Author Topic: need opinions from intelligent people (Read 23451 times)

pixiestyx · « **on:** September 13, 2009, 10:58:05 PM »

So i've got my case

you can see that the HD bay in the bottom right is really close to the MB area, so close that i can't fit anything larger than a 9.4 in video card, so i'm looking into moving my hard drive up toward the CD drive area. which is how i came accross this

I figure it would be a good addition to my computer. It would keep my Hard drives cool while moving all 3 of thme up above the area, allowing me to put a larger video card in, and take out the HD rack, it's removable, only held in by 4 screws.

my other question for you peeps, is my board. the single PCI-E x16 slot, is directly inline with my bottom set of sata ports

would i screw up my system if i moved the sata cables attached to my board around so it would fit a card that big? I have a right angle sata cable that would fit under a video card that i could put under the first port, then have the other 2 drive hooked to the top set of red ports. (the black sata ports are for raid, and with this board, asus m3n78 pro, if you have 1 drive in raid, they all have to be raid, stupid...)

so just making sure i wouldn't severely screw up my comp by doing these things.

trooper is j · « **Reply #1 on:** September 13, 2009, 11:45:16 PM »

First off, you did not buy the case did you? If you did you should return it. Then get a bigger case with more room. You could be like me and get a atx full sized tower. Here is what I bought : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811215013
From the looks of the board you are using AMD socket am2/am2+
You really should drop asus and go with a different manufacturer on the motherboard. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387 This board is made by gigabyte.

For your video card Go with EVGA because of the lifetime warranty.
If you are going to get one of those GTX 200 series cards, you should definantly upgrade the PSU, I reccomend using PC power and Cooling because they do not use cheap parts Hence the reason they cost more. Here is one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703019
You can have yourself an amd quad core processor for $109 on newegg

Note:
Two drives are required to be in raid. The gigabyte board that I have will let me use 2 drives in raid and some other drives un raided. The right angle sata cable will not screw anything up.

DinG · « **Reply #2 on:** September 14, 2009, 12:46:21 AM »

if you are gonna go for a 200 series vid card.. make sure u atleast have 40 amps on the 12V rail of ur PSU.. secondly.. the cards run hot.. not the 260's as much so make sure u have ennough room.. i have a thermaltake soprano and the 200 series barely fits in.. i mean i have to literally jam it in...

Sgt Snot Rocket(bonefish) · « **Reply #3 on:** September 14, 2009, 03:54:21 AM »

I agree with Trooper, you really might want to think bigger with the case. I run an EVGA GTX 275 and its HUGE!!! 10 inches long (insert joke here) and it takes 2 slots (its about 1 1/2" thick)....OK, insert another joke here...
Ding has a valid point also, I had to upgrade my psu to run this beast, I chose a corsair 750 watt for the price and build quality.
The raid cage is kinda cool (I guess) but if you just go with the right sized case to start with everything will fit just fine and you will have tons of room to expand and upgrade when you are ready to.

Ban Em All · « **Reply #4 on:** September 14, 2009, 03:15:23 PM »

Quote from: DinG on September 14, 2009, 12:46:21 AM

if you are gonna go for a 200 series vid card.. make sure u atleast have 40 amps on the 12V rail of ur PSU.. secondly.. the cards run hot.. not the 260's as much so make sure u have ennough room.. i have a thermaltake soprano and the 200 series barely fits in.. i mean i have to literally jam it in...

Yeah, I really wish they would put more spacing between the cards for users running SLI. It would lower the heat.

pixiestyx · « **Reply #5 on:** September 14, 2009, 06:02:33 PM »

Ok, first off, Trooper, obviously you didn't really read my post, I ALREADY OWN THAT COMPUTER CASE AND MOTHERBOARD. I also am running an AMD Phenom 9500. I know to get a quad these days, I already have the computer built. What I'm looking for is advice on where to get rails to put my 3 hard drives, so i can remove the HD rack, shown in the photos. Once I do that the video card dilemma will be no problem, because then I'll have nearly 18 inches behind the single PCI-E x16 slot to play with. I could fit pretty much any video card these days with that amount of space.

Quote from: DinG on September 14, 2009, 12:46:21 AM

if you are gonna go for a 200 series vid card.. make sure u atleast have 40 amps on the 12V rail of ur PSU.. secondly.. the cards run hot.. not the 260's as much so make sure u have ennough room.. i have a thermaltake soprano and the 200 series barely fits in.. i mean i have to literally jam it in...

Ding, this is my PSU

Are you saying that I can't power it? Cause I only use about 200 W on a normal basis with my current set up. My battery backup tells me so.

Asus M3N78-Pro MOBO
AMD Phenom 9500 2.2ghz Quad
4GB Corsair DDR2 Memory 800MHZ
600W Ultra Lifetime PSU
XFX GeForce 9600 GSO Video Card
Seagate 250GB Sata HD X 3 (750)
Ultra X-Blaster Case

Bonefish, I understand where you're coming from with the right sized case, but I bought 2 bare bone kits which had this case, to make 2 computers. 1 for me, 1 for my wife. I built 2 brand new comuters with Hard drives and such, for 1300, mine with the above specs. I wasn't going for greatness, but getting the job done on a budget. I upgraded from a 3800+ dual core to this quad for fairly reasonable price. The reason I looked at that HD cage was because it had the built in fan to keep all of the drives cool, which is a very good thing, however if you knew of a place to get cheap HD adapter rails to make them fit snuggly in a 5.25 bay, i'd be greatly appreciative.

pixiestyx · « **Reply #6 on:** September 14, 2009, 06:20:37 PM »

well, i think i found the solution to my HD mount issue....

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3301340&CatId=494

http://www.istarusa.com/rackmount_chassis/accessories/rack/tc-istorm7.aspx

Heuchler · « **Reply #7 on:** September 15, 2009, 03:15:25 PM »

Hey Pixiestyx

develop the Cage for the HDDs, you have 1x 3 1/2 " under your 5 1/4 Slots and 1x completely on top an empty floppy slot in your Case and you can equip 5 1/4 with single adapter on 3 1/2. additionally there are 90 ° bent SATA plugs to plug on your mainboard under your graphicscard.This should not been a problem

shown here : http://www.kabelshop-deluxe.de/bilder/produkte/gross/SATAAnschlusskabelabgewinkeltInLineZ03m_1.jpg

and the adapter for single HDD : http://www.noxelectronics.de/images/produkte/8357.jpg

Build 1 fan in front of your case blow in
Build 1 fan blow out in the back under you PSU
And on the left side ( you not shown the left side of your case )when its possible a fan blown in.

Greets you
Heuchler

pixiestyx · « **Reply #8 on:** September 15, 2009, 04:53:21 PM »

Actually Heuchler, as you can see in the picture, I'm way ahead of you on the fans. The bottom fan blows in and the top fan near the CPU blows the hot air out. Decreased the temps on my CPU and GPU by 3 degrees C average. I think I will buy the HD cage i posted before, because it will come with a fan built in it to blow air on the Hard Drives. I will probably leave 1 hard drive below in the HD mount you are talking about, directly underneath my 5.25 IN bays. I also have a sata cable with a 90 degree head on it, i'll just need to move around the cables when I do the change.

BTW, the top where the floppy goes isn't empty, there's a floppy there. those were stock images to show what I have. It's harder to explain with out them.

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Heuchler · « **Reply #9 on:** September 15, 2009, 06:22:38 PM »

Wich temperatue have your CPU and GPU ?

I think you have the best made it for the money you give.And a little wait has give you a better price for the fine Graphics Card.
Test your graphic Card with some 3D-Mark tests continious, check your temps with Speed fan ( its freeware ) when you have no Problems then its all Ok ( means your PSU too ).

Greets

DinG · « **Reply #10 on:** September 15, 2009, 06:33:12 PM »

pixie.. if you go for a 200 series card.. 100% CHANCES THAT THE PSU IS GONNA CRAP OUT.. IT ONLY HAS 32AMPS ON THE 12V RAIL.. for a gtx 260.. u need a minimum of 36amps.. for gtx280 or more.. u are gonna need close to 40 amps..

your computer will power up fine with a gtx 260 and run normally.. but as soon as you get into games.. and the video starts drawing more power.. your pc will crash cuz ur power is inadequate..

lemme know if u want ideas on a cheap psu which can handle 260's..

pixiestyx · « **Reply #11 on:** September 15, 2009, 08:11:47 PM »

Quote from: Heuchler on September 15, 2009, 06:22:38 PM

Wich temperatue have your CPU and GPU ?

I think you have the best made it for the money you give.And a little wait has give you a better price for the fine Graphics Card.
Test your graphic Card with some 3D-Mark tests continious, check your temps with Speed fan ( its freeware ) when you have no Problems then its all Ok ( means your PSU too ).

Greets

The thing is that I only will maintain about 60 FPS average on avalanche. That was after putting down the details and changing a lot of settings. We'll have to see, I'll be changing monitors soon, and I'm not sure about the max resolution on the new one yet. My new apartment building is giving me a 32 IN LCD TV, but I don't know if it's 720P or 1080P, which will become my new monitor, cause I already own a 42 IN LCD TV. Also I already have Speedfan. On average, my GPU and CPU run around 42C idle, and depending on room temp, 46-50C while gaming. It's not that I"m having problems, but I'm looking to go bigger.

Ban Em All · « **Reply #12 on:** September 15, 2009, 08:19:04 PM »

the 250 gts oc will def work. but i would still recommend a 260, better bang for the buck.

pixiestyx · « **Reply #13 on:** September 15, 2009, 08:34:17 PM »

Quote from: Ban Em All on September 15, 2009, 08:19:04 PM

the 250 gts oc will def work. but i would still recommend a 260, better bang for the buck.

yeah, but if i don't have the power, can't run it, i wish i could just buy a whole new computer, 1000w modular psu, core i7 processor, new case...., so on

pixiestyx · « **Reply #14 on:** September 15, 2009, 08:40:06 PM »

BTW, ding if you do have suggestions, please advise, i've found some other PSU's that are reasonable, but just want advice

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2776974&Sku=O261-2006

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3438609&Sku=C13-2503

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182186

TERd sniFFa · « **Reply #15 on:** September 15, 2009, 09:13:28 PM »

Quote from: DinG on September 15, 2009, 06:33:12 PM

pixie.. if you go for a 200 series card.. 100% CHANCES THAT THE PSU IS GONNA CRAP OUT.. IT ONLY HAS 32AMPS ON THE 12V RAIL.. for a gtx 260.. u need a minimum of 36amps.. for gtx280 or more.. u are gonna need close to 40 amps..

god i love it when u talk dirty.....u have no idea how much i want u in my bed right now....

D-MAN · « **Reply #16 on:** September 15, 2009, 11:58:26 PM »

Quote from: TERd sniFFa on September 15, 2009, 09:13:28 PM

god i love it when u talk dirty.....u have no idea how much i want u in my bed right now....

Just don't jizz in your pants till he gets there.....

DinG · « **Reply #17 on:** September 16, 2009, 01:33:27 AM »

these two are cheaper than the ones you have posted.. and should be more than enough.. the second has a combined 50 amps.. which is more than enough to even run gtx 280's in sli..

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276567&CatId=106

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4362115&CatId=106

pixiestyx · « **Reply #18 on:** September 16, 2009, 04:49:08 PM »

I think I would go for the 2nd one ding, I like the modular stuff now a days, don't need all of the extra cords running around. Plus it's more powerful.

BTW ding, i had that PSU listed in the 4 links i put up a few posts ago, the first new egg link. you could have just said, buy that one.

trooper is j · « **Reply #19 on:** September 16, 2009, 06:36:26 PM »

I have a modular PSU, I dont think they are as great as everyone says they are for cable managemant.

If I had a choice between the PSUs that ding listed, I would most likely go with OCZ. But otherwise it would definantly be PC power and cooling. When it comes to PSU it is important to spend more on better quality components that wont take a shit, then it is to just go out and get the cheapest thing you find that is made in some asian plant. (japs aint included in the asian factory comment.) It simply wont last as long.

Ban Em All · « **Reply #20 on:** September 16, 2009, 07:03:19 PM »

Just a tip for a store, judge a psu by how heavy it is, the heavier, the better.

edit: in most cases

pixiestyx · « **Reply #21 on:** September 16, 2009, 07:39:17 PM »

Quote from: trooper is j on September 16, 2009, 06:36:26 PM

I have a modular PSU, I dont think they are as great as everyone says they are for cable managemant.

If I had a choice between the PSUs that ding listed, I would most likely go with OCZ. But otherwise it would definantly be PC power and cooling. When it comes to PSU it is important to spend more on better quality components that wont take a shit, then it is to just go out and get the cheapest thing you find that is made in some asian plant. (japs aint included in the asian factory comment.) It simply wont last as long.

trooper i currently use an Ultra PSU, and everything i hear about ultra is their products aren't always the best, expect for their PSU's, they're reliable and well priced. I have a lifetime series from them and it works great, just not enough power, i bought a barebones kit, believe me, these are all things i'll consider the next time i build a computer from the ground up. I did alright, but there are some things i should have considered. My board doesn't sli, it has onboard video, which causes the northbridge to run hot. The case i got was small, but workable, once i take out the HD cage i'll have loads of space for a video card or 2. I wanted a cheap yet very effective upgrade, and i got it, the barebone kit from tiger had most of the things i needed for a good price. Hopefully the next time i build i won't have such a tight budget...

pixiestyx · « **Reply #22 on:** September 16, 2009, 08:02:39 PM »

I don't know what you guys think, but this look like a good build to me....

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[OnA]Sloppy · « **Reply #23 on:** September 16, 2009, 08:06:39 PM »

i'm too lazy to read this thread, but i'm here for the thread title only.

Ban Em All · « **Reply #24 on:** September 16, 2009, 08:08:01 PM »

up it to ddr3 memory! nice performance. and what do you plan on doing as far as a OS goes? I would go with 64bit personally.

and sloppy.... this title describes you so well.