lol Well, I assume that my life will become boring and dull for those three years, but it'll be worth it. I just did my senior capstone class (in the end of my junior year...Black Labor, my thesis was the racially-motivated purge of communists from the labor unions and subsequent damage to both white and black workers in the automotive, steel, and meatpacking industries). While I was doing that little project, I really didn't do anything BUT work. I have no recollection of writing the last 7 pages of my paper, but they were apparently good, because I was the first student to get an A in that class in 5 or 6 years. I do believe, however, that it was a Pyrrhic victory.
By the way, I just ordered my own CNPS9700 LED. I would have liked the black finish 9700, but my motherboard only has a 3-pin connector, and I needed a 4-pin. I could have modded it to work, but I know from working on cars that anytime you combine two pieces of equipment that weren't meant to work together, you increase the chances of expensive things going boom. Also, I thought that the lone green light might have looked a little wierd in the all-blue Antec 900. In any case, no one's complained about not being able to fit a 9700 in an Antec 900, just some have to get rid of the optional side 120mm fan, and some have only 1mm clearance after that. Although when I put things in that perspective, this HSF really is quite large, isn't it? Still, functionality, attractiveness, and that all-important I'm-going-to-kick-your-ass look. Plus, if I don't want to do water or other more extreme options, the Zalman really is the pinnacle of cooling.
At some point, once I have everything neatly installed and running stable, I'll be installing a cold cathode kit or two. Unless, of course, cable management becomes an issue. I would have ordered the kits I need now, but I don't have the time to research it before I assemble this thing, so I might as well wait and put the lights in later. I've seen way too many reviews of "I got shocked" or "it caught fire", mostly associated with cheap lights, but I'm not going to have my $200 CPU killed by neither a $25 light or a $5 one.
Anyways, my box from Tiger just arrived, so I'll be starting tonight with the PSU install. If the Ultra X3 1000-watt doesn't fit, I'll return it, get something modular with a little less power for a little less money, and return the Asus M5N-E for the Deluxe Wireless Vista Edition to cover the dividend. The basic M5N-E only has a PCIe 16x and an 8x...did not realize it when I ordered, should have looked more carefully.
As for the girlfriend box, the rig will be rather simple. I plan on installing everything with her, so she can do any future upgrades herself if we're no longer together or if she's just so inclined. The big HD is on there so she can rip DVD images and play them with Daemon Tools. One drive'll be a top-notch writer with Lightscribe, and the other will just be a simple reader. Once again, the goal is to use as many parts I already have as I can get away with. If I end up installing a fan controller on my Antec, she'll get my reader drive since I don't want to delete one of the front 120mm fans. Unless, of course, I use the Asus onboard sound. She's technically competent enough to run everything once Windows is up and I show her how to do DVD image ripping, just never opened up a case in her life.
Yeah, I know. This huge floppy cable is big pain in my a**. Soon, I'll be moving everything into 
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