interested in buying a p180, but need some help

[kwonster]

so basically my case is falling apart and i wanted to get a new case, and i've been reading the forums for the last couple of days and it seems to be a general consensus that the best case around right now is the p180. i've been debating between this case and the lian li pc60B plus and i've decided that the p180 is the better buy for a couple of reasons. im a college student with a lot of hard drives and i probably wont be moving the case a lot so weight is not a factor but cooling is. but before i take the plunge i just wanted to ask a couple questions to the people who have already bought the case.

1. are rounded ide cables better for this case than flat cables? and around what length cables should i get if i want to use the bottom hard drive cage?

2. i need to buy at least one more 120mm intake fan (hopefully 2) and noise is not that much of a concern, but making sure my videocard doesnt overheat is. (i have a 9800 pro that gets pretty hot under load right now and sometimes crashes my computer) from that standpoint, which fan would be better? i've been looking at the antec tricool, panaflow, and thermaltake fans, but cant really discern which is better.

3. is a fan controller recommended for this case (would it make installing the fans easier?) and what kind would be relatively simple to work with? someone recommended a vantec nxp201 but i've been hearing a lot about a "sunbeam" or something but cant seem to find it on newegg.

4. i have a thermaltake silent purepower X 480W, does anyone know if the power cables are long enough, and how hard is it to sleeve it? (ive seen some peoples cases on the site and the cables look a lot nicer when sleeved, and i want to try doing it but am afraid of totally ruining my psu -_- )

5. finally, (sorry this post is so long) where can i get all these parts and the case itself? i think the cheapest place i found for the case is 140 at monarch (includes shipping, no tax). anywhere i can get it cheaper?

thanks in advance to anyone who actually read through this entire post and had any info, and sorry if the questions are a bit noobish.

 

[Wex]

I can't answer all of them, but ill try. Flat ide cables you can fold to get out of the way, where round ones you cant always do that/not as flexible. As for 120mm fans where noise isnt much of an issue, i would go with the panaflo's. As for fan controllers, you can look on the manufacturers site, or search google and read reviews on which appeal to you.
As for cable length and sleeving goes, I would check reviews on your PSU, to see if they list the ATX cable length. If not and its too short you may have to buy an adapter. Sleeving can be a pain, but if you really want to you can go buy a molex extractor. Techonweb.com sells P180's for a pretty good price at $111.30. Hope this helps.

 

[kwonster]

i looked up the cable lengths, and heres what i could find:

There are 3 sets of power cables, which are approximately 112cm long, for your peripheral devices. Each one of these cables possesses 3 4-pin molex connectors (located at 50.8cm, 71.1cm, and 91.4cm) with a single 4-pin floppy disk connector located at the end. Since there are three sets, you have a total of 9 4-pin molex connectors and 3 floppy disk connectors. In addition to these standard connectors, Thermaltake also included a single Serial ATA Hot Swap connector, which is approximately 53.3cm long. The shortest cables are the main ATX power, 12V, and Aux - they are all approximately 50.8cm long.

will these be long enough?

i also found the following sleeving kits, wondering if this is all i need:

sleeving kit
or
sleeving kit 2

 

[Wex]

Yes, those cables should be long enough. As for the sleeving kit, i would go with the first link. It might have more than you need but the price seems reasonable. Even comes with a molex extractor tool. You might want some shrink wrap to put a finishing touch on the end if you want. But isnt needed/necessary.

 

[Safeway]

I actually think that heatshrink is required, as it keeps your case looking neat. Sure you can just ziptie the ends, but there will still be some fraying, and that looks ugly. Invest in some heatshrink.

 

[kwonster]

thanks for the help. i think i know enough to put it all together now... except i dont know whether i should wait for the new stacker thats coming out. i saw some pictures and it looks pretty nice! same with the silverstone tj7 -_-