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My first build was last summer and was relatively easy. Obsidian 650D, H100, i5-3570K at 4.5Ghz, integrated graphics. I'm trying something more ambitious. Here's the beginning. I have purchased everything besides cooling (pump, rads, fans) and misc accessories (brackets).
Got an o7-3770K (good deal at Microcenter) which hopefully clocks to 4.7. I plan on running 2 Samsung 840 Pro 128GB in Raid0 as my system drive. 2 WD Red for backup and storage, mounted with Nexus Doubletwin (and 100GB on Dropbox for safety). I will use the machine at work for Matlab simulations and processing fairly large data in SAS (>10GB). Asus P8Z77-V Pro mobo, will flash bios with updated orom for raid0 trim. 32GB G.Skill Sniper 1866Mhz, hopefully it clocks to 2100. Some random Bluray burner.
Fan near drives mounted using (UN)Designs 5.25 Bay rad bracket. I think it's long enough to allow room for sata and power cables to drives. I chose to mount this way instead of using 4-to-3 hdd bay device since those cram drives very close together and don't blow air over sides of drives. SPCR article from a few years back claims most of HDD heat escapes through sides, some through bottom. Anyway, with this setup I can put Enzotech heatsinks on drives for better cooling.
Probably HD7850 graphics card. I just need something that will comfortable run 2 1680x1050 monitors on DVI and another 1920x1200 on displayport. I know an HD7770 can probably do this since I don't game, but I MAY eventually do some basic GPU computing so I'd rather have a decent card.
In image below, red is radiators and green is 120mm (or 2x120) fans. I'm thinking Alphacool UT60 240mm as the front intake, ST30 as the bottom intake, and XT45 is rear exhaust. Going to use Phobya foam gasket/shrouds and rubber fan spacers everywhere.
As of now I'm thinking of using Scythe AP-15 for all fans. Used in my last corsair build and loved them. Only problem is what everyone knows; weird resonance tones around 1400-1700 rpm. I think most of the time I can run at ~1100 and ramp up to full under heavy load. Asus FanXpert2 should be flexible enough to completely avoid the problem RPM range. The push/pull fans on UT60 need to be run 2 per header. Nidec spec sheet shows 0.36A starting current with 0.086A running current. Mobo fan headers rated at 1A so I don't think this should be a problem. If anyone has a better suggestion (like some awesome PWM fan that can be mobo controller and PSU powered
??) I'm all ears. Other fans are 1 per header.
Pretty sure I will use Swiftech MCP35X pump with "integrated" reservoir and optional heatsink. I like PWM control. Will mount to bottom intake rad using (UN)Designs Z2 Pump bracket, decoupled with some foam or rubber.
Swiftech Apogee HD CPU block and MCW82 GPU block.
I haven't made any decisions regarding fittings and tubing. Martin likes barbs for good seal, though compression looks nicer. The XL R2 case has no window so I'm not sure compression has any benefit. I'm a noob with custom water. What do you guys think? I appreciate suggestions before I buy the cooling hardware. Found best prices on swiftech stuff at jabtech (all on sale now).
Case notes: The XL R2 is so far a very pleasant case. Contrary to review you've seen, the front filter can be removed without removing the fans IF you use 120mm mounted directly to the fan bracket. I liked the toolless bays in the Obsidian 650D, but think the screw style in the XL R2 is more flexible for doing weird things, like bay res or rad brackets. The overall build quality is pretty excellent, though maybe not quite as good as 650D. I really like the factory noise blocking foam and really heavy bitumen anti-vibe material on both side panels. The included 140mm 1000rpm fans are fairly silent at 12V, but don't push much air (no scientific testing). I which Fractal would just exclude them and charge $10 less (most manufacturers should do this since most of us change the fans!).
Got an o7-3770K (good deal at Microcenter) which hopefully clocks to 4.7. I plan on running 2 Samsung 840 Pro 128GB in Raid0 as my system drive. 2 WD Red for backup and storage, mounted with Nexus Doubletwin (and 100GB on Dropbox for safety). I will use the machine at work for Matlab simulations and processing fairly large data in SAS (>10GB). Asus P8Z77-V Pro mobo, will flash bios with updated orom for raid0 trim. 32GB G.Skill Sniper 1866Mhz, hopefully it clocks to 2100. Some random Bluray burner.
Fan near drives mounted using (UN)Designs 5.25 Bay rad bracket. I think it's long enough to allow room for sata and power cables to drives. I chose to mount this way instead of using 4-to-3 hdd bay device since those cram drives very close together and don't blow air over sides of drives. SPCR article from a few years back claims most of HDD heat escapes through sides, some through bottom. Anyway, with this setup I can put Enzotech heatsinks on drives for better cooling.
Probably HD7850 graphics card. I just need something that will comfortable run 2 1680x1050 monitors on DVI and another 1920x1200 on displayport. I know an HD7770 can probably do this since I don't game, but I MAY eventually do some basic GPU computing so I'd rather have a decent card.
In image below, red is radiators and green is 120mm (or 2x120) fans. I'm thinking Alphacool UT60 240mm as the front intake, ST30 as the bottom intake, and XT45 is rear exhaust. Going to use Phobya foam gasket/shrouds and rubber fan spacers everywhere.
As of now I'm thinking of using Scythe AP-15 for all fans. Used in my last corsair build and loved them. Only problem is what everyone knows; weird resonance tones around 1400-1700 rpm. I think most of the time I can run at ~1100 and ramp up to full under heavy load. Asus FanXpert2 should be flexible enough to completely avoid the problem RPM range. The push/pull fans on UT60 need to be run 2 per header. Nidec spec sheet shows 0.36A starting current with 0.086A running current. Mobo fan headers rated at 1A so I don't think this should be a problem. If anyone has a better suggestion (like some awesome PWM fan that can be mobo controller and PSU powered

Pretty sure I will use Swiftech MCP35X pump with "integrated" reservoir and optional heatsink. I like PWM control. Will mount to bottom intake rad using (UN)Designs Z2 Pump bracket, decoupled with some foam or rubber.
Swiftech Apogee HD CPU block and MCW82 GPU block.
I haven't made any decisions regarding fittings and tubing. Martin likes barbs for good seal, though compression looks nicer. The XL R2 case has no window so I'm not sure compression has any benefit. I'm a noob with custom water. What do you guys think? I appreciate suggestions before I buy the cooling hardware. Found best prices on swiftech stuff at jabtech (all on sale now).
Case notes: The XL R2 is so far a very pleasant case. Contrary to review you've seen, the front filter can be removed without removing the fans IF you use 120mm mounted directly to the fan bracket. I liked the toolless bays in the Obsidian 650D, but think the screw style in the XL R2 is more flexible for doing weird things, like bay res or rad brackets. The overall build quality is pretty excellent, though maybe not quite as good as 650D. I really like the factory noise blocking foam and really heavy bitumen anti-vibe material on both side panels. The included 140mm 1000rpm fans are fairly silent at 12V, but don't push much air (no scientific testing). I which Fractal would just exclude them and charge $10 less (most manufacturers should do this since most of us change the fans!).