Computer Case

[volskid2002]

i need to know yalls opinion on the best case that is atx form factor becuz thats the type of mobo i bought. i think i need around a 350 watt power supply and i only have about $50 left for a case, so what do yall recommend as a good case for 50 bucks?

[clocker]

Seems to me that almost all of the aftermarket cases are ATX compliant.

Your post is ambiguous...Does the $50 cover both case and PSU?

[boyzeee]

i would go for a case thats got plenty of room for air flow and also easy access and assembly with the biggest psu you can find for the money. it may pay you to buy a case without psu and got to e-buyer (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/) for a good price on psu's

here's my type of case, it aint the best lookin but so easy to work with and i just upgraded the psu to a 500watt Jeantech (http://www.jeantech.com/Products/Cases/Butterfly/Butterfly_V_01/butterfly_v_01.html)

edit.. added link to e-buyer and changed link to jeantech site ;)

[volskid2002]

at newegg.com i can find a case that comes with apower supply for $43, but im not sure if it is good. it is an Aspire case.

[clocker]

boyzee,

A few weeks ago I would have agreed with you completely. Your logic was what lead me to purchase the full tower case that I have now.

Today, I would have to disagree.
Now I think that the smallest case that will hold your present hardware, and leave you some room for extra drives, is the way to go.

The smaller the case, the easier to establish a reasonable airflow without resorting to a lot of fans spinning at high rpms.

At least that is my feeling today...in two weeks, who knows?

[boyzeee]

yeh you probably right! I not really had the time to get into o/clockin but ive seen the pics of yours and been keeping tabs on ya progress and im impressed, when i got time to build my next system i wanna really push the bugger and you the man i will be buggin for tips! ;) i just like the ease of the jeantech case, it was a pleasure to put together, i use the same sort of case in most of the pc's i build, unless of course someone i building for wants something else :( and i do a lot of repair work so im always opening my bench pc to put suspect h/drives and cdroms etc to test them and it is just so easy! lift a handle and your in! :P

edit...i should have just said your right instead of probably right! :lol: lol

[harrycary]

Not sure I agree with the case size debate.
The bigger the better I say. More room for heat to dissipate before being ventilated. (noise issues not withstanding)

Outside of that, I would think, "a $40-50 case with power supply?" Probably a cheaply built power supply. Check if it is name brand(e.g. Enermax). If not, buy it separately. The cost will be negligible.(and well worth it)

I'd like to hear the end of the story.

Good luck.

[volskid2002]

alright i think this is what im going to sit on and buy. plz can i get some suggestions on if it is good and will last me for a year. will everything work well together and will the 350 watt power supply be good?

MAXTOP Black CSX147KBF-WIN Intel P4 Ready 7-bay ATX 350WPower Supply. Mid Tower PC CASE - RETAIL

CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2700 DDR RAM - OEM(2)

Biostar Motherboard for AMD Athlon/AthlonXP/Duron processors Model# M7NCD PRO Retail.

AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL



This will equal out to $300.99(including shipping)

[bob_the_alien]

Originally posted by volskid2002@22 November 2003 - 20:38
CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2700 DDR RAM - OEM(2)

AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL

Does that mean you’re getting two Ram chips the ( OEM (2) ), I mean.
If it does cool, you need at least 512.

The 2500 Bartons are good chips, been running one for a while now, I'd recommend them to anyone.

This system should last you long than a year, although in a year’s time, you will probably want to upgrade.
With me, it's about every 2 to 3 months, and in-between the upgrades are the modifying of the PC. Once the bug bites you it never goes away.

Today I spend half a day trying to mod my bios, so the epa logo would be replaced with a picture I made, turns out my mobo won't support that, all it will do is leave the space blank instead of adding the new pic. Which sucks, I really wanted to switch pics. Ahh well, from what I've read only certain mobos will allow it, guess mine doesn't, but the next one will, I will make sure before I buy it, it will support the epa switch. :P

Anyway, have fun.. :lol:

[volskid2002]

Does that mean you’re getting two Ram chips the ( OEM (2) ), I mean.
If it does cool, you need at least 512.

yes this does mean that im getting 2 sticks of 256=512

i hope to get under this project right away ;) :P B)

[_John_Lennon_]

Buy 2 stick of 3200, and you can overclock it to hell.

[volskid2002]

This what I ended up getting and it should be in by Friday. I am now ready to overclock and i need to know that my two case fans and the retail heatsink will work and will cool it down enough. I also need to know that the 350 power supply will be able to run the overclcocked processor?

GEIL 256MB PC-3200 (400MHz) DDR RAM, 6 Layer Ultra Low Noise Shielded PCB, 32x8 Low Density/Unbuffered, Model# GE2563200.

Biostar Motherboard for AMD Athlon/AthlonXP/Duron processors Model#M7NCD PRO Retail.

AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL

Codegen 6082L-C9 (Silver/Blue) ATX Mid-Tower Case w/ Clear Side Panel, Front Light-Up Panel - Retail

[clocker]

Your board, RAM and CPU certainly appear up to the task, only time will tell about the fans and HS unit.
Just set her up stock, let it run and determine what your baseline temps look like.
Run some benchmark apps to set a standard for comparison.
If you are happy, and the system is stable, then go from there.

It's fun.

[volskid2002]

alright ill just hook everything up and run everything at default and then ill get some temps.

after that ill try to up the fsb a little at a time.

[clocker]

I sure hope your Barton doesn't come with the multipliers locked.
That would be a shame.

[volskid2002]

yea it would so im hoping it doesnt

[bob_the_alien]

Well you can still OC the fsb; I was able to get an almost 500 MHz oc before the system went unstable. Which, while 500 MHz isn't anything to sneeze at, it’s not the greatest of OCs.
So at least you can still oc some.

[clocker]

So Bob, what is your chip running at now?

[GCNaddict]

last i checked, overclocking the barton cores were a piece of cake (along with all other athlon XPs). if none of you on this thread know how to unlock the cpu multiplier on the XPs, i will surely suck myself, as it is the EASIEST THING IN THE WORLD! (done it before)

google it and you should find many articles with graphical info on how it can be accomplished (along with other things such as how to turn an XP into an MP and save yourself $500)

i had a sheet on it, it involves the flat tabs on the surface of the chip, some tape, and some conductive glue (solder will melt from the heat of the chip during operation, resulting in core reset during use, and a neverending BSoD from windows)

if any of you bought a chip which was unlocked when you bought it, chances are, you were scammed, as the chips may have been a lower setting, and OCd and sold as higher model chip.

theres my input.

btw, athlon 64 and p4e, nothing less, will cut it nowadays.

for the n00bs who dont know what p4e is, its a p4 with a 1mb l3 cache, giving it the equiv. of an a64 (until amd releases the 4-5ghz models of their chips, and the possible dualcore model (?))

dualcore: two cores on one chip. highly unlikely that it will be made. intel equiv: hyperthreading

hope i didnt flood ur minds with too much crap :P

[clocker]

btw, athlon 64 and p4e, nothing less, will cut it nowadays.

My, my, my, what an elegant way you have of stating your opinion as if it were fact.
I applaud your chutzpah.

[bob_the_alien]

Originally posted by clocker@25 November 2003 - 20:14
So Bob, what is your chip running at now?
Right now it's running at 2.2.
but I backed it down a bit, cuz I didn't like the heat I was getting,

[bob_the_alien]

Originally posted by GCNaddict@25 November 2003 - 21:03
last i checked, overclocking the barton cores were a piece of cake (along with all other athlon XPs). if none of you on this thread know how to unlock the cpu multiplier on the XPs,
The Barton cores, well many of them have had the multipliers permanently locked.

[GCNaddict]

Originally posted by bob_the_alien@26 November 2003 - 05:31
The Barton cores, well many of them have had the multipliers permanently locked.
you mean barely any of them! they keep the tabs for stability checks when you take advantage of an RMA.

the tabs are there, on the barton cores, and very easy to deal with.

however, i still think that a64s and p4es are the only option now (just wait for 5 more months for the prices to fall a bit.

[clocker]

The chip prices may well fall in 5 months (historically it is inevitable), but will the corresponding software be available?
I appreciate that the 64 bit CPU will run old programs a little better, but 4 times better?
Until 64bit software is widely released what is the big benefit?

[bob_the_alien]

Doesn't the 64 bit version of Windows get released in February, as soon as it's released I'm sure many software companies will start supporting 64 bit, I know Adobe is has already made some of their products 64 bit for the new Macs.

So, by the time prices get down, 64 bit software should be readily available

[volskid2002]

well everything came in today and it took me forever to get ti right, i didnt know how everthin was supposed to hookup, like pwr or usb.

but it posted and everything so now i gotta copy all my windows xp files from teh old one to the new one so i dont have to reinstall teh whole hard-drive

[volskid2002]

alright all the files copied god, i think. when i change the boot back to hard-drive0, then harddrive1, then hdd2 the load screen comes up and then ges away in like 2 secs then it just sits there and nothng happens.

do i need to do clan install of xp?

[bob_the_alien]

usually No, most of the time xp will just detect everything and start up, as always, but for best results after you built a new system, you should do a clean install. Leaves just the drivers for the current system.

[volskid2002]

alright first i just repiared the xp and it didnt work there were no progs or nothing soi reinstaled it completey and it did the same thing. so now it shows two different xps to boot from.

how can i completey erase the hard-drive, i tried fdisk dont work windows cant find it?

also under my compuer it is reading my processor as a 1900+ and i have a 2500+, is hthat becuz the xp is messed up?

should i just try erase everything and then redownload a copy of xp?

[bob_the_alien]

Originally posted by volskid2002@27 November 2003 - 00:43
how can i completey erase the hard-drive, i tried fdisk dont work windows cant find it?

also under my compuer it is reading my processor as a 1900+ and i have a 2500+, is hthat becuz the xp is messed up?
What I'd do, is just do a format and reinstall.

Of course backup any data first,
and if you need a boot disk with all the utilities. go here
http://www.bootdisk.com

Of course, I'm fairly certain when you boot from the XP cd, it gives you the option to reformat the drive and install xp clean.

It might just be a windows screwed up, but I'd bet the bios is reporting the wrong fsb speed for you cpu. My mobo did this at first, had to set it myself.
So check all your bios setting, and make sure they're all correct.

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by GCNaddict@25 November 2003 - 20:03


for the n00bs who dont know what p4e is, its a p4 with a 1mb l3 cache, giving it the equiv. of an a64
Its closer to a Xeon than a P4.