Looking for best Case and PSU for my components

[cheyco]

Hello all,

I am looking for some help here. I am piecing a system together for my son for his BDay. I have most of the components I want and now I am down to the Case and PSU. I do not want any watercooled system because he plans on bringing it LAN parties and I am to afraid that the WaterCool system will get damaged. Below is a list of what I have. I am looking for a decent Case and enough power to handle everything.

2ea. NVidia gtx 285 -Video Cards
Creative Labs X-FI soundcard
2ea 500GB Harddrives (7200) RPMS
ASUS P6TD Deluxe LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel i7 975 Extreme Processor 3.33ghz
6GB DDR3 RAM
Bluray player
DVD Rom/CDRW


Thanks in advance.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

The power supply is the easy part. The general rule of thumb is a high quality 700 to 750 watt power supply with sufficient current (amps) on the 12 volts rail(s) can easily power a system with two video cards operating in dual mode. There are some exceptions though.

You selected two GTX 285 video cards. The 285 is a power hungry card. I checked several references and got lucky. I found stats for an Intel Core i7 965 cpu overclocked to 3.67Mhz, X58 motherboard, two GTX 285 video cards operating in dual SLI mode, and several drives. The power draw at the wall outlet for the total system was 249 watts at idle and 556 watts at peak load.

High quality power supplies reach their peak efficiency when operating at about 50% of their load. However, the effiiciency in modern psu's has been extended over an operating range of 25% to 100% load.

Instead of a 700 to 750 watt power supply, I recommend a high quality 850 watt power supply such as the new Corsair HX850:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009

Corsair has a solid reputation for high quality power supplies that are stable and reliable.The psu's consistently earn high marks in technical reviews. PC Power & Cooling and Seasonic are also known for high quality psu's.

Here's a link to a technical review of the new Corsair HX850:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=153

A portable case for LAN parties is a little more difficult. The first case that came to mind was the new Coolermaster Storm Scout which has carrying handles on the top panel:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196

There may be a problem due to the weight of the case. It weighs almost 20 pounds; more when components are installed.

I know smaller cube shaped cases used to be popular for LAN parties but they were designed for micro-atx motherboards.

If you are willing to consider using a micro-atx motherboard, then there is a very cool portable case from PC Design labs that might interest you. It's the QMicra version 2E:

http://www.pcdesignlab.com/Product-Qv2E

 

[MRFS]

http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Cases/Cooler-Master-Storm-Scout.html


Don't install the stock Intel HSF, especially if the machine will be moved here
and there for LAN parties, because the defective push-pins will pop out
or come loose:

http://www.supremelaw.org/systems/heatsinks/warning.htm

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/lga13sobbowi.html


MRFS

 

[JohnnyLucky]

cheyco - mrfs has a point about the stock Intel cpu heatsink and fan. Typically gamers and overclockers replace the stock cpu heatsink with a third party unit. The third party units usually provide better cpu cooling and help to reduce cpu temperatures.

Here's a link to a very good web site with technical reviews and performance charts for cpu heatsinks:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

 

[Fung_kyle]

For those components I sat enermax 1050 quiet and strong, can power two of my GTX 295 and 940 smoothly. For the case I'd say antec 900 its light but cable mangement is phailure lol maybe because I didn't know Rampage Extreme II is Eatx --__- soo yeah maybe Atx might have better management.