New Case Question

[BudCollector]

Looking to build my first PC....
Havne't decided wether to go Intel or AMD.
I was looking at the following cases:
Lian-Li V1200 or V2000
Coolmaster CM Stacker
Thermaltake XaserV 6000A
What are the good & bad of these cases.
Also haven't made the decision of whether to go for a full of mid size tower.
Also I noticed on the Lian-Li's that they are sized for an ATX ext mother board. I'm assuming ext stands for extended. What is the difference between the ext & standard ATX?
Thanks

 

[Crashman]

Larger cases can also fit smaller boards. ATX extended is just a longer ATX board. The Thermaltake case also has room for ATX extended boards. But you don't need to worry about it, your board will be smaller leaving more space in the case.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[mozzartusm]

If you decide on Thermaltake, there best case IMO is the Shark. I have a couple of different Thermaltakes and the Shark is the best one by far.

 

[folken]

If you are willing to shell out the bucks go for the Lian-Li PC-V1200b. It is a nice case that is inbettween full and mid tower. I decided to go with it rather than a full tower and was VERY happy that I did.
You can see more pics of it on my sig if you want, it is the pentium machine.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[BudCollector]

OK
I've decided on the Lian-Li PC-V1000B.
Next quiestion is I want to change the fans out to colored fans. Any suggestions?
Also a friend suggested this temp guage / fan controller:
Silverstone SST-FP52-B Controller $36.49
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-999-351&depa=0
Is it good?
How do select a PSU size?
I'm looking at 2-4 SATA hard drives & a pair of optical drives & a PCIe video card.
Thanks

 

[folken]

I haven't owned any colored fans so I don't know for sure which ones are better but about the only name brand I recognize among them is coolermaster so you are probably better off going for one of those. Coolermaster makes some good stuff so you should be fairly safe by going with them. I must say the stock fans in those lian-li cases are fairly good fans so I would give em a try before replacing them. I think putting 2 12" cold cathodes behind the front grill on that case would look pretty cool

I'd go with the CoolerMaster Black Aerogate II for a reasonably priced good fan controller. I know several people who have one and they are VERY happy with it. If you want an extremely high quality fan controller and have the bucks for it the best fan controller on the market by far is the Innovatek Fan-O-Matik (also known as Fan-O-Matic or Fangranny TC). I've got 2 myself and they do so much it is crazy. Believe me the $150 price tag is worth every penny. I find something new on them all the time even after having them for over a year. The new pro version (currently only avaliable in germany) has even more features such as chaining multiple controllers together.

I would think towards the future when picking a powersupply. 500watt+ is quickly becomming mandatory. Get a psu that is 500watts+ and has the new atx standard with the 24pin plug. I'd say go with an Antec True550 because every one I have owned has been very high quality and performed well. Crashman will say Fortron Source 530watt, I'm sure it is perfectly good but I have yet to own a FS or Sparkle power supply to know if it is good or not. If you can't afford the Antec True550 the FS 530 would probably be the one to get.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[mozzartusm]

Those Antec's are good Psu's. They are quiet and seem to always hold up on all the rails. I have an old Sparkle PSU that I use on older systems, but it will hang with most of the newer PSU's that I have owned.

Do you remember the cooling project that I was about to start working on about a month ago? If your still curious about the outcome send me a PM.

 

[BudCollector]

I have a question about which antec 550 to get.
I see on there web site that they have the TRUE550 which is ATX12v doesn't mention that it is 24 pin. They also have the TRUE550EPS12v which does mention that is has a 24 pin connector but says it is for an EPS12v motherboard. I looked on ASUS's web site for information on the A8N-SLI DELUXE but didn't see any where mentions that this is an EPS12v motherboard. Which PSU is the correct one for my system.
Thanks

 

[folken]

From Antec Site:
"Power supplies built to the EPS12V standard include a 24-pin motherboard power connector and an 8-pin +12V connector."
So yes the EPS12V means it has a 24pin connector.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Lazerous]

another reasonably priced fan controller is the <A HREF="http://www.extrememhz.com/SF_Fanmstr-p1.shtml" target="_new">Super Flower fan master</A>. $35 on most sites and just loads of features including 4 fan controllers and 4 temp probes. 6 different colors of face plates and 7 colors of led backlighting should suit most of your modding needs as well.

<font color=green>AMD 64 3700+
ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
CORSAIR XMS (1gb) PC-3200
Gigabyte GF 6800gt 256mb
Audigy 2 ZS
2_36.7gb Raptors/Raid 0
Tt 480 watt PSU</font color=green>

 

[BudCollector]

I saw that but my real question is whether an EPS12v power supply will work with an ATX motherboard.
Thanks

 

[Lazerous]

<A HREF="http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/6242_MACRON_460W_EPS12V_power_supply_unit.asp" target="_new">Here's one</A> that says it fits a standard ATX case. but I believe they are designed for server based motherboards in the EPS12v spec. Why must you use an EPS12v PSU again?

OK just reread yer post. You definately need to get an ATX mobo. eps12v are for server based mobo's and probably wont work for your atx board. Antec makes plenty of PSU's with many for ATX. try looking deeper at a model, doing a search on google if need be to see if it has a 24 pin connector.

<font color=green>AMD 64 3700+
ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
CORSAIR XMS (1gb) PC-3200
Gigabyte GF 6800gt 256mb
Audigy 2 ZS
2_36.7gb Raptors/Raid 0
Tt 480 watt PSU</font color=green>
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lazerous on 01/11/05 09:57 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Lazerous]

You want <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-918&depa=1" target="_new">this one</A> right here. this is the Antec 550w w/24 pin connector, list price $115 on NewEgg.

<font color=green>AMD 64 3700+
ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
CORSAIR XMS (1gb) PC-3200
Gigabyte GF 6800gt 256mb
Audigy 2 ZS
2_36.7gb Raptors/Raid 0
Tt 480 watt PSU</font color=green>

 

[BudCollector]

It's not that I really want to use the EPS12v spec. It was suggested that I get a PSU that has a 24 pin connector (I'm assuming this is a new standard) & that Antec makes a great PSU. It was the only one I could find on Antec's web site that was the size I wanted 550 & listed a 24 pin connector.

 

[Lazerous]

there are other good PSU's as well. Fortron, Thermaltake, Enermax. The real thing to look at is the voltage suplied at the rail. Just stay away from really cheapo PSU's and you should be fine.

<font color=green>AMD 64 3700+
ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
CORSAIR XMS (1gb) PC-3200
Gigabyte GF 6800gt 256mb
Audigy 2 ZS
2_36.7gb Raptors/Raid 0
Tt 480 watt PSU</font color=green>

 

[mozzartusm]

Someone in the CPU section just built a rig with one of the 24 pin Enermax PSU's. the 12V, 5V, and the 3.3 rails all were above specs even under load. Im going to order one.