Finally ordering my wc setup

[rehpyc]

I've been on these forums for the past few months reading tests from Martin, other's experiences, and gaining ideas from various peoples' setups. Now I'm finally ordering my parts, and it's getting exciting. Right now I am just cooling a silly e6600 that will be lapped shortly. But, in the very near future, I will have a penryn quad and either a new nvidia 9800 or 2x8800gts 512mb sli setup in a loop.

On to the questions..

Is this list of components for a loop good?
DDC 3.2 w/ Petra's top
Thermochill PA 120.3
2 x 3/8" thread 1/2" OD EK high-flow barbs
D-Tek FuZion (w/ nozzle and pro mounting kits)
Swiftech MCRES reservoir
10' Masterkleer 7/16" ID 5/8" OD tubing
4 x Yate Loon D12SM-12 fans
Zalman 6-fan speed controller
PT_Nuke
Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal paste
*Note: The vid card block(s) will be ordered when I get the new vid card

As far as getting a vid card goes. Does it make a difference between what card you get in terms of how high it can clock? Meaning, if I were to get an evga 8800gts 512mb card at one of the lower rated speeds (and thus cheaper) rather than the superclocked version, could both be overclocked to relatively the same speed? I'm just wondering if you're mainly just paying for their custom & guaranteed stability of an overclock with their faster rated cards, or if those can actually be overclocked further.

My last question is would it be worth it to put a 120.1 rad of a sort in the loop after my CPU before the water hits the GPUs? I would think that cooling some of the water would allow the GPUs to run cooler, but I'm not entirely sure. When I upgrade sometime to a case that can house a 120.3 and 120.2 internally in a clean fashion, at that time I may go with dual loops. In case it's needed, my ambient temp is generally around 22C.

Right now all this will be going into a Thermaltake Armor, but some of these builds have been making me seriously consider getting a new case. That will be something to do in the later future ;)

Thanks in advance for the input, and a huge thanks to Linus over at NCIXUS.com for some of the best customer service I've ever experienced :up:

[Conumdrum]

A PA 120.3 is fine for the loop. And temps really stabilize withing a few c across the loop, so no need to add another rad even with the GPU cooler. A 120.3 to cool CPU/NB/GPU is plenty.

A better OC card from the factory (meaning more $$) has better components. Not per say, different, but when put on the auto test bench it reached higher OC easier. So it's 'binned' different. ie, put in the more $$ bin. Those cards will OC better.

Still, some peeps have got great OC off the basic card, because the still have to sell xx of the basic, and if all the cards coming off the line are 'binned' well, some of them will go to the basic bin to keep production numbers within demand.

So, you will be able to OC your card pretty damn well. Maybe not as much as a SC would be able to OC, but you easily would reach the SC stock settings with your WCing rig. So go the cheap route. Save a few bucks. 100-200 higher score in 3DMark 06 ain't gonna make any diff in any game.

And wait for the new cards in a few months like ya said.