About to order new parts...

[Dr. V]

Originally Posted by PkL728

Where would you suggest putting the 2 ARCTIC COOLING AF12L 120mm Case Fan - Retail that I bought in my TT Shark? I've never really had to put too much consideration in the airflow before, but with this system I'm going to have to.

By no means are those fans intended for your case. They go on your heatsink my friend - on the GeminII.

Like this (pic courtesy of HL's review of the GeminII):

[One4yu2c]

Damn, that monster looks bigger every time I see it!

[Dr. V]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

Damn, that monster looks bigger every time I see it!

Oh so true:rock:

[JazzyJake]

have you already ordered your parts?
if not i'd like to throw out that the OCZ GameXStream 700w is enough for your system, and (not to give you a complex, or paranoia or anything) but i, personally, have had not only great luck with OCZ, but when something goes wrong, not only go they stand behind their products, they care about keeping you as a customer.
when my ram kit went bad, they next-dayed me a new set of ram before i even emailed them a copy of my reciept!!

[PkL728]

Ohhh ok, got ya. Yea if that won't keep the mobo cool I don't know what will haha. I'll probably be back with some more questions when the parts finally arrive.. although I can't do too much building until Intel drops their prices. How do the 2 fans stay in place? Screwed in or something? Also, will the power supply in my latest list be able to handle SLI, and for SLI can you hook 2 different cards together that are SLI capable or will I have to buy another 640 mb 8800 GTS?

[Dr. V]

That power supply is MORE than good enough for SLI. So is the 700x GameXStream! You're fine for SLI. Also, for the fans, they screw into a removable fan..."fences?"...check out the review to get all the details (not to mention its score of 91 AND editor's choice - hardly any parts get that).

Keep in mind if you have your heart set out on SLI in the future, be ready. 700w of OCZ power like that is definitely juicy, but I'd go more. Even 2x 8800GTS along with all those parts (and eventually 4GB of RAM), I'd say you'd wanna have the 850w version to be safe. It's not necessary initially, but all the parts that would eventually be in there, althought 700w may technically be enough, I'd go safe.

[PkL728]

I didn't go with the OCZ 700 W, I went with the Silverstone 750 W PS. You would still suggest the 850W for future SLI?

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by PkL728

I didn't go with the OCZ 700 W, I went with the Silverstone 750 W PS. You would still suggest the 850W for future SLI?

750W is more than plenty for SLI, including some future upgrades. Again, reference my sig for what I'm powering with a Silverstone 750W (note the two 8800GTS videocards...).

Power supplies are one of the most misunderstood components out there, and users often will overshoot what's actually needed. Even disregarding my setup (which is fairly high end in and of itself), site owner Rich (Capper) and myself saw Corsair showing off their HX620W 620W power supply running dual 8800GTX videocards in SLI along with a quad-core QX6700 processor at CES last year, which goes completely against what most people assume about power supply requirements.

It was just a very short time ago that 500W was considered uber high end (Antec's Neopower 480 was a popular choice), and while videocards and systems have gotten a bit more powerful since then, it takes one very rare rig that would actually require a 850W+ PSU.

And finally, while I don't put much emphasis on nVidia's SLI certification list, FWIW the Decathlon DA750 has been officially certified to run a pair of GTX cards (LINK), which draw a bit more power than the GTS.

EDIT: While discussing power supplies, I should mention that it's the +12V rail(s) amp rating that's of the most importance, as today's system feed very heavily from it. So when comparing two different brands of power supplies, be sure you're looking at the amperage rating, and not assuming that you'd actually benefit from the full wattage differential. For example:

Silverstone's 750W = 60A
OCZ's GameXStream 850W = 66A

Looking at the watts would appear you're getting a chunk of additional headroom to work with, but in this specific comparison, that's not really the case. If you find yourself in a position where a beefy 60A is no longer cutting it, chances are pretty good that 66A isn't going to help much, and if it does, you're at the brink where it's time to think about purchasing a new PSU anyway. And by then, we could very well be in the 1.5KW to 2KW arena...

[PkL728]

Ah thanks for the quick clarification, One4yu2c. I'll stand by my original PS that I purchased then =D