Assembly Help with TOP $ Rig

[Mavrick813]

I am building a EVGA 680i, SLI EVGA 8800 GTXs, E6600 CPU, 2 WD 500 GB Hard drives, 2 150 GB Raptors, 4GB of Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000), I have a Mitsumi 8 in 1 Reader, and a PLEXTOR Slot Load 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model PX-716AL, I am powering all this with a Silverstone Zues 850W PSU, and housing it in a Thermaltake Armor with the 25cm fan. I have everything and have some questions.

Some questions.

I am trying to figure out where the armors, Mic and Headphone wires from the top go. I also have a Mitsumi 8 in 1 and I am trying to figure out where that plugs into the mobo.

I am assuming that all the fan control leads can go to the closest fan socket to it Numbered (18) in the 680i book. How about the Fans powers. I have 5 case fans on this thing, and they all have 1 male and 1 female plug, Can I run them like Tree lights? I do well with pictures. This is my first build so please bare with me.

I have to figure out how to set up the HDD and do their wiring. They were OEM HDD so, Mind you I only have the wires that came with the Mobo. What is a good raid set-up for what I have?

I am also going to be doing the SLI GTX 8800s, Which BTW I don't think are going to fit on this board. But I am sure they will once I get around to putting them in.

With Power LED wire. it had a 3 hole plug. I took the blue wire out, moved it to the center then shaved that third hole off. I am assuming white is + cause the board only says + and - for this plug.

I know I am going to have a dozen more questions, but for now that's all. Has anyone done this build, or know of a walk through for it? I would be grateful. Pictures of the 680i with the spots I am looking for circled would be awesome.

Thanks
Mike

PS, this is all being powered by a Silverstone Zues 850W PSU, That should do it right?

[flanzig1]

Case Fans: connect to the PSU and NOT the motherboard. The case fan headers on the motherboard are generally rated for 1 fan.
If the Mitsumi is the floppy/flash memory reader, connect the floppy only. The flash memory should be connected AFTER Windows is installed. It connectes to a USB header on the motherboard.
For the other case connections, need to read through the motherboard manual for the locations of the MIC/Phones/USB headers.
Genreally the white is the - or gnd. The other case plugs should have a white and seperate color for each plug.

[Mavrick813]

ok, on the 680i their are like 6 case fan cnnectors, then the TT Armor has 7 fans total in it. only two of them have connectors for the mobo but ALL of them have connectors for the PSU.

The Mitsumi only have a USB connector it doesn't seemt o have a conenctor for the floppy. I am not sure now that you say it. i am going to have to look a little closer at the back and see if it has a floppy drive connector on it. I dind't see one and I am currently at work. thnx for your help. anyone got any info on the other ????

[flanzig1]

If the Mitsumi is only a flash memory reader then made the connections after Windows is installed(Mitsumi also has floppy drive/flash memory combo units). If the reader is connected then Windows is installed, Windows will assign drive letters to the reader before HDs.
The Silverstone PSU is certified for Sli 8800GTX cards.
Raid is kind of discourged for a consumer PC. A RAID 0 is for speed but you lose all info if a drive dies and a RAID 1 is for data redundancies but could be slower than one drive setup.
Safest and easiest setup is use one drive for Windows & Apps and the other for data.

[Mavrick813]

Well, I am going to end up having 4 HDD. With 1300GB total room. Two of them are 150 GB raptors, and 2 of them are 500 GB WD. I was thinking raid the 150s for windows and Apps, then raid the 500s for Media storage. Is that feasible?

[flanzig1]

Do the Raptors in RAID 0 for the speed and the other two as two seperate storage drives.