Building a computer

[lumpyporridge]

Originally posted here by Jareds411
I have 4 fans there, not 6.

4 listed + fan on power supply that comes with the case and there will be a fan on your gfx card

I still swear by http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details...?ProdID=15138# it is so well designed its not even funny , the drives all sit on rubber grommets and are set in by clips so they can be removed very easily. The hard drives can be swapped out super easily cause the face the side instead of the front..... It may not have the fancy lights but its my quiet little baby and i love it

[The Grunt]

I swear by my Lian Li PC65!!! For the same reasons as lumpy except the quiet part.. Mine doesn't fit that... But that is because I am too scared to do H20 cooling but I like my procs cool... So I make up for it with a 6000RPM TT Fan on my proc and as one of my intakes. http://www.lian-li.com/product.php?a...a8d01e9bd82756

The removable hard drive bay is VERY awesome.. Just unscrew two thumbscrews, unplug all your hdd's, pull. It even has enough space at the top you can easily carry it. Also, there are NO regular screws... ALL thumbscrews... VERY helpful..

[Tim_axe]

Personally I would never trust my computer to a Power Supply that comes in a case like that. Think of it like this: $15 into the case, make it look pimp. $10 into the Power Supply, double/tripple the "wattage" numbers. Profit!

My current rig would definately set that case and power supply into a shower of hot molten sparks. No joke. It would release all of its magic dust the moment PWR_OK is passed from the motherboard to that PSU to power on... Then again, you aren't running overclocked and power-hungry dual Athlons that want to eat ~140watts of power each...


This paticular powersupply would probably work well if you decide you don't want to take chances on that cheap thing:
Antec True 430

It isn't the best (that is held by PC Power & Cooling) but it is a decently priced, stable power supply that would kick the butt of that "450" any day of the week. Especially since that thing's 450 rating is simply a bizzare way to mathimatically tripple the "wattage". Every PSU company does this to a point to inflate their numbers to sell, but Antec doesn't go down to the levels of this no-name company...

[Jareds411]

Does this look ok for a case?

[Tim_axe]

Personally, I don't care too much about the case. Choose what you will. But you won't find a case that includes a good PSU -- you have to buy one seperately. Check out: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=792566 for recommendations per budget.


BTW, remember to consider shipping costs for the computer case. You may want to buy the case from the same place as other things to possibly save on shipping costs, because it costs at least $15 to ship cases. So unless you can afford not to think of it, remember to consider shipping costs when you buy this, and adjust how much you will spend accordingly.

Also, you don't want my recomendations for case style/design. My plans are to buy the cheapest thing that is the right size (full-ATX for me), and take my Dremel to it (along with other tools)... I don't think you'd be someone who is comfortable with crazy modding, overclocking, and water-cooling... At least not yet


NOTE:
Darn, I don't want to suddenly hi-jack your shopping list and say that I have serious doubts with what you are buying. But I can't stand back and let you sort of get stuff that might not be what you expected. But if you want me to sort of rape your list with my ideas, checkout my next post (it will be hidden). It should be done...sometime...soon...

[Tim_axe]

There are two things bothering me. Plus the power supply thing. I'll explain them below...


Motherboard - I don't like recomending the VIA chipset. Some people swear by it, but I'd like to point you in the direction of Nforce2. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...127-166&depa=1 With this, you don't need another sound card, simply because nothing on the market can match the Sound Storm's capabilities. It is pretty much the only hardware implementation of Dolby 5.1 Digital Encoding. Everything else bums power off of the CPU for the 3D sound calculations -- this rocks the socks off compared to them.

Processor - I don't want to make you have to overclock. But I don't like the price premium with the faster AthlonXP processors. I'll warn you that if you don't use an AMD Retail heatsink, you get no warrenty from AMD. If you overclock, warrenty void. If you don't get a retail processor (PIB, Processor in a box w/ heatsink, etc) then it is an OEM product w/ essentially no warrenty, and you have to rely on customer support from where you bought it. That said, you can get the 333MHz 2500+ Barton or anything else. Be wary of uber-cheap 3200+ Bartons because it isn't uncommon for them to simply be remarked 2500+ Bartons, just overclocked and resold. But if they work without dying anytime soon, you may have saved some money...

Power Supply - Check the link from the last thread. I'd recommend a quality power supply of at least 430 watts (Antec True 430?). This should give you enough room to grow as long as you don't get something as power hungry like the FX6800 or Radeon X800 video cards. Although it might run those...not exactly sure though. Check out http://takaman.jp/D/index.html?english and tell it what hardware you have, and it will give you some numbers to work with. (+12v AMPs is important, Wattage is also relevant)


So...going by the list above, you can get rid of that cheap SoundBlaster 16 card if you get that motherboard. That card is pointless if the motherboard has onboard audio. (The Soyo doesn't even need that SoundBlaster 16) At the very least, you can knock off that $15 sound card, so yeah... Enjoy.

[Jareds411]

Tim, are there any major preformance differences besides the sound on that board and the soyo? Because newegg has the soyo on sale for $30, and $57 more then I'm willing to pay for sound. Thanks for the advice!

Edit: Please change my list as much as you want. You have way more experience then me.

[The Grunt]

Just thought I'd mention that you WON'T need to buy a new PSU if you get that raidmax case... Raidmax PSU's perform decently and will easily hold up the box you are building... Not near as high quality as say an antec or enermax, but will DEFINITLY work for your setup...

[Tim_axe]

Well, you can get the Soyo. But you don't need that SoundBlaster 16 card for $15 -- the motherboard already has sound. (Both Soyo and other one I mentioned) If you aren't an Audio-Phile or hardcore gamer, I guess the board I recomended is definately overkill

You probably won't need the PCI Slot fan either ( Zerus Large Case Cooling Fan ). Those types of fans are generally useless unless you have a major heatsource that has trapped heat that just needs to circulate out of the case. Usually that is the video card, but in your current list, it isn't a big heat source that can benefit from it. Regular case-fans (80mm) will do the job for you, as long as your case has places to put the fans. So you can save another $17 or so.

Usually if you can get a case that puts an 80mm fan infront of the Hard Drives, you won't need a hard-drive cooler. Hard-drive coolers that I've used have acturally got clogged up by dust, and then the motor will short-circuit, and it will be a large heat-source. I was scratching my head for a month while my drives were overheating, and it was the hard drive cooler that caused the problems...


I guess The Grunt is right. Usually I have the urge to push for the best if you can make room for it in the budget. The reason I do this is because there are people who will spend like $2000 for their CPU, Video Card, Hard Drives, RAM, etc., and then buy a $50 case that includes a cheap PSU. It isn't possible to run huge power draws from cheap things. But the computer you're building could probably be handled well by most any Power Supply. So for you, it isn't as important as it is for me, because the chance of pushing it to its limits is much lower for you. So you can probably get the case you want. But be on the look out for a good deal on a good quality PSU like Forton, Sparkle, Enermax, or Antec TruePower series.

[Jareds411]

Would the sound on the soyo let me have a 2 speaker/1 sub setup?