Case, Power Supply, And Optical Drive
Case: DIYPC M89-R mATX Mini Tower
Although in the System Builder Marathons we are most concerned with the costs of performance hardware, we still realize many folks will need to budget in their complete needs, including the case, OS and maybe even a new monitor. Making every dollar count, this quarter I shaved 40 percent off the enclosure getting the total hardware cost well under $500.
Read Customer Reviews of DIYPC's M89-R Case
The M89-R looks like your typical no frills office PC, only with a partial mesh bezel and soft glowing red LED fans. Compared to our previous build, we sacrifice interior volume, airflow, and cable management provisions. But the necessities are all here including two cooling fans, front USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, and ample space to accommodate a lengthy graphics card.
Power Supply: EVGA 100-W1-0500-KR 500W
Antec’s popular VP-450 could easily power this system, with reserve. However, priced the same, the EVGA 100-W1-500-KR sports a pair of 6+2 pin PCI Express power leads, eliminating the need to rely a clunky adapter to feed power to our Radeon R9 270X graphics hardware.
Read Customer Reviews of EVGA's 10-W1-0500-KR Power Supply
This 500W unit comes with a three-year warranty, 80 Plus certification, and is rated to deliver up to 40A of +12V power. And although for this build we’d much appreciate working with modular cabling, this compact design should still fit nicely within our smaller enclosure.
Optical Drive: LG 24X DVD Burner Model GH24NSB0B
While an optical drive may no longer be a necessity for many folks, we’re inclined to believe you’ll still want access to one for occasional use. This quarter I again found LG to offer the most affordable internal SATA DVD burner.