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SLK3800B thoughts...

VivienM

Senior member
So I was at the computer store today, drooling at the P180, and they had an SLK3800B next to it...

$165 (CAD) excl. PS for the P180
$120 (CAD) incl. a 400W for the SLK3800B

That got me thinking... Is the SLK3800B with that 400W PS good enough for an X2 3800, 7800GT, couple of HDs, etc?

(Yes, I know they sell it without a PS, too... but the B&M stores around here don't seem to have that)
 
Wait a second... the local store DOES have the no-PS 3000B, so that's now in the running...

Or what about the Sonata II?
 
It looks like the 3800 is just the 3000 with a PSU. Amazon sells the 3000 for about $50 US with free shipping. You can look around for that one (SLK-3000B) if you don't want one with PSU.
 
You can get the SLK3000B from ProVantage for cheap, cheap, cheap.

Antec SLK3000B from ProVantage.

Awesome case...Easily the best bang for the buck case on the planet in the under fifty dollar range...In my humble opinion of course.

Unless the Sonata II is muched improved over the original then I would cross them off your list...I speak from experience...Not he said, she said...Pitiful cooling at best and serious problem with filling your drives with dust.

I like pairing them with the 400watt Fortron Blue Storm for what I consider a very nice setup with excellent thermal performance and a rock solid power supply from one of the few manufacturers of power supplys.

Here are some pics of one that I modded...Put two Sanyo Denki 120x38's for the front and rear fans...Did what I consider the best fan mod for a case if you are overclocking, by mounting the original 120x25 blowing on the backside of the motherboard and a 92m/m blow hole fan.

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

I have the Antec fan adjusted to the lowest speed...The Sanyo Denki's 5 volted with the Panaflo blow hole 7 volted as is the 80m/m Panaflo in the door.

The stock AMD heatsink fan is easily the loudest thing in the case.

Really for the build quailty and cooling performance the Antec SLK3000B is an awesome case...In my humble opinion of course !!!!!!





 
The PSU that comes with the 3800 is decent. IDK if you could do better price-wise with the 3000 and a separate PSU. What's your cost on the 3000-B? It really depends on what your budget is...

.bh.
 
Originally posted by: MadScientist
If you procrastinated you missed the Amazon deal on the Antec SLK3000B. Price is now $49.99 and no free shipping.
Link


Well, that was a US-only deal, anyways, I'm sure...

For whatever reason, up here in the land of igloos, we never get free shipping-type deals on any good heavy stuff...
 
Originally posted by: Zepper
The PSU that comes with the 3800 is decent. IDK if you could do better price-wise with the 3000 and a separate PSU. What's your cost on the 3000-B? It really depends on what your budget is...

.bh.

Okay, here's what the local B&M store is selling the various options for (note: all prices in Cdn $)
Antec SLK3000B Black Super Mid Tower w/o P.S. $63.00
Antec Solution SLK3800B Mid tower - ATX black power supply 400 Watt ( ATX12V 2.01 ) $109.00
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Mid Tower ATX Black 450 Watt Power Supply (ATX12V 2.01 ) $129.99

(Oh, and a PS-less P180 for $160)

My concern with the 3800B is that the PS might be too weak.

As for separate PSs, well, this place only carries some Antec lines and a few other things (no Seasonics), though I suppose that PSs are a lot cheaper to ship
Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-380 Power supply ATX12V 2.01 380 Watt * Support PCI-Express, SATA $73.00 Add to cart
Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-430 Power supply ATX12V 2.01 430 Watt * Support PCI-Express, SATA $85.00
Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-480 Blue Power supply with Internal Blue LED illumination ATX12V 2.01 480 Watt * Support PCI-Express, SATA $99.99
Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-480 Power supply ATX12V 2.01 480 Watt * Support PCI-Express, SATA $97.00
Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-550 Power supply ATX12V 2.01 550 Watt * Support PCI-Express, SATA and SLI Ready $119.00

So if I were to get a 3000B and a 480W, that would add up to $160ish... ($30 more than the Sonata II)
 
Originally posted by: charlietee
Unless the Sonata II is muched improved over the original then I would cross them off your list...I speak from experience...Not he said, she said...Pitiful cooling at best and serious problem with filling your drives with dust.

The Sonata II looks to be a 3000B with a 450W Smartpower 2.0, the HDs attached in a different way, and some weird duct thing over the CPU/video card/etc...

Can it really perform that much differently (worse) than the 3000B?
 
Looks like the 3800 is your best bundle price. the 400W PSU has 29A between the split +12 rails - not bad at all for a 400W unit. And the base 3000 case has great casitude...

.bh.
 
Originally posted by: Zepper
Looks like the 3800 is your best bundle price. the 400W PSU has 29A between the split +12 rails - not bad at all for a 400W unit. And the base 3000 case has great casitude...

So you think a 400W PS is enough to keep a 7800GT, an X2, and various little things (HDs, optical drives, etc) happy?
 
Most normal systems don't actually use more than 200W most of the time. A quality 400W unit should cover even some pretty exotic systems.

.bh.
 
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