i7 Has Arrived!!

[markg]

YAY PICTURES!

Here you go....

one caveat; im only at pass two on the wiring, so it isnt as clean as it will be when im finished (still burning in/moving stuff around).

Also some of the pictures were taken with the clear side panel on, so they are somewhat distorted or have some weird reflections.

The build was done for two things; stability and noise. I wanted the most stable AND QUIET system i could build. And so far im pleased.

I used water cooling to eliminate most all of the cpu cooler noise (the pump has a very faint noise, but its hard to hear at all with the case closed) even though the stock i7 cooler was fairly quiet.
But the water cooling system dictated that i replace the 120mm rear exhaust fan with one that is much noisier than the stock fan (1700 vs 900rpm) but noisier is relative; you still cant really hear much at all.

The noisiest fan by far is the little one on the chip set (2nd to last picture). fortunately it is a high pitched whine that is almost totally absorbed by the foam/side of the case.

Noisiest, that is, until you fire up 3D! then the gpu fan kicks up and drowns out all the other noise coming from the box! but thats ok, cause at that point the sound is cranked up and drowns just about everything out!!