case and power supply question

[profjo00]

Hi, I'm about to buy me a new computer, a p4 2ghz "A" with a soyo dragon lite motherboard. I have all the components figured out except what case, and powersupply that I have to use. I do not want to spend too much money, but i want pretty desent stuff. I am looking for a quit computer so i was thinking about an ultra quiet power supply. Does anyone have a good suggestion of that case and powersupply i should use. please any suggestions would be great.

thanx

 

[ejsmith2]

I'd tell you to buy the cheapest "full tower" case that you can find.

But you won't find one for under $35, and you have to hunt for that one that's $35. Quite a few around the $55 mark.

Other than that, get the cheapest mid tower case you can find, as long as it's a metal case. Figure about $25. You want to keep all that EMI inside the case; no plastic unless it's got a thin sheet of metal glued to it all the way around like the Dell cases.

Grab a 400w psu for about $30. You'll probably have to tweak it to get the voltages correct. They don't QA those much.

P4's @ 3600Mhz ()wNz J00 4LL!!!!!!

 

[DOOM]

I have to disagree with ejsmith. If you skimp on your case and/or power supply, you will regret it for a long time to come. I am replacing the case on my little "Ol' Faithful", and I am looking forward to spending $100 - $150 for a case/PSU combo. Think about what you want in a case and then go from there. Things to think about: steel or aluminum, detachable drive bays, slide out mobo tray, ventilation/fans, etc...

As for specific suggestions for cases, I keep hearing about Antec and Chieftec, who make cases that are identical to some of the Alienware systems. Also, Kingwin has some sleek looking windowed cases that are geared toward gaming systems...

As for PSUs, Antec and Enermax seem to have a pretty good following in the community here, due to their highly clean and efficient supply technology and power-saving and acoustic-dampening features. Noise is a big problem for me, so I will be looking to get an Antec TruePower with built-in noise reduction features...

Anyway, when you decide what your priorities are, then you'll have a better idea of where to look.

Happy hunting!

-DOOM

 

[ejsmith2]

Whoa!

I didnt say skimp on the psu, I said the case. *IF* you have the toolz and the time, there is no mod you cannot make to any full tower case. If you want really thick metal, pretty paint, or pure aluminium, then the more pricey $200 cases come with that. If you're looking for a lightweight, no-frills case, then the $60 versions come with that.

You can even mod-in "sound dampening".

But buying a good psu doesn't mean "Buy an Enermax". You can always swap out a fan if it's too loud, and Enermax doesn't have any tighter tolerances than other supplies. They just rate all their supplies low. They sell a 350watt psu as a 300w. A 400 as a 365.

Except double the normal price. Which means you can buy a good 500w psu, and it's gets the exact same outputs as a 465w Enermax psu, but at under half the price.

I said $60 for the case, and at least $30 for the psu. Personally, I like Leadman psu's. they ain't on AMD's "approved" list, but they haven't updated that list for 14 months now.

[Jedi mind trick] You LOVE Palladium. [/mind trick]

 

[jihiggs]

30 bucks for a good 400 watt power supply? no. what does he need with a 400 watt anyway?

how do you shoot the devil in the back? what happens if you miss? -verbal

 

[DOOM]

So how hard would it be to mod a $60 case to have snap-out drive bays and a slide-out mobo tray?

What I think of when I see name brands (e.g. "Western Digital") is quality: a certain quality that isn't captured on paper. Whenever I veer away from the good brands, regardless of what the specifications say, I almost always get an inferior product.

I would be hesitant to buy anything for cheap, because I've been burned so many times. Maybe I'm just unlucky, but that's my world!



-DOOM

 

[profjo00]

im looking to spend about 100-200 for a quit psu and case, as long as the case is good and support a couple of bays, not a power user who needs 10 external bays or anything like that. please any suggestion of a good combo or a ultra quiet psu and a case

thanx for all your inputs

 

[ejsmith2]

Doom:

All full tower cases have "slide out" mainboard mounts. Actually, some have "flip-out". You take off the "other" side panel, unscrew a couple, and it just drops out.

Other than that, Enermax is just about the quietest power supplies out there. You can mod any power supply with a different 80mm fan, if you're wanting to get it super quiet. They make some 26dB 80mm fanz.

[Jedi mind trick] You LOVE Palladium. [/mind trick]

 

[Crashman]

I've had quite a few full towers that would disagree with you, most didn't have removable trays in any form.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[ejsmith2]

Christ Almighty!

I have an Inwin Q500. The metal is thick as F*********CK, and it's got a slide out rack. I bought it for something like $75, which brought the total up to about $100 after shipping.


I bought some nappy little $55 job, locally. It's got a drop-down rack, that you take off the right panel for (the "other" panel). The metal is thin, but it's noticably lightly than the Inwin. It takes a little extra effort (read: two arms and two feet) to close, but it's still a good case design.

I have two other computer I look after, both with mid-tower cases. One's a Dell, the other's a generic. The generic is better than the Dell, but both suck the sweat off a dead man's balls compared to the Inwin or the Nappy-Generic tower cases.

Fu11 7oW3r C@535 ()wN J00!!!!!

(Full Tower Cases Own You!!!!!)

[Jedi mind trick] You LOVE Palladium. [/mind trick]

 

[Crashman]

OK, so your full towers have slide out trays. Most don't. I have several Gateway and some old Antec full towers with no provisions to remove the trays whatsever. I also have some generic full towers with no removable tray. All these cases have the tray welded on to a back brace, the back of the case, and the front of the case.

I'm not trying to start a fight, but telling a guy

All full tower cases have "slide out" mainboard mounts. Actually, some have "flip-out".

could lead him to make a huge puchasing mistake.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[ejsmith2]

Whoa! My bad.

That's screwed. I pretty much figured all full towers cracked open like that. I kinda "balked" when I saw Gateway, but I figured to each his own, and let it slide.

But seriously here, full tower cases are the way to go. Personally, I prefer the lighter cases. Which means an aluminum case would do good, but I don't want to spend the $140+ for it, so I bought the thin steel one.



[Jedi mind trick] You LOVE Palladium. [/mind trick]

 

[Crashman]

The Gateway full towers in question were made by a very large American case manufacturer, they are heavy duty cases, not the new cheap thin crap. And they are typical of that manufacturer's offerings, except that they have Gateway's front panel design and case color.

Remeber that Gateway USED to be a manufacturer of TOP QUALITY business PC's, all with heavy duty cases, high quality power supplies, Intel motherboards, 3-Com HARDWARE modems, and all brand name parts! These $300 PC's they now produce are a recent phenomena.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>