New (first) build, comments appreciated

The 4870s can make good use of most of the aftermarket 3870 coolers. http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/for [...] ew-21.html
Which is good since they're not as quite as some other cards. http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/for [...] eview.html

The Sapphire website recommends "600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode" for 4870 CF setup. Look under System Requirements: http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/pro [...] p?gpid=245
Corsair 650TX http://www.silentpcreview.com/article813-page1.html http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139005
Each of the HD 4870 cards should have a Molex to PCI-e power adapter to get the 3 & 4th PCI-e power connectors for a Crossfire setup in the card's accessory pack: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102748 (look under Specifications and Package contents - also shown in the pictures)

Unless you already have an existing PCI-X card that you intend to use you can pass on the ASUS P5E WS Pro (X38). Instead look for the Asus P5E Deluxe (X48) @ $230 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 15&bop=And

Spinpoint F1 500GB is a nice, fast and quiet HDD. Recommend just 1 for now. A RAID 0 array would have both HDDs working at the same time and making more noise than a single drive.

Antec Solo is a good case choice: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article75-page1.html has some ideas on that site about how to further reduce noise.
SilentPCReview also discusses CPU coolers: http://www.silentpcreview.com/section11.html

The Q9450 is great CPU at a good price. The Q9300 2.5Ghz is also a decent choice and $60 less expensive. A slight overclock and you'll have the same performance as the QX9450 3.0Ghz $1000CPU.

You are clearly on the right track.

WR2 is right on.

The stock cpu cooler is ok for cooling. For quiet, look at an aftermarket cooler with a slow turning 120mm fan. The www.silentpcreview site will have some good choices.

For your kind of work, more display acerage is good. Look for a pair of good quality 24" displays.

There is generally no real world(vs. synthetic transfer rate benchmarks) performance advantage to raid of any kind.
Go to www.storagereview.com at this link: http://faq.storagereview.com/tiki- [...] iveVsRaid0

If you typically process one large file sequentially, then raid-0 can help. If you read an input file, process it, then write it out, two simple drives would be better. Put the input on one, and the output on the other.

I would suggest the Antec P182 case, very quiet, good cooling, and more room than the Solo. All hard drives are mounted on soft silicone isolation mounts. 182 has better wire management and far better cooling. It is a little bigger, but worth having the extra space for future expansion and functionality. HIS has a better rep for customer support than Sapphire, although I personally haven't had to utilize Sapphire's support so I can't speak from my own experience on this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139002 nice modular unit, I am a fan of modular PS cabling, its nice to use only what you need for improved airflow. The Corsair units review well.

Im pretty sure Buy.com doesnt ship to Austria for free ~

wynn

I'm building a similar system. I'm using the Geforce 9800 GX2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130338 for my GPU. You might want to consider it if you haven't already. For an extra $120 (on Newegg at least) you'll get a considerable performance boost over the 4870.

Here's a performance comparison with both cards:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=20

Also check out TH's recent 260/280 GTX review for more numbers on the GX2.

Of course if you did get the GX2 you would have to get a SLI capable mobo if you wanted the option of throwing in another GPU sometime in the future. It looks like you're interested in that, so you'd have to dump the X38.

Also, I'd imagine the GX2 is noisier than a single 4870. However, TH's 280 GTX review suggests the GX2 is relatively quiet compared to the other high end cards they looked at. It's also very close to the 4870 in terms of power consumption according to the Anandtech article I posted. So I don't think the 4870 would have a big advantage in either area.

The Solo is a great case. Quiet, with no fussy doors.

I have been looking at upgrading my vga card, and found out that most of the high powered cards like the 8800GTX,9800GX2, gtx 280 are over 10" long, and won't fit. You would have to mod the drive cage a bit and give up one drive slot. It looks easy enough to do. The 4870, on the other hand, is a more normal length card which should be no problem. I particularly like the two slot cooler which directs the hot vga air directly out the back of the case. If they get the fan speed control right, it should be quiet normally, only ramping up under heavy load.

I would suggest getting the cpu cooler initially. You can only install them properly while the motherboard is still outside of the case. If it is a back plate mount, you have to remove the motherboard. If it is a pushpin mount, you should be able to look at the pins from the back of the motherboard to be certain that they are properly all the way through. The pins are tricky, and it is easy to get it wrong, and not know it. In addition, a 4870 class vga card will generate lots of heat. It would help to use a oem cpu cooler, even if you do not overclock.

---good luck---