Newbie Water Cooling Build -- Opinions?

[Supergrover]

I'd rather not go with plastic clamps. I'll probably pick up some smooth band bolts or preferably some self-tightening clamps (which look like the best to me).

Go to Rona or Crappytire and get some stainless steel worm driven clamps, nothing better IMHO.

I'll never use those plastic ones after the SS.

[3.0charlie]

Justbe careful with those stainless steel bands - the real name being worm-gear clamps. If too tight, the little rectangle will cut the tubing, and eventually start leaking. I thought that those were the best too, until I found a leak because of those. Never again for me. That's why I likethe Swiftech clamps so much.

For the Raptors, I didn't know that the 36Gb was discontinued. eBay maybe? I know a few are available and I bought my first Raptor on eBay 3 years ago - still running strong 24/7.

[Supergrover]

Originally Posted by 3.0charlie

Justbe careful with those stainless steel bands - the real name being worm-gear clamps. If too tight, the little rectangle will cut the tubing, and eventually start leaking. I thought that those were the best too, until I found a leak because of those. Never again for me. That's why I likethe Swiftech clamps so much.

.

John I mean no disrespect but if you tighten them that tight you deserved to get a leak. lol JK
No you are right, never thought someone would tighten that much, but if used right they work fine.
The main reason I hate those Swiftech ones so much is taking them off is a PITA and I like the look of the SS way better.
OP: at the price of the plastic clamp maybe try them out and if you dont care for them then try the SS, for a full loop like yours it is going to be over $20-25 for the SS, might be a expense you can do without.

[3.0charlie]

No problem Super'; the s/s clamps were used in my very first wc experience. I always explain how to use them - better be safe than sorry. And since a leak happened to me on my first wc, it may happen to another member who is building is first wc setup using those same s/s clamps. Don't get me wrong, they do the job very nicely; but building your first wc rig, you tend to overtighten everything...

[tehgooch]

Thought I'd post an update on my rig. I swapped out a few parts:

Res: Danger Den Single Bay Reservoir 5.25IN 1/2IN Barbs - This will be easier to install, and I can pull it out to fill the loop.
Rad: HW Labs Black Ice GT Xtreme 480 Quadruple 120MM Water Cooling Radiator Black 1/2IN Barbs - The Pa 120.3 went out of stock at NCIX, so I went with this. I should be able to barely fit it inside the TJ07 still from what I can tell. Couldn't find many reviews on this baby, so I'll let you guys know how it performs.
Additive: D-TEK Customs Liquid F/X UV Dye Water Cooling Additive Alien Green - Decided to go with some classic alien green rather than the yellow.
Tubing: Tygon R-3603 1/2IN ID 3/4IN OD Tubing 5 Feet - They only has 1/2" or 3/8" Tygon tubing so I went with that since it looks to be high quality stuff.

Main parts:

GPUs: EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GT - These GTs were just so cheap compared to the GTSs I couldn't resist. I ordered two of them for ~$240.
Mobo: EVGA Nforce 780I SLI - I've decided to wait for the eVGA 780i boards to come in. This will delay my build a bit, but they look like amazing boards. The only problem is their cooling solution is all one piece. I want to water cool the NB, but then the SB and mosfets will have no heatsinks. I guess I'll have to buy some aftermarket heatsinks for them. Any recommendations for a NB waterblock and aftermarket passive heatsinks for the mosfets and SB?

I've placed orders for all my stuff except the GPU waterblock and the motherboard. Before they approve my price matches, does anyone have any suggestions for better parts / configs?