Seeking clarification for a pending mod project

[Trivius]

I have been considering doing my first serious mod (well, at least what I consider to be "serious" anyway) and was hoping to obtain more insight on any potential issues, incompatibility issues, or additional suggestions, with the selections I am have made (as of this time). What I am looking at doing is a sort of "sleeper" themed modification, using my Dell Studio XPS 9100 case to provide the cover.

This is the core of the modification, which would be running on Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit):

• Thermaltake Toughpower 1050
• ASUS Rampage III Gene (Which will require two new holes to be set into the case for a mATX form factor, and thus I am wondering on how one goes about getting the standoff threads to securely catch into the case; e.g., does one just drill in a small hole and then forcefully screw them in?)
• Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 2000, either 12GB or 24GB (Depending on if 24GB will still allow me to reach 2000Mhz or higher?)
• EVGA GTX680 FTW 4GB
• Thermaltake Water2.0 Pro with a push/pull config
• One 92mm Noctua (NF-B9) to replace rear case fan
• Two 120mm Noctua (NF-S12B) that will replace the front 120mm case fan and to be used along with the ThermaltakeWater2.0 Pro (Noting that either the lower panel rails will need to be cut off by about 1/4" in length of about 135mm or the bottom portion of the HHD3 bay will need to be entirely cut out in order to fit in the 150mm tall radiator and dual fans.)
• Thermaltake TG-1 to remount my i7-X-980.
• Two Corsair Neutron GTX 120GB (In RAID1, if that is allowable; i.e., I have read that SSD cannot be used in RAID (that it causes drive corruption or even failure) and also that they can be although do not perform that well in RAID0, so I am still confused on this option.)
• These two SSD’ would be stored inside of an ICY DOCK (MB994SP-4SB-1 4x2.5" SSD/HD in 1x5.25) in a vacant full-size drive bay beneath two DVD players, using the only two SATA3 connectors provided by the MOBO.

Also, concerning another question I have, I currently use two Dell 24” monitors and one of them has a HDMI and two DVI-D connections, while the other only has a single DVI-D connection, so I was planning on (with the intention of having a single expanded display across both monitors or double the visible work area), that is if this is possible (if anybody here has experience in how these connections actually function), to connect one to the other using a short DVI-D cable and then using a HDMI connection of what would be the primary monitor to connect to the new GPU (primarily this would serve to reduce cables).

* And would anyone be able to verify if full-size HD LCD/LED class televisions (e.g., 42”, 46”, 47”, etc., at 60Hz, 120Hz, upwards to 240Hz) are usable or not with GPU that are HDMI/1080p compatible? As I have been considering that this would be a better option in the future instead of using two-three monitors; although somebody had recently informed me that you cannot use actual televisions (even HD class) with computers because it makes the fonts all fuzzy or blurry (and thus uncomfortable to read the screen). While, another concern I had concerning this second inquiry was if such televisions are reactive to the computer being powered up and down, being put to sleep, hibernation, etc. by the OS, or if they have to be manually turned on and off, and also if there are known issues with “Smart TV” or 3D features, etc., interfering with the computer and whatnot?

TIA

 

[Knufire]

You need to run a tap through the hole to cut threads in it. A tap and die set is a useful thing to have while modding (die is the tool that cuts threads on the screw/male side).

You only need one cable per monitor. HDMI is just DVI + sound.

 

[Trivius]

Thanks, would you happen to know the standard size for standoff threading? And would HDMI be able to pass data from one monitor to another via a DVI-D connection?

 

[Knufire]

Not sure on the size for standoffs, sorry.

Monitors don't have to be plugged into each other. You simply plug both into the video card, the display spanning is done in software.

 

[Operant]

I know most standoffs use a 6-32 size. I'd think Dell would also use this but I'm not 100% sure (couldn't find any info on it).

 

[Trivius]

Alright, thank you, I would tend to think that something like that would be an industry standard even for Foxconn, so that should work regardless.

Regarding the HDMI passover to DVI-D thought I had mentioned, that is something I would like to do in order to minimize my cables, because my desk is all open and uses a glass surface area. That is of course if in doing so I would be able to achieve the monitor configuration I desire, which is to provide an expanded display across two monitors.

Also, this morning I came across a few (not so recent) articles that mentioned using both sets of tri-channels causes serious timing issues in i7 systems and was wondering if this still holds true? For which if such is case I should just stick to the 12GB setup then.

And can I get clarification on mirroring SSD, if that is OK to do or not?

Oh, something else I had forgot to ask, which I don’t think really matters, though would like to make sure, can closed-loop water cooling systems be safely positioned both horizontally and vertically (e.g., might horizontally positioned units cause pump or hose vacuum issues with any air trapped inside, etc)?