help spec a case and cooling

[jacito]

My brother and I are building 2 new machines. So far I've got an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.6GHz Black Edition and an ECS A780GM-A ATX MB.

He has an Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2.0GHz 1MB 800MHz and a GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L ATX MB.

We need some help picking out cases, RAM, and cooling equipment. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

cheers,
Jacito

 

[chuckm]

Just picked up one of these cases and 2 extra fans;
http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0283272

As far as ram, do you want 2 or 4 gig and what OS will you be using?

 

[jdkick]

First set a budget for the case, then go from there. There are a ton of good cases out there that are extremely affordable, packed with features and cool very well. What are you doing for a power supply?

I prefer Corsair for memory. There are usually numerous rebates at any one time (all submissions i've made have been
honoured) and I have not had any compatibility problems with the XMS2 line. Just depends on whether you want 2GB or 4GB. What OS?

The stock cooler is fine unless you're looking to OC. Are you? Depending on what cases you short list, you may or may not need some additional fans as well. Try to avoid cases that use fans smaller then 120mm tho as they usually make more noise. If you do need some fans, i'd probably go with Scythe. Zalman and Yate Loon are also popular.

 

[Zepper]

Three hundred has a nice appearance, but looks like Antec took a nap during design phase - looks like all drives are hard mounted, and not much in the way of modern conveniences. A step backward for Antec, IMO. If I were Antec, I'd be ashamed of the chintzyness of that design.

Take a look at the Rosewill R5600 or R6A series of cases. Still some of the best for the money and one model or another is almost always on sale. See my review of the 5600 series here: http://www.techimo.com/reviews/ under Cases and all the way down at the bottom of the list under Yeong Yang/Rosewill (YY is the OEM of the cases). I also comment on the R6A in that review - it is basically the same as the fondly remembered, Antec SLK-3000B, but little family resemblance. If I hadn't told you, you would likely have missed the connection. The new 6X model at Newegg is in the R6A family so look at it too. Most of the other Rosewill/Newegg cases aren't in the same class as those.

HEC/Compucase is the OEM for the R6A cases (and probably the R6X too), so look under that brand as well.

Of course, if one of your local Best Buy stores has the Rocketfish Full tower at the good price, those would be worth a look as well. That is, if you wouldn't mind a really big, nice case. Go to BB's web site to see which stores have stock and than call to get the local special price - you're looking for $72.00 or less. If not, I have a couple left in my FS/T listing (linked near the bottom of my posts) - I'm not ashamed, I'm trying to make a buck on 'em...

.bh.