water cooling?

[clocker]

sounds like water cooling is not that great for noise reduction then.

It certainly can be but you've gone about this backwards.

First of all, you don't know what kind of heatload the waterloop needs to handle.

Secondly, you don't know how noisy the stock system is.

Finally, you're putting the system into one of the worst cases for airflow possible...the P180 is sold as a "silent" case and the main way they achieve that is to insulate the case and minimize the number of openings.

If you're dead set on the Antec case, at least get the P182 (basically, a revision of the 180) which has slightly better wiring options and do some research on your board layout and the lengths of the necessary leads on the power supply.
That case places the PSU in the bottom compartment and some power supplies are really stretched to reach the 4/8 pin aux. power connector.

Did your Dad pick these parts or did you?

[AmpeD]

Ok, I will order the parts first and put them together (I checked out that psu length issue, it should be fine).
but which case should I get if I want it to be quiet, but I also want to leave my options open for possibly water cooling it?

I like antec cases if at all possible, but could also go for a cooler master. I dont care too much about looks and flashy led's, just functionality.

all the parts are flexible, if you have any other suggestions. I will probably order them within a week.

Edit:
what about these cases?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133132
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119077

[clocker]

Ok, now we're talking.

Of the three cases you listed, the only one I like is, oddly enough, the cheapest.
The Centurions are great value for the money but you'd be really challenged if at a later date you wanted to watercool it.
Also, I'm completely mystified why anyone is buying quad core chips at this point.

I'd recommend the parts list I just posted here.
This setup would easily allow for futute upgrades and the case can handle anything you want to throw into it...including a nice, high end watercooling loop.

[kaiweiler]

Yeah hold off on the quad I would say, Intel's new 45nm quads are just around the corner.

[clocker]

Yeah hold off on the quad I would say, Intel's new 45nm quads are just around the corner.

True, but is that really the point?

I think the relevant question should be, "What am I doing today that would benefit from four cores?"

Note the emphasis on "today" as I also posit that building for the future is a hopelessly quixotic endeavor.
By the time the future rolls around, everything you have will be obsolete and probably won't be suitable anyway.

Hell, my machine- which won't even be assembled till next weekend- is already old hat, but will be a giant step above the current PC and will show benefits immediately instead of the hazy future.

To be completely honest, I don't even need to upgrade at all but I've gotten pretty good at selling off my kit while it still has some value and buying a few levels below cutting edge, so I can play with "new" hardware without paying a huge cutting edge penalty.

[athenaesword]

Yeah hold off on the quad I would say, Intel's new 45nm quads are just around the corner.

True, but is that really the point?

I think the relevant question should be, "What am I doing today that would benefit from four cores?"

Note the emphasis on "today" as I also posit that building for the future is a hopelessly quixotic endeavor.
By the time the future rolls around, everything you have will be obsolete and probably won't be suitable anyway.

Hell, my machine- which won't even be assembled till next weekend- is already old hat, but will be a giant step above the current PC and will show benefits immediately instead of the hazy future.

To be completely honest, I don't even need to upgrade at all but I've gotten pretty good at selling off my kit while it still has some value and buying a few levels below cutting edge, so I can play with "new" hardware without paying a huge cutting edge penalty.

that's what i do too. my upgrade from the p4 rig to the e6750+8800gt+crucial ballistix 2gb cost me about 500bucks. it was a 2year old rig that i was upgrading. waiting any longer would actually set me back alot more i would think.

i also agree about the part about not building for the future, because they're painfuly expensive to build, and by the time u're prepared to change again u're probably gonna get better for a much lower price than the obsolete stuff u get now.