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LAN party RIG -- questions

S

Sorcerer

Senior member
I'm looking to build a new system specifically for taking to LAN gaming parties. The main concern is of course size & weight, but at the same time, it has to be a powerful box to keep up with games. And the third factor is of course, the GEEK factor. This has to look impressive to make the friends drool, (hopefully not on the system..).

I know some one out there has found all the right parts to put this system together, so, I'm asking for some oppinions & locations for parts for this custom box.

Here is what I have planned at the moment:
I have a Directron V2000 case, it's black & about the size of a VCR
This case takes a FlexATX board. This is no problem, as there are many decent boards out there that have sound & LAN built in.
The main problem lies in the fact that the case takes only half-height cards. I had originally planned to put a GeForce 3 card into this system, but I doubt there are any half-height cards with GeForce 3.

My next thought was to wait for the nForce MB's to come out, & use one of them as a pretty much 'all-in-one' solution.

Please share your thoughts on this, & let me know how best to proceed.

Sorcerer
 
I think your only option for a decent graphics card is a GeForce 2MX, I think a lot of those cards are half-height.
 
The nForce chipset includes the GeForce 2mx on board.
I've never used one of these boards, after using the GTS2 will I be dissapointed in the mx?

FlexATX & microATX fit the same case.
 
You shouldnt be disapointed with the MX. Its not as fast as the GTS so I'd just reccomend stepping the resolution down a little bit(1024x768 -> 800x600) and you probobly wont even notice the difference.
 
Thanks!

What's the latest word on when the nForce boards will be avaialble?
Last I heard was sometime 3rd Quarter 2001.
 
Here is the computer that I take to LAN parties. It's in a sweet In-win FlexATX case. Unfortunately the only (and perhaps best) Flex boards out right now that I know of have the 810e chipset, which means P3 support, but no AGP slot. It's not really a big deal for me though, because my Voodoo4 PCI works just fine with the only game I play, Quake 3.

[edit] FYI, the case that I have, the FT-620, does accept full height PCI cards.

~bex0rs
 
By the way, 99 percent of MicroATX boards will not fit in a case designed for a FlexATX board. They are just too wide. I highly doubt that any of the nforce boards that everyone is raving about will fit the FlexATX form factor.

[edit] I really should have really read your entire post before saying what I did. It looks like that case does in fact take MicroATX boards. Just be sure that the power supply can handle whatever CPU you decide to go with.

~bex0rs
 
According Inwin's site on the FT-620, the case will accomodate a board that is 9.6" * 7.5" That is actually the FlexATX standard, but there are a few MicroATX boards out there that may fit. (Elitegroup actually makes one with an AGP slot that would fit, but it has a VIA chipset 🙁) Oh, and when they say 7.5" wide, they do mean it. There is, at most, a quarter inch of play.

And yes, it's an awesome case. The board actually mounts "upside-down" on the side of the case, which hinges, sort of like the G3/G4 Mac cases. There are some pretty good pictures on In-Win's site (see that link), but if you have any more questions, or want some pics of my setup, feel free to ask. 🙂

~bex0rs
 
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