if you absolutely want to go all-in and do a fully custom set-up, you're on the right track - keep asking questions. but, my humble suggestion is this: buy a kit. swiftech has a nice 220 kit that will keep everything you want to cool, nice and cool. you won't get great OC's, but you said yourself your not looking to get crazy. the reason i recommend this is as follows: it gives you everything you need to do your first build in one package. you still have to assemble the kit and everything else (same as a custom kit), but you get what you "need." use this as a learning experience. though you learn from talking to others, i assume you learn even better by *doing* (hands-on). the kit should come with instructions and diagrams and will give you a good foundation to build on. then (once the kit is assembled, and you are confident with what you're doing) start changing out the parts (maybe a better pump, or a bigger (or second) rad, things like that. before you know it you'll have a fully custom loop and all the experience you could want, and you can upgrade as slow or fast as your finances allow

just my 2c.