whoops, you are right, one less reason to get the q9550! lol

if you haven't purchased the cpu cooler yet, the mugen 2 is better, and slightly cheaper, than the xigmatek, because you should get the $10 mounting bracket for the xigmatek... go over to xbit labs and look at the cooler tests. it sounds like the pricing down under is running behind what we are payi...

tell her to look at the hdd lite when it's lagging... is it lit up solid? hdd speed could be an issue.

if not, see if overclocking the q6600 helps... that way you'll know if it's a cpu bottleneck.

i wish that i had a p183, instead of this p180b! i think that you made the right choice. i was looking at p183's at frys in l.a. last weekend, one thing i noticed is that on the bottom right corner, there aren't any grills for the air to enter, on the very inside of the door section... the grill is ...

the 920 costs about the same as a q9550 these days, and with the prices dropping rapidly on ddr3 ram, about the only premium you'll pay for the i7 platform is maybe $100 more for the motherboard... so if you need the horsepower, overclocking is about the only reason to stick with the old core2quads....

just for drill, check the filters on the front of the case, make sure that they aren't plugged up.

those tricool fans are waaay too loud at the medium setting, you'll be happy when you replace it with something quieter.

so now you want to overclock?? you just told us in the other thread that "I don't want/need more CPU power, so won't gain anything from overclocking." :o :D i got the sonata designer 500 for $75, in a frys.com blowout, and the included power supply is not impressive at all... if you shine a flashlig...

bang for the buck with the q9550 is not very good... stick with a core2quad that is much cheaper, and overclock it... i use a q9400, think about looking at the models that have virtualization technology capability. cpu heat with the i7, or any cpu for that matter, is not an issue, if you get the rig...

are they resistors, or are they zener diodes? time to break out the multimeter... i have 3 of the p12's as case fans, but i haven't tried using the supplied voltage control plugs... when i screwed a p12 down into one of the p180 plastic fan frames, it changed the noise characteristics. for $19 each,...

for another $10-15 more, you can get a full gig hdd...

1 gb 4870 for $150, looks like a much better deal??:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150352

i put three noctua nf-p12's in the p180b, and they are all blowing inwards... the fourth fan was a cheap coolermaster, blowing into the case also, and i clipped the grates off of the upper fan cage, to get more air in there... i also plugged some holes with soft packing foam. as near as i can tell, ...

since you are spending $$$ for a nice video card, it looks like you are gaming with it? not a completely silent system, in other words. i have a slightly different version of that antec solo, i just got it, and while it's an incredibly nice case, the door arrangement is a deal-killer, because it mak...

if you need more cpu power, the zalman is the weakest link... if your case size supports it, i'd put a scythe mugen 2 in there, it'll be quieter, in part because of the fan that will allow you to overclock, without spending $$$ on a faster cpu... overclocking is the best bang for the buck there is. ...

i like the way that you did that wiring, it looks much better than my p180b could ever look :-/ the way that i installed the mugen2 was to flip the mb upside down, install the brackets and screws, tape 'em over, then turn the mb right side up. you can then set the mugen2 onto the 4 screws, and it'll...

nice rig! you made the right decision going with the i7... since you used the mugen2, cpu heat will never be an issue. i run a q9400 overclocked to a stable 3.42 ghz, and it's like the mugen2 hardly knows that it's there, even after hours of serious video rendering, and heavy-duty crysis. your bigge...