My variation with the new Yang case
 

Greetings all! This is my first post to the forum so I'm hoping I get a few responses or ideas. I'm building my first system and have had a false start on my case - it's a black with a hydraulic door but since the door covers the intake fan or the drive doors (it looks cool, but just isn't effective). I'm looking for some input on her and other advice.

cooling: I've got someone who will set up the cooling for me - All we've decided on thus far is water cooling, peltiers for below-ambiant would be cool but for reasons you'll see, I want some advice.

Budget: here's where it gets interesting. $500 a month for 5-6 months + a monitor.

stuff I've already got:
Creative Labs Encore DVD IDE w/Decoder Card
Iomega Zip 250 IDE
3 1/2" Floppy IDE
SB Live! Platinum 5.1
Cambridge Soundworks/Creative FPS speakers
56k Modem (3Com USRobotics)
Ethernet card ("stolen" from 3Com home ethernet kit)
Mitsuko Keyboard
Razer Boomslang 2000 Mouse
---------
Things to get and some qs on them
Case: Yeong Yang YY2001B (in black)
MBoard: Anyone know when ABit is getting a DDR board? Or have opinions on Asus's A7M266
Memory: 133MHzDDR Ram, 256 or 512 total.
Processor: AMD Athlon Thunderbird, exact speed to be decided and then overclocked.
Video: I know I'm nuts - NV20 (keep in mind, my budget extends into May)
Harddrive: suggestions?

PowerSupply: Opinions - Enermax 431 watt w/2 fans or the PC Power & Cooling Turbo Cool 450 watts?

Assorted other crud:
CD-RW: Any opinions on this one? SCSI or IDE? Brand names? Plextor's IDE is good from what I hear.
TV-in Card: I move around a lot, this helps.
Monitor: Only 21" black I can find is IBM's. Any others or a really nice 19"er?
Yes. I know that DVD-Decoding isn't needed, but if the extra PCI slot is there afterwards, why not?
I'm not worried about printers et all - already have them.

Now - question: SBLiveDrive - I heard that theres a method to 'paint' it black - any one know where I can get info on how to do it right?

Cooling: Okay, like I said, I have hired someone to put the basic cooling in the case, but since the MBoard and VidCard are likely to be the last purchases I make with my budget, and I need it at the beginning of June at the absolute latest, I can't have him wire up and cool my video card/processor himself - meaning I have to. I have nothing against cutting up a case and tubes and such, but I prefer to have other people do it - I know - I'm a wimp. Anyway, if someone could give me some directions on peltier insulation from condensation and their installation (whew, say that 3 times fast) then I'd be grateful, this is my first overclocked system and since I have a 2500-3000 budget, I figure go for the gold - from what I've heard water cooling and air cooling are related only by the way you overclock, installations are very different so I shouldn't be losing too much. I've read plenty though, I think I'm up to date - never hurts to get more info.

Sinc,
Stolid
Why am I upgrading?
Pentium 166 w/o MMX
32 MB of PC100 RAM
SB16
Matrox Millineum PCI
- Voodoo2 Addon PCI
Any questions left?

I had a 13.6gb IBM Deskstar 7200 rpm 2mb buffer drive. It was great. I needed more space. I decided to just grab a RAID card and buy another HD. I did NOT regret this decision. If I were you, I'd grab two 75gxps and put the mofos in RAID.[/b][/quote]
For your CDRW, go w/ the Iomega 12x10x32. Iomega buys drives from Plextor and puts the Iomega name on it. In otherwords, Iomega=Plextor (at least in the case of the 12x10x32 drive). You can use a couple software hacks to get plextor firmware to work. The Iomegas are MUCH cheaper than the plextors.
I have an enermax 450w psu and I love it. I heard the PCPC sells great stuff too, though.
TV-in card? Grab the ATITV or something like that...
dunno much about monitors
hollywood dvd decoder
As far as a condensation guide, check over at swiftech. They have a nice one. It is WAY too long and detailed to explain now (i'm a lazy bastard). If this is your first time overclocking, i'd go w/out peltiers to start.
-Kev

You should also consider the Iwill KK266 mobo. It's DDR ready and I've got one which I'm extremely happy with.