower than the extremely over priced Raptors. That should free up a few dollars for you.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

 

[rgrwaters]

Hold off on ordering the Raptor. You can buy a WD HD 32mb Black 640gig for 74.99 at the egg, or a 1T WD 32mb Black for $100. Those black edition HD's are only a hair slower than the extremely over priced Raptors. That should free up a few dollars for you.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

I realize it's not the best of HDD's and I also realize I failed to mention it in my build but I do have a Seagate 32mb cache 7200 rpm 1.5tb drive I managed to get for 125.00 at a local retailer, but I kept hearing that a 10k or 15k rpm HDD would yield significant results if I ran my OS/major progs off a faster drive. Worth it/not worth it?

 

[Why_Me]

I realize it's not the best of HDD's and I also realize I failed to mention it in my build but I do have a Seagate 32mb cache 7200 rpm 1.5tb drive I managed to get for 125.00 at a local retailer, but I kept hearing that a 10k or 15k rpm HDD would yield significant results if I ran my OS/major progs off a faster drive. Worth it/not worth it?

For now I would just focus on the case, the maybe get a SSD drive later on...the prices on those are dropping.

 

[Proximon]

What are you really looking at with the Velocirapor? If this is mostly a gaming rig, here's a few points to consider:

A modern chipset and OS will go to sleep quite well, USUALLY. This means you are actually waiting for the OS to load very infrequently. A full boot doesn't happen that often. My system will go a week or more at a time with no reboots. The time from a full sleep (virtually off if you have never seen it) to fully up and stable is around 12 seconds for me, because of a bit of lag in my USB KB waking up... otherwise it would be about 6 seconds.

Besides the boot time, what is a Velociraptor really going to effect? Let's say you shave off a second, or half a second, from the load time of the next level of COD4... is it really noticeable? Probably not.

They are probably very handy for Photoshop scratch disks and such.

On the other hand, SSDs are maturing quickly and the speed increase is actually significant. They are almost ready I think. I know some very respectable experts such as Anand Lal Shimpi recommend them already for enthusiast-level builds. I'm still waiting but I think we'll see some very fast SSDs at very good prices by the end of the year.

 

[rgrwaters]

What are you really looking at with the Velocirapor? If this is mostly a gaming rig, here's a few points to consider:

A modern chipset and OS will go to sleep quite well, USUALLY. This means you are actually waiting for the OS to load very infrequently. A full boot doesn't happen that often. My system will go a week or more at a time with no reboots. The time from a full sleep (virtually off if you have never seen it) to fully up and stable is around 12 seconds for me, because of a bit of lag in my USB KB waking up... otherwise it would be about 6 seconds.

Besides the boot time, what is a Velociraptor really going to effect? Let's say you shave off a second, or half a second, from the load time of the next level of COD4... is it really noticeable? Probably not.

They are probably very handy for Photoshop scratch disks and such.

On the other hand, SSDs are maturing quickly and the speed increase is actually significant. They are almost ready I think. I know some very respectable experts such as Anand Lal Shimpi recommend them already for enthusiast-level builds. I'm still waiting but I think we'll see some very fast SSDs at very good prices by the end of the year.

That's excellent advice and you've just saved me from making another errant purchase. I can't thank everyone enough for their advice and help, this is quickly becoming an addictive hobby for me even if just for my own build for right now. Much thanks again and I am feeling much more confident that I'll have this up and running in the next week. Thanks very much Proximon, your attention and advisement has been invaluable.

 

[Proximon]

NP, thanks for the enjoyable hour I spent on youtube after seeing your nickname