Opinion on cases

[smahoney]

I have been spending the last month or so researching different components to build a pair of new machines.

I started by looking at the case and PS I wanted and how many mods I wanted to do. After deciding on different budgets and configurations these are the findings I came up with. I decidied to share them and request comments.

Budget machine for parents - goals:
Low Cost <$100 for case and PS.
Low Performance - 350 Watt PS or equiv.
Reliability
No fancy mods.

Case - Antec Performance PLUS660AMG ~$95 at newegg.com
Includes Antec 330 Watt power supply - very reliable

Easy to get in and out of - includes a very nice power supply and plenty of Antec fans. I looked at cheaper Case and PS combos for much less, but I wanted to go for max reliability since I will not always be able to stop by to provide support. I know I could have just gone for a Dell special deal, but I wanted to reuse some parts and build it myself(stubborn).

Performance Machine - goals:
Budget - Case & PS - $250.00
Aluminum Case
OVERCLOCKING - Plenty of Cooling
400W PS or better
Window for lots of Blue Lighting
Room for plenty of drives

Case - CompUSA LIAN-LI Special PC-82 - $149.99
Had originally decided on the Cooler-Master ATC-201B-SX2 for $152 at compuplus.com but I saw this case at CompUSA this past weekend and picked it up.
Includes 5 fans - two front, two rear and one top - Filter on front two. Includes window side panel.
Apparently special config from Lian-Li just for CompUSA - was originally $199.99 - now $149.99
I haven't seen a comparable case for anywhere near this price online.
Power Supply : Antec TrueBlue 480

Although Expensive, The quality and look of this case is just awesome and at $149.99 it is ~$50 cheaper than any Lian-Li review I have seen on the web. The motherboard tray slides out with almost no pressure. All thumbscrews for panel removal and peripheral card installation. No sharp edges and there are plastic strips protecting anyway. Plenty of expansion and unrestricted cooling flow. Dual rear fans a definite plus. Unique Power Supply mounting. I have been unable to find this version of the PC-82 case anywhere else online. It is a nice touch that they include all five fans instead of making some optional - although expected for the price. I have to admit that the fit and finish were nicer than the Cooler Master and Kingwin cases I compared it to.

I replaced the 5 included fans with Crystal LED fans and added dual Blue Cold Cathode Lighting - basically lights up the whole room at night. Noise isn't too much. The five fans and lighting came to $34.00 from bestbyte.net with a tube of Artic Silver three and several silver round IDE cables.

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-8INXP $234
Memory
Corsair TWINX512-3200LLPT $169
CPU
Intel P4 - 2.66GHz - overclocked FSB to 160MHz - 3.2GHz $225 - haven't really pushed it yet, waiting for new CPU cooler to arrive.
Video
Chaintech GeForce4 Ti4600 - $184
Hard Drives - Pair of WD800JB - RAID 0 with reused 40GB WD400BB for disk backup $96 each
picked up a 16X DVD, 52X CDRW and Floppy - All in black for another $110

Recent purchase -
Alpha Novatech PAL-8942
120mm Alumin Fan
120mm to 80mm Fan Adapter

80CFM at only 32dBA - weight was a concern, but the Alpha hard mounts to the MB.

I purchased most of the parts online from a few different vendors - I tried to combine parts to reduce shipping charges so I didn't always go with the cheapest online site.

Thoughts?

 

[smahoney]

Before I hear comments on the video card

it is <$200
plays all my existing games at better than 60fps
The 9800 PRO and nVIDIA V35 are either too expensive today or unavailable
When they are available - I am giving the existing card to brother-in-law.

 

[ccgr]

I have Globalwin case which has real good airflow. Antec/Cheiftec cases are nice too

 

[Justorq]

Antec SLK-3700 AMB
they're not expensive, they come with a 350W ANTEC PSU (SILENT)
very well made and space for two 120mm fans

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Justorq
Antec SLK-3700 AMB
they're not expensive, they come with a 350W ANTEC PSU (SILENT)
very well made and space for two 120mm fans

I just got one of these, it's a sweet case for a server or raid (5 HD bays with rubber grommets to reduce vibration noise) my only complaint is the supplied 120mm fan has a "beating" noise after it's run for awhile. Other than that penny-pinching the build quality is excellent.

Antec 600-series is a great case for a desktop system with 1-2 HD and 1-2 CD/DVD, I built a P4 system with the older sx-630 for my parents and it was very quiet.

 

[smahoney]

Thanks - I like the idea of the 600 series case - 120mm fans are much quiter than 80mm while pushing the same amount of air. Nice and quiet for parents. One of the reason I went for that for my CPU cooler for overclocking - just make sure you have a rigid mount cooler.

I figure the Alpha 8942, 120mm to 80mm fan adapter and 120mm aluminum fan will be close to double the Intel weight limit - The Alpha mounts rigidly to the motherboard and I have some custom aluminum spacers that will mount to the motherboard tray so all the weight isn't on the CPU - Also not a travelling LAN Party Rig . I figure that the 25mm thick adapter will allow better air flow, sort of like a taller engine intake. 80CFM at only 32dBA - Better cooling than a Vantec Tornado at close to Stealth noise level - and the Aluminum/Chrome fan should look pretty cool under all of my blue lighting. I hope to get my 2.66 up to 180MHz FSB.

What are the thoughts of Video Cards under $225 for the next month - Any ideas on Canterwood MB pricing - I figure they have to be less than 7205 MB's that have SATA since it will be included.

 

[piasabird]

At www.newegg.com they sell a nice economy Chieftec case without the power supply for $30.00. Looks nice, black color, one exhaust fan, compact size. Just stick in an Enermax power supply. Chieftec cases are pretty nice as cases go. They sell a few cases cheaper than this of various brands. If you are really going to build cheap you might go with a Micro ATX case and something like an ASUS P4B533-VM with a Celeron CPU.

 

[dnoyeb]

I'd pay my little sister to hold my parts if she'd do it cheap enough. Cases are for holding parts only. Unless you are styling in which case $$$ is no object.

Power supplies are overrated. I bought new ones, but at times when I swap back in the old 250W PSUs, all my computers even my XP2100+ dont seem to take issue.
Lately I put money into silence, but this high wattage is just not necessary.

 

[smahoney]

Thanks for the advice.

I went with the Antec case since it came with the power supply and plenty of fans. Shipping was included from the site since I was getting other parts. I don't mind Chieftec, but I liked the extra stuff thrown in without the hassle. I am not a real big fan of Enermax PS - two bad experiences and in both cases I gave up on getting them replaced and bought new.

AS far as the performance machine goes - no way a 250 Watt PS would work - 5 80mm cooling fans, 4600 video to start with, overclocked FSB, 120mm cooling fan, 3 7200 RPM Hard Drives, lots of lighting and I use my CD Recorder a lot. Even a 350 Watt would be hard pressed. I would rather spend an extra 20 bucks and let the 480 be a lot less stressed than running a 350 close to the edge. My budget is pretty loose and I am trying to strike a balance between performance/price/*looks cool* - I spent a bit extra on a fancy case and lighting, but I think the end result is going to be a pretty good balance. The harder decisions were where to spend extra money on faster CPU/Mem/HD/Video - what is the better balance for performance vs. price - A lot of attention is being paid to balance between CPU and GPU, but I think that it is more important to balance out all four areas to get a better bang for the buck.