Case Expense

[EliteRetard]

Oh, Man! A Kaypro! That's a true archeological rarity! Like the Compaq Transportable . . .

You shouldn't talk about these things so openly. The young women will know how old you are . . .

I had that Kaypro 10 well into the 2000's, think it got sold for like $50 or something. It was still working, in great shape, and had everything including the printer.
I don't have to worry about the ladies...at this point I'm going to be a permanent virgin. Kinda proud to be so rare, like a flying pony.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I had that Kaypro 10 well into the 2000's, think it got sold for like $50 or something. It was still working, in great shape, and had everything including the printer.
I don't have to worry about the ladies...at this point I'm going to be a permanent virgin. Kinda proud to be so rare, like a flying pony.

That's a long time for a transportable. [I'm sure that's what the Kaypro 10 was. I may have seen a Kaypro 9 ?? Yeah - that's it -- a Kaypro 10.]

My first "PC" of the IBM flavor was a Columbia VP-1600. I sold it to one of my students in 1993 for $25. I don't want to think about the money anymore. There is the certain paradox: whatever we spent on a PC, the need for some personal computing capability only trended upward. If I calculate the total over time in nominal dollars, I'll need to take a pill for depression.

The mainstreamers and business-oriented will cut their losses and buy surplus and refurbished OEM models. I purchased my last OEM model in 1995. And as I remember, we soon crossed a line where it was more expensive as a DIY effort: we started choosing better parts.

 

[you2]

Talking about expensive cases; Dan's case is back on kickstarter for something like $275.

 

[fleshconsumed]

I have said in this thread that I will only typically spend $100 on a case. Well, I broke that promise, Got Silverstone FT-05B for around 160'ish. Was a total pain to assemble due to severe lack of clearance for cable management, but it does look pretty.

 

[you2]

I think I like pc-9f (lian) better than the silverstone - at least cable management was a lot easier and it was only $99.

 

[bfun_x1]

Back in 2003 I spent $200 on an aluminium Cooler Master Wave Master. I eventually got a matching Asetek Waterchill unit which was about $350. I suppose that was one of the original AIO liquid coolers.

I'd kept it for years planning polish it someday. I eventually gave it to my nephew who was begging for components for his first PC build. Two months later his Mom tossed it in the trash when they moved.

This is what they can look like when polished.

 

[secretanchitman]

Talking about expensive cases; Dan's case is back on kickstarter for something like $275.

I just spent $284 today on the Dan A4-SFX v2 case! My last case (Lian-Li PC-75 from 2003) was $200...

 

[Ajay]

I just spent $284 today on the Dan A4-SFX v2 case! My last case (Lian-Li PC-75 from 2003) was $200...

Holy smokes - that a lot of $$s/kg!!

 

[bigboxes]

I just spent $284 today on the Dan A4-SFX v2 case! My last case (Lian-Li PC-75 from 2003) was $200...

It's fun to get in on something new. You going to do a writeup on your build when you've put it all together? Would love to see some pics of your build when your done.

 

[bigboxes]

Holy smokes - that a lot of $$s/kg!!

Well, I'm about to populate my Lian Li PC-V1000L with a pair of E5-2630 v4, 256GB of ECC RAM and 10TB 10He drives (x6), among other goodies. It's all relative.

 

[you2]

My concern was cpu cooling; he (dan) said that he was developing a custom fan for i7 but it hasn't been tested yet and is unavailable. It does show promise.

I just spent $284 today on the Dan A4-SFX v2 case! My last case (Lian-Li PC-75 from 2003) was $200...

 

[Ranulf]

Corsair 650D back in 2011 or so. $185 I think. Nice big case but so many little problems. Noisy cheap fans all around, front 200mm fan that sat against a metal grill that had a nice hum due to vibrations. This was just before usb 3.0 jacks/inputs were standard so you had to connect the front ports through the back I/O panel. Corsair makes some nice stuff but that experience put me off of their cases and fans.

Runner up is the Silverstone DS380 itx NAS case. $150. Bad design on cooling the drives. Hot drives and noisy fans are not a good combo.

 

[secretanchitman]

Holy smokes - that a lot of $$s/kg!!

Yep! There isn't any Mini-ITX case I like more than can fit standardized components, has Lian-Li build quality and is small as possible as the A4-SFX. Part of the high cost is also due to the included 3M PCI-E riser but it's still expensive nonetheless. Picture for reference (Thanks to Globetrotters for the image):

It's fun to get in on something new. You going to do a writeup on your build when you've put it all together? Would love to see some pics of your build when your done.

Definitely going to do a writeup/build blog before/during/after. I haven't been that active in the PC enthusiast community since the P4/C2D days (last computer build I did had a Q9450 in it and before that, a Xeon 3060/C2D E6600) but I am jumping back in once my case arrives which should be January 2018. At that point, I'm looking to do 6C/12T Coffee Lake, Z390, Volta, 32GB DDR4-3200, 1TB NVME SSD, Corsair 600W SFX PSU, and custom cables from ensourced (either white cables or white/black cables).

Well, I'm about to populate my Lian Li PC-V1000L with a pair of E5-2630 v4, 256GB of ECC RAM and 10TB 10He drives (x6), among other goodies. It's all relative.

Beast build for sure! Server I'm assuming?

My concern was cpu cooling; he (dan) said that he was developing a custom fan for i7 but it hasn't been tested yet and is unavailable. It does show promise.

I'm following that thread on the HardOCP forums, it does look pretty nice. I will definitely be backing it when he finalizes his design. My worry is that it won't fit on the Coffee Lake Z390 boards (it has issues with the Asus Z270 Strix board due to RAM clearance according to him) but we'll see.

 

[bigboxes]

Beast build for sure! Server I'm assuming?

That was the plan. My mother passed away a couple of weeks ago and that has changed things a lot. I've got the build all planned out. The financing may take a while. With my finances taking a hit I have to prioritize my wants. Sucks as I was planning on doing it all. When I get back to it I'll be sure to make a thread. Looking forward to your write-up when you get a chance.

 

[you2]

Drop a pm when he offers the fan. Btw not clear to me that dan's case is a win over the ncase; though it is smaller.

Y







I'm following that thread on the HardOCP forums, it does look pretty nice. I will definitely be backing it when he finalizes his design. My worry is that it won't fit on the Coffee Lake Z390 boards (it has issues with the Asus Z270 Strix board due to RAM clearance according to him) but we'll see.

 

[secretanchitman]

That was the plan. My mother passed away a couple of weeks ago and that has changed things a lot. I've got the build all planned out. The financing may take a while. With my finances taking a hit I have to prioritize my wants. Sucks as I was planning on doing it all. When I get back to it I'll be sure to make a thread. Looking forward to your write-up when you get a chance.

Sorry to hear that man. Definitely, I can't wait to see the final result!

Drop a pm when he offers the fan. Btw not clear to me that dan's case is a win over the ncase; though it is smaller.

Will do! I think I remember him saying that the heatsink will be another Kickstarter so I'll post it here in addition to PMing you.

You are correct - NCASE has way more flexibility in terms of options (lots of front I/O and slot-load optical!), available room inside the case for cooling and upgradability plus more in-stock availability so I completely understand. I thought that it was going to be my next case until the A4-SFX came along. I just wanted the case to be as small as possible without sacrificing Mini-ITX, full-length GPUs and SFX PSU.

 

[Topweasel]

I tend to spend more than average for an enthusiast but nothing crazy. I spent $120 on an Antect 1040 something (I think that was its name). 140 on a P160. $180 on Haf X. My most expensive was for my side computer $230 for a first run Ncase M1. Latest main system I picked up a Define R5 for $100. I'd spend what I need to get what I need and have a style I liked.

 

[EXCellR8]

^^lol

After assembling so many SFF systems I wanted to use something big again. Pulled the trigger on the Thermaltake View X71 since the 900D and anythng caselabs is too expensive. I thought the idea of having the graphics card rotated 90 degrees was kind of too "pro gamer" but it is implemented very well with this case in conjunction with the PCIe riser cable; looks very clean. I believe you could still use multi-gpu also as there is plenty of room.

also has radiator and tube routing features galore, including removeable everything for optimal flow and drive relocation. came with magnetic fan filters and a pair of 140mm fans up front. only 2x 5.25" bays which might not appeal to some but I don't use optical drives anymore and I like how the front panel is one large grill essentially.

 

[bigboxes]

After assembling so many SFF systems I wanted to use something big again. Pulled the trigger on the Thermaltake View X71.

I would be interested in seeing a write up of your finished build.

 

[EXCellR8]

it's a roomy case... but not overly massive. it's replacing two mid towers that were used for 1080 big screen gaming. specs aren't very remarkable, but the color scheme i have is on point. i'll post something at some point, as it looks very clean but needs the water loop finished.

in the mean time, i found this article interesting: PCI-Express Risers/Extender Cables

the one I bought for the X71 is the 200mm shielded ribbon riser, $25 on Amazon

 

[secretanchitman]

6 months later and my A4-SFX v2 is out for delivery today!

That being said, the v3 will be available in May 2018. Luckily the only difference is the PCI-E riser which is all black from Lian-Li instead of the 3M one.

 

[you2]

Hum; there are three interesting cases there: A4-SFX; N1; ghost. Hopefully there will be a full review of all three (comparing pro/con). Isn't there a new heat sink for the A4-SFX ?

 

[secretanchitman]

Parts are slowly coming in.