Build log: Project Sandy Obsidian

[Atragon]

Somewhat of a continuation from my thread in the main Liquid Cooling forum (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=264246), I'm building a Sandy Bridge system in a 700D case to replace my aging Opteron 165 that's served me faithfully for the last 4 years.

My goal for this system is to have a screamingly fast silent system to last me for another 3+ years. With that said, the hardware I'm going with is as follows:

i7-2600K
Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7
4X2GB Corsair XMS3
Zotac GeForce 580GTX
OCZ 120GB Vertex 2 SSD
Samsung 2TB HDD
Lite-On Blueray burner
Corsair 850AX power supply



Based off of the advice received from forum members, I'm looking at the following watercooling hardware to make things nice and quiet:

CPU Block: Swiftech Apogee XT. I was trying to decide between this and the EK Supreme HF, but the mounting system won me over in the end.
GPU Block: EK 580GTX Full Cover block
Rad: Swiftech MCR320 or MCR420 for the top of the case, MCR220 or MCR320 (if I can fit it) for bottom of case.
Fans: Gentle Typhoon AP-15s if I can get them, AP-14s if I can't, not sure if I need to find a good 140mm fan to replace stock ones or not.
Pump: Swiftech MCP35X
Reservoir: DD Monsoon bay res.
Fittings: Compression Fittings (Bitspower or Fesser most likely, only difference AFAIK is price, right?) for blocks, pump, and reservoir, and a t-line leading to drain plug.
Tubing: Clear tubing 3/8"ID 5/8"OD (Primochill LRT or Fesser).
Fluid: Distilled water + PT Nuke and/or Kill Coil
Fan Control: ???

My first priority is to get the new hardware up and running in a temporary case to make sure everything works nicely, and then move it over into the 700D once I've got the watercooling setup. Before I can do that however, I still need to nail down a few missing tidbits of information:

Will 3/8" ID 5/8" OD compression fittings work on the Apogee XT, or do I need to use an angled fitting or barbs instead? (I would like to avoid flipping the intake plate if I can avoid it.)

This question can alternatively be phrased as what is the overall diameter of the various 3/8" ID 5/8" OD compression fittings? I believe I can figure out clearance by referring to the drawings Swiftech has posted.

What is my best option for fan control and system monitoring? I would ideally like a solution such as the t-balancer, a TMS-200, an aquareo, or similar since being able to monitor everything in software would be a definite plus. I could, however, use something like a Lamptron FC Touch instead, however my selection seems a bit limited as I am trying for a very minimalist look for the front panel and a controller with lots of knobs would spoil the effect.

In short, I need to do some more research on this point before making up my mind, in the meanwhile, I'll have to live with this for cooling