Water cooling isn't THAT bad now. For the i7's just keep the temp protection setting in the BIOS on. If something does fail, and the CPU reaches meltdown tempts it'll turn the computer off. I've had PC's shut down (back during the Pentium 4 days) when my pump failed to come on with the system. It shut itself down no problem. In fact after I was done with it I gave that box to a friend who still uses it today.

I'll agree that all-in-one water cooling kits are only as good as high quality air cooling right now. The H50 for instance (arguably the best all-in-one water cooler) runs right along side the TRUE or Prolimatech Magalem. I was going to reuse the alienware h50 when I decided to go high end water instead. I already had a pump, black ice extreme III radiator, and fittings from my old athlon x2 64 box. For less than the price of good air cooler I was able to pickup a D-Tek Fuzion v2 block and get FAR better temps than the H50. Keep in mind, I had this stuff... back when I bought all of it new (including the various blocks) I spend a good $400-$500 putting together my loop.
The advantage of water over air is lower temps with less noise (more fans running as a lower RPM), with the disadvantage of possibly destroying your system if there is a leak. The H50 is just as loud and hot as a TRUE, so there is no performance advantage there at all. I will say the H50 costs a little less overall, as most high end air coolers don't come with a fan, and the H50 does.
Honestly, I would have gone air had I not reused my high-end water cooling stuff. 

As for the sound card, onboard audio is pretty good these days. Still I'm not a big fan of onboard sound because of the minuscule system resources they use up... which I would prefer they didn't... so I still do use cards for gaming and what not. For serious audio work I use an Onyx 400f.
For Vista or Windows 7 stay clear of X-fi cards.
In Vista they removed the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for DirectSound and DirectSound3D. The HAL is the software layer that enabled an audio card like the Sound Blaster X-Fi, to provide DirectSound3D applications (like most games) with hardware accelerated audio. This enabled soundcards to perform tasks such as sample-rate conversion, mixing, 3D spatialization using HRTFs, filtering, and effects processing. Without the HAL, DirectSound in Vista is rendered in software with non of that advanced functionality.
I ordered my Aurora with the SB Titanium card and was really upset with I couldn't get games to use 5.1 via optical (even with Dolby Digital Live enabled). I also was unable to get Alchemy (an app that is supposed to solve the issue with Vista's lack of support) to work.
Luckily there are non x-fi cards that DO work... like the HT Omega Claro series.
I was a supporter of X-fi because I loved the surround support they had, but they no longer have that advantage.

Those boards like that are so big because they are compatible with the Tesla Supercomputer build specs. That is why I was saying it is overkill for your needs. Obviously its a well built board, but has many features you don't need for a standard build.

When overclocking the i7 never exceed 1.45v on the cpu and 1.65 on the Ram. You shouldn't have to get that high on the cpu to get to 4.0, though. Most will get there at around 1.38 -1.40.  Also, watch your temps, and make sure they don't go into the 70s for any extended period while running prime 95 stress test.

The Ram will overclock as you overclock the bclk...so adjust your Ram multiplier down to run at its stated speed, and also make sure the timings are set correctly. That is pretty much it...there are several step by step i7 OC guides on the web to help you out if you have any trouble. Main thing is watch your voltages and you don't have to worry about damaging anything.

Belia,

Thanks so much yet again!   Let me know if anyone psycho enough asks you to build them a system with 4 ATI RADEON 5970's or 4 GTX 295's. LOL. 8 gpu's.  Will that even work? I wonder how much power supply u need for that.

Thanks man.  You got a paypal address? let me send you some moula for your wonderful advice. It's the least I could do.

itachi

I don't know the exact bios date of all of mine, but I received them all by the middle - late October, so I assume that is the bios in question.

All,

For my notes, your all running this bios?

Aurora/Aurora ALX 9/29/2009 A01

Yes, A01 is the correct version.

For all of you guys running the i7 920 CPU, checking on release dates now.

Aurora Bios A04 (Aurora-A04.exe) and Area 51 Bios A03 (Area_51-A03.exe) = Added support for Intel Core i7 920 processor overclocking

I posted a message to let everyone at niche know. We will soon find out how it goes.

Belia, HackerZ,

I somehow managed to build my very first system from SCRATCH.  I made sure everything was done right.  Booted the system, got no display and my GIGABYTE RADEON 5970 video card failed. OH GOD was I angry.  It was definitely a lemon, so I sent it back for a refund to NewEgg, because the 5970's are sold out everywhere, couldn't even get a replacement and people are trying to sell them on Ebay for over $850. Are you kidding me? 

Popped in my old ATI video card from my old PC and my system ran perfect, other than the bad VIDEO.  HackerZ and moreover Belia, the parts and advice you recommended for me were GREAT, even though I opted to get the EVGA Classified 4 Way SLI board along with the 2000 MHZ Corsair Dominator Ram, the other items you recommended like the SAMSUNG Spinpoint HDD's are awesome, and the new ANTEC 1200W PSU is AWESOME, had ALL the cables I needed.  However, the motherboard and RAM are perfect, it is specifically made for OC'ing and I needed a FULL Tower case, so I got the THERMALTAKE ArmorPlus 6000 which has PLENTY of airflow and space, so maybe it WAS a good idea getting this board, because it forced me to get this case.

To make a long story short I had absolutely no BIOS problems, the MOBO has extra power inputs for people who specifically OC their i7's but also for people who CROSSFIRE/SLI their video cards.  My second 5970(This one is from Sapphire) came in the day I returned the GIGABYTE, and that was convenient.  The Sapphire ran perfectly.  I'm never purchasing another GIGABYTE product. I do not even know if they are a reputable company.  I guess CROSSFIRE has to wait, a POWERCOLOR Radeon 5970 I found on the internet is coming tomorrow =)

My stock voltages were at 1.25 for the i920, with temps being around 40 idle.  Thought this was slightly high, because I remember seeing the i975 run 3.33 ghz at 1.15V STOCK, plus I've seen many people with good air-cooling who hit 3.6-3.8 ghz and hit 40 at idle with 1.25 V.  I lowered my voltage from 1.25 to 1.15, safely overclocked from 2.66-3.33  20X167 and the setup has been so stable with no issues, i knew the i920 i7 was made to be this way.  Temps dropped from 40 to 35 using 1.15 V on idle with stock 2.66 ghz, and after I Oc'ed from 2.66 to 3.33, my temps are hovering around 38-39 idle.  My system is running rock solid. Not a crash, reboot, and all overclocking was done successfully on the first try with no problems, but it's probably because I barely overclocked the CPU. I still think from 2.66-3.33 is a decent jump.  I like keeping things ULTRA safe.  I am too chicken to go to 4.0, but i'll do that if a game or program comes out that requires all that power. I think 3.33 can run everything just fine.  Let me know if I can overclock to 3.6 or even 3.8 with 1.15V's or do i need to go higher?  Since my motherboard has an auxillary/dedicated power channel for the cpu/overclocking, is this why I do not need to raise voltages that high?  Or am i lucky and got a great "cherry picked" i7 chip?

Other than that, all I need to do is CROSSFIRE the 2 5970's, and then my system should be complete.  All in all, the total cost of my Aurora was 4200, but once I returned that, I built my system with much betters parts that came out to around 3700.   Not as cheap as I thought but I still saved money and plenty of future heartaches, plus got top of the line parts for every component.

Thanks for everything guys.  It feels so good not having any PC trouble. Windows 7 has just been amazing, and I think it's highly underrated.  BTW, have you guys looked at recent AURORA build options on the Alienware site?  They now offer overclocked i920's (to 3.2 ghz) for 200 dollars.  Maybe people in management have been reading our threads and realized that the i920 is THE best i7 chip.  I've come to realize that among all the i920's, 940's, 950's, 960's, 970's, there is still only ONE Intel i7.  All that stuff about overclocking and getting a better processor is all marketing mumbo-jumbo.  Thanks for helping me realize this guys.  It truly was a valuable lesson.

On a another note, I built my PC from scratch in a little over 4 hours, and I have never built a system from SCRATCH, i've only replaced HDD's and Video cards in my lifetime, so to have DELL take 1-2 months to build a PC is absolutely ludicrous.  All these delays MUST be from video card or component shortages.  I'll let you know if I run into any issues.  I have my dream machine all thanks to this "Overclocking the Aurora" thread.

Itachi

Glad you made out ok... well, aside from the GFX card issues, but that'll be worked out in no time.

And you are absolutely correct about the processors, it's all about marketing.

As a side note, I run mine at 4Ghz 24/7 no problem... then again I'm using high-end water cooling right now. With the h50 cooler (what the dell came with) I was getting 41c-42c idle @ 4Ghz (on my Asus board of course). With my current cooling I get that same speed, but running 10c cooler.