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Loading ...Case rethink?
thewelshbrummie
The forums have brought up this beauty from Thermaltake.
I say beauty: it’s not the most attractive case I’ve seen. But it would easily allow you to build your own version of the Voodoo Omen: which I’m coming close to with this project, now that my P182 now has twin slot-loading optical drives.
So why would anyone consider it? Because of the ability to house 2 computers in the same case.
Specifically, the 2nd chamber can only house a mini-ITX motherboard (or a watercooling setup). Obviously it won’t provide anything powerful and even a media centre is not viable if you need more than one PCI card. But it’s perfect for a motherboard built with Intel’s Atom 230 CPU preinstalled, which would be ideal for a home server.
As I’m after protecting my data, I’ll almost certainly invest in a home server before too long… but I’m undecided on the 3 obvious options. The Tranquil Home Server looks gorgeous and is by far the most attractive unit, but can only hold 2 HDDs and needs a PCI card for gigabit ethernet. The Fujitsu Scaleo isn’t as attractive but has some cracking add-ins preinstalled and is very easy to upgrade. Finally, there’s the HP MediaSmart Home Server, which combines the easy of upgrading with looks, at the price of the poorest energy efficiency.
The alternative is to get the Thermaltake Mozart TX, install an Atom based motherboard and rebuild my rig inside the main chamber. It’s certainly viable but the best motherboard option is the same as that used in the Tranquil, which means losing the PCI card for gigabit ethernet… I’m very tempted by this, especially as the PSU can fit in a 5.25″ bay: and if I ever needed direct access to the computer, I could fill the 7″ bay with the optional TFT.
It’s a brilliant, if niche case and I would seriously consider it. But I’m also aware that I have a fantastic case in the P182 and it may make more sense to have separate boxes… there’s also a decent Home Server add-in (Lights Out) that give precise control over when the Home Server is operating.
Add in the cost of building it… £50 for the mobo and CPU, £100 for the OS, £110 for the case and £50 for a 500GB HDD… it would make more sense to get a separate box.
Having said that, I’ve also spent several hours looking at building a media centre PC… I’ll let you know what I end up doing.
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Loading ...Tuniq Tower installed…
thewelshbrummie
…and it’s made a huge difference to my pc.
I rebuilt the computer last night, took about 2 hours in total. It’s possible that applying fresh TIM may have made a big difference but the tower itself has heavily lowered the temperature.
I was having problems with the Intel stock cooler, in that I couldn’t mount all 4 pins properly. Poor contact with the E2160 CPU I’m using and a lack of fresh TIM lead to idle temps of 70+ degrees, with the maximum stable overclock I could get was a bus speed increase of just 40 MHz (from 200). With the tower installed, I’ve already been able to increase this to 275MHz (1,100MHz effective FSB) for a CPU speed of 2.48GHz… with my CPU temp not exceeding 35 degrees! And that’s with the fan being set to it’s slowest speed.
Needless to say, there’s a far greater overclock available as speeds of 3.4GHz have been achieved…. so I’ll be playing with the FSB speeds to get more from my CPU (though I won’t be touching the VCore options, just the FSB). Clearly it can go further and now it’s installed, it saves me from having to do another rebuilt when I change the CPU in the next few months.
UPDATE: I’ve achieved a bus speed of 290MHz for a 2.6GHz clock speed. I’ve tried 300 though Vista hangs when entering the desktop and loading services, so I’ll leave it where it is for the time being. I’ll happily take an 800MHz increase, especially as my CPU temps haven’t changed!
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Loading ...Another quick update…
thewelshbrummie
A few things to mention in this relatively quick update:
When I wrote my last post, I suggested that I was going to buy a 2nd TV card as my Compro T750F only had a single DVB-T tuner. What I didn’t say at the time was that I was eying a Compro E700 on eBay, which I won for £40: a £15 saving on a new card. The card I’ve bought was as good as new, with all the cables in original packaging. So I’ve now got 3 digital tuners and 2 TV cards in my computer. I’ve followed through with the registry hack I linked to in my previous post, but I don’t have the cables to split my TV signal for both coaxial sockets… yet. Tesco have £1 male/female extenders and a splitter for the same price, so it’s just a small matter of buying them when I go there next.
I’ve also been rather concerned by my CPU temps… currently they idle at 60ish degrees at stock speed and a small overclock of 20MHz to a speed or around 2.2GHz (stock FSB rated at 200) pushes the temperature of my CPU to well in excess of 80 degrees…. with the TJunction being rated at 85: basically my whole rig should shutdown when this is exceeded, which has yet to happen but I have had random hangs and the BIOS does reset itself rather regularly.
This is simply down to the stock Intel cooler: not that it isn’t effective but simply that I can’t get all 4 pins to mount properly and I would rather not damage my £200 motherboard, so…
… I’ve bought the Tuniq Tower from yoyotech. Chance has me in London on Sunday so I’ll pick it up then. It will require a complete rebuild thanks to requiring a mounting plate behind the motherboard but it looks completely worth the £36, especially as I can drop the fans to a slow speed for my CPU.
I’ve also done some limited cable tidying, in part thanks to me being unable to use the card reader USB ports… I thought they worked but a quick test proved otherwise. They now work using the supplied cable rather than the USB header cable I purchased but it’s an inelegant solution, as the cable is routed through one of the rear water cooling holes to the back panel. But it does give me 4 front mounted, usable USB ports.
This has also freed up one of my USB headers. As the iMon USB cable has a USB/USB header converter included in the box, I’ll be rerouting it to the now free USB header. This will free up one of the 2 USB ports on my USB PCI card, which allows me to install my old Bluetooth USB dongle inside my case. I didn’t think I’d have any use for it but I’ll be replacing my mobile phone in July when the Sony Ericsson W980 is launched; which allows bluetooth data transfer (I need to replace my mobile anyway as the internal speaker on my Motorola V500 has failed, so I have to send all calls to speakerphone, far from ideal).
Beyond the above, I’m still undecided regarding the other upgrades previously mentioned (Blu-Ray, replacement TFT, GPU) but they’ll probably wait until prices drop. As for the CPU, I’ll still be upgrading to a Quad core CPU in the near future but there’s been reports this week of a Q9650 being launched in the 3rd quarter (Jul-Sep) - so I’ll wait for that to become available before deciding, especially as the Q9550 is rumoured to drop to the same price as the Q9450 when that happens. And there appears to be some movement in the GPU market but as stated previously, there’s little point in upgrading until I buy a new TFT…. and the Dell 2408 is very tempting!
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Loading ...Shafted on the TV card, PSU/CPU problems… and finally some pictures!
thewelshbrummie
Plenty to talk about in this update.
It appears that my TV card isn’t twin digital at all….
I’ll start by pointing to the forum topic about a recommendation for a dual-DVB-T TV card… I immediately recommended my twin-tuner Compro card.
Now I’ve never used the card to record one digital channel while recording a 2nd, so it came as a surprise when the responses said that it might not be a twin digital card… but a quick look online and a check in the device properties confirmed what it was: by “twin tuner” Compro mean “hybrid”… why couldn’t they have used that word? It would have saved me the cost of buying a card that’s now of limited use.
This is especially true that the FM receiver is now surplus, as Griffin Technology have FINALLY released a version of the radioSHARK application that is Vista compliant… it’s taken 15 months and could still do with improving (it won’t record a scheduled programme if the scheduler is still open) but at least my £30 investment works again. And there’s the added bonus of being able to record directly to mp3!
Back to the TV card: I’ll hold onto it as it does video capture from external sources… but I’ll need a 2nd card, which will have to be PCI-E as my other PCI slot is taken by the USB card.
Here’s the catch: not only do I watch very little digital television, I’m also aware of the recent HD over Freeview announcement. Which requires an MPEG 4 decoder. I’ve yet to see a TV card with hardware MPEG 4 decoding, with the exception of BlackGold’s TV cards, which are rather excessive for my needs: the only satellite I’d use is Freesat and there’s better choice on Freeview: I also don’t need any more analogue tuners and they’ll become obsolete within 5 years. So I’ll probably rely on an MPEG4 software decoder to do the job (if Blu-Ray drives are software upgradable to profile 2.0 then I’m assuming that TV Cards will also be software upgradable). So I may be investing in an E700 twin-digital Compro card: which is listed on Scan as supporting HD (1080i). Compro have anounced the E900, but again I can easily manage without the analogue tuners. And I’ve found a rather good guide to installing more than 2 digital tuners: it seems that Media Centre won’t recognise more than 2 unless you hack the registry, which seems easy enough.
Onto other issues…
I’ve either mounted the Intel Stock CPU cooler badly, or it’s rubbish: The CPU (a Pentium E2160) is idling at 65 degrees with a small overclock of the FSB to 240MHz over the 200 stock setting (giving me around 2.16GHz). I’m leaning to getting a Tunic Tower 120 or a Thermalright Extreme 120 as the results I’ve seen for those are practically identical and are by far the most efficient, but I may opt for a silent/passive cooler: the Intel reference HSF isn’t that loud but it’s still the loudest fan in the computer…
…apart from the PSU fan, and the PSU itself is making a random clicking noise, as though something is caught in the fan. Admittedly it doesn’t affect stability but I’ve opened my computer up and will be having a look soon…
…which has given me the perfect excuse to take some pictures!
It is my 1st build and as it’s far from finished I haven’t bothered with tying all of the cables down just yet… there’s still the small matter of a better CPU and cooler to install.
So onto the pictures…
Starting off with the main chamber: obviously the cables need sorting, especially the USB header cables (the 2 beige cables tied together).
The sacrifice you have to make if you want the iMon Ultra Bay: a 24 pin passthrough connector. This allows 2 of the pins to be split and power the Bay when the PC is powered down in soft-off mode. You can also see the 4 DIMM sockets populated with the 4 OCZ sticks of DDR3.
The small PCB above my Creative X-Fi is the on-board 802.11n wireless card: there are 2 antennas for it.
Another shot of the cards I’m using. From top to bottom, Sound Card, TV Card, GPU and USB card. If I add a 2nd TV card, I’ll swap the USB and TV cards around.
The PSU and the cables I’ve used.
The lower HDD bay from the left side of the case…
… and from the right
This is one of the best features of the P182: the space available to route the PSU cables behind the motherboard.
This one shows the holes that I’ve used to feed the power cables: the 24pin to the left, the 8pin on the top right and a modular SATA cable through the other hole at the top.
And the SATA cable running through the top into the main chamber, along with the CPU motherboard fan connector. The SATA cable has 4 connectors but I’m only using 2: one to power the optical drive, the other to provide power to the Kama Panel.
Just to prove that I needed the 2 internal USB ports! One is for the iMon, the other for the card reader on the Kama Panel
The 5.25″ bays from inside… the top is taken by the iMon Ultra Bay, which takes 2 slots. Below is the optical drive with the Kama Panel below that. I may move the parts around as the Kama Panel is completely inaccessible in this configuration, unless I remove the optical drive. That’s easy enough thanks to the rails, but the iMon Bay took ages to mount properly and the Kama Panel has smaller than standard screw holes and isn’t mounted properly yet.
The 2 Remote Controls, the Compro TV remote on the left, the iMon Remote on the right.
The iMon Bay from the front… bizarrely it thinks I’m running Windows Vista Media Center Edition! It also reported the OS as having Service Pack 0 before I upgraded last month.
The front of the case with the lights off: I only bothered connecting the SATA power cable to the Kama Panel so I could have the fan speed controllers lit, it looks really good.
With the lights on from the front. The slimline slot-loading drive is in the lower part of the Kama panel. I’ve removed the door as I have no use for it.
A shot of the power/reset buttons, the USB/Firewire ports on the case and the 3.5″ bay between the 2 HDD cages. The upper one doesn’t have any HDDs behind it to aid cooling of the main chamber, the lower cage has the 3 disks shown earlier. In the 3.5″ Bay is the IcyBox tray for my 2.5″ external HDD, which connects via standard SATA to the motherboard, rather than E-SATA.
That’s the current state of the build… but there’s still plenty to do.
CPU: I’ll be going Quad in the not too distant future, (I may wait until the rumoured Q9650 is launched late this year) but clearly I’ll need a better cooler. As I’m not prepared to try water cooling, I’ll be going with either the Tuniq Tower 120 (if I can find it), the Thermalright Extreme 120 (I’d replace the stock fans with the quietest I can find) or something like the Thermalright HR-01 Plus, or another silent/passive cooler. I’m after a quiet option, certainly quieter than the stock Intel HSF and all 3 options would reduce volume.
Monitor: I’ll wait for 1920×1080 TFTs to be available before I take the plunge, though the Dell 2408WPF is very tempting.
GPU: There’s little point in me upgrading my 3 month old 256MB 8800GT while I still use my 17″ TFT as my primary monitor.
Blu-Ray: It’s becoming more tempting, especially as the LG Blu-Ray/HD DVD combo drive is around £85, cheaper than most non-HD DVD optical drives. It also writes to CD-RW at 24x, just shy of the 32x I get from my current full sizes optical drive.
I’m still undecided on Bluetooth and I’ll probably hold out on an 802.11n router until the n standard has been finalised. I transferred 3Gb of data over the g standard in about 30minutes from laptop to desktop, it’s not quick but it does the job more than well enough for the time being.
I’ll end on the mouse pad: I’ve just got a Steelseries SP. It’s certainly well built but the tracking on my MX Air isn’t fantastic…
But I have a fully-functioning PC: time for some Supreme Commander methinks…
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Loading ...Little update
thewelshbrummie
A few upgrades and plenty to consider for the future… first, the additions to the rig.
After a quick email to Amazon, I received my USB/Firewire PCI card, notably with 2 internal USB ports (these internal ports being the reason I bought it). It’s now residing in the one remaining PCI slot and I now have my iMon Ultra Bay and the Card reader on the Scythe Kama Panel connected internally with the USB cables staying inside the case.
I also bought a USB header cable from eBay, to get the 2 USB ports on the Kama Panel to work; these are connected to the spare motherboard header, giving me 4 USB ports on the front of my case (in addition to the 6 on the back panel, 4 from the USB card (2 internal, 2 external) and 4 from my old USB hub… taking one of the motherboard ports for the hub gives me 17 usable USB ports!)
I’ve decided to get a bit more RAM….. I know my Vista Ultimate install is 32 bit but the price of my memory dropped significantly last weekend: the existing pair cost £145, the new 2nd pair £110. Vista reports all 4GB in the system properties, though task manager reports 3,328MB: I’d guess the other 768MB is the shared memory allocated to the GPU but it is now permanently reserving this memory rather than taking it when necessary when I was running 2GB.
I’ve also bought the replacement Compro TV card I’ve mentioned in previous posts, along with a 3m Crossover cable (cost £1) so I can directly backup my Laptop onto my 500GB desktop HDD: something I’ve needed for a while and was part of the original plan for the desktop rig.
So what’s left?
I’ve given up on connecting everything inside the case; not only is space a bit limited in the upper HDD bay of the P182 (well it certainly is thanks to the GPU 6pin cable needing the space) but it will be easier to leave the mouse/keyboard/mobo remote/Bluetooth (if I get it) dongles connected to the back panel of the motherboard; I’ve got 6 USB ports to play with so I’m not in short supply! In addition, it saves opening the case should I want to use my MX Air with my Laptop.
I’m also undecided on a Bluetooth module for my desktop: my laptop has a built in Bluetooth module and I only have my phone and Sat-Nav that use Bluetooth: and then they only benefit from each other, not from connection to my laptop. And I’d prefer to wait for the power saving offered by version 2.1 +EDR rather than a 2.0 device, though the tiny Trust module is tempting…
However I’m still planning ahead. Here’s a list of bits I intend on adding over the next year:
- CPU: I’ll be buying the Q9450 at some point but I may wait for a later stepping; probably wait until just before Nehalem chips are launched . The original B3 Q6600 doesn’t overclock to the same level as the G0 stepping so I’d prefer the best version of the chip before I buy. More importantly, I don’t think the chip is worth £180+, let alone the current RRP of ~£240 (assuming I could get one).
- CPU cooler: unless something better is launched before I buy the CPU, I’ll get the Arctic Freezer Pro 7 with the CPU.
- A new router. My current one does the job but I’d like an 802.11n router with GB cabled ports, options are pretty limited at the moment (and expensive) so it’s one for the future: my current one does everything I need it to, but my current setup is limited to 100MBs cabled and 802.11g (54MBs), with both desktop and laptop supporting 1GBs and 802.11n (300MBs)… so there’s a big speed boost available for when I upgrade.
The remaining items are dependent on each other, as there won’t be any point getting any one without the others.
- GPU: My 256MB 8800GT will last a while, especially with my 1280×1024 17″ Acer TFT but I’ll probably upgrade when the 10 series nVidia cards are lanuched. DisplayPort will be a must.
- Monitor: If I was to buy now, I’d buy a 24″ 1920×1200 TFT (probably the Dell 2408 or the BenQ V2400W if I bought now). But I’d prefer a 1920×1080 monitor with DisplayPort, which will certainly mean a fair wait before they become commonplace. Having said that, I’d want the monitor to have VGA (D-Sub), HDMI, DisplayPort and Composite. I can live without DVI as my current TFT and my Laptop only support D-Sub, so I won’t need it (same goes for component and S-Video). It will also allow me to switch inputs between desktop, laptop and mp3 player (though the max resolution my Zen will output is 640×480 which will look rubbish on such a bit monitor).
- Blu-Ray drives: I’ll upgrade only when CD-RW burning on a Blu-Ray drive hits 32x and DVDRW burning hits 12x: the same as my current DVD burner.I’d also prefer to wait until BD-RE burning hits a minimum of 4x. I may replace my slot-loading drive with a Bly-Ray reader, though the costs are still a bit high at the moment (Span.com were listing it’s Blu-Ray slimline drives for ~£180, both tray & slot loading versions).
I also need a mouse pad, though I’m leaning to a Steelseries pad (probably the SP) or anything that grips the table well.
All of the upgrades I’m planning won’t happen until at least October and then the CPU will be the first upgrade as the E2160, while faster than my old desktop CPU, isn’t as quick as I’d like and really was only a stopgap just to let me get the new rig running while I wait for the Q9450. The other parts are going to be a job for next year.
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Loading ...iMON & iMedian
thewelshbrummie
I have my iMon Ultra bay. And the time to install it.
Admitedly it’s not exactly as advertised on eBay by the seller; I had to get it from an Italian company, but translating the item condition stated that it would be a new item; which it clearly isn’t. The box, although well protected, is very battered and the plastic bag for the CD/screws/batteries clearly weren’t original and the protective plactic over the screen certainly wasn’t. There are scratches to the screen also.
But as you can’t see them when it’s powered up and it doesn’t turn off unless you unplug the mains cable or switch off the PSU with the PSU switch. And try getting hold of one; iMon Ultra bays are virtually impossible to find.
Which is why I didn’t mind paying the retail price for it.
The iMon takes power from a 24pin splitter cable. It’s not the neatest way, but it’s the only way to keep the I/R receiver on the iMon powered up to allow power-up via the remote. You also need to route the power switch cable to the iMon plug, and run the supplied cable back to the motherboard powerswitch connecter.
Which is very much like my TV card, which works in exactly the same way; except that it doesn’t need th emessy 24pin splitter… strange.
Anyway, you can connect the iMon via USB or a spare USB header. I’ve gone for the standard USB option (though need to remember to always check the USB connection, that cost me 30 minutes).
So how good is it?
It’s a fantastic piece of kit, the display is gorgeous and displays pretty much anything you could want; email; system info,;RRS feeds (user-definable); an EQ that works with iTunes, Windows Media Centre (but NOT Media Player) and the supplied iMon software; weather and more.
The iMon software really makes the unit so good. As for iMedian, I’m not so convinced; Media Centre has a nicer interface and is much easier to use. I also don’t have to reorganise my music; as all my music is sorted by folders for genre only, I can’t seem to select individual albums. So I’ll stick with Media Centre, as it more than does the job. And if you can find an Ultra Bay, I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Just make sure you have 2x 5.25″ external bays to fit it to on a standard PC case; there are probably better options for Media Centre cases.
So what’s left for the build?
I STILL haven’t received my USB hub or pci card. So I’m currently running cables through the back of my computer, far from the completely self contained PC I wanted to build. I think a reorder/refund from Amazon will sort that out. I also need to decide on whether I want my TV card.
But my CPU is running nicely, so I may leave upgrading until just before Nehalem CPUs are released (as I almost certainly won’t be able to use them and may be able to take advantage of price cuts). Likewise the monitor, which can also wait until DisplayPort becomes mainstream.
Finally, I’ll need more header cables; I’ve got one for the USB ports on the KAMA panel, but I still need another to get my onboard sound to work on the KAMA panel (the Soundblaster being connected to my case fron panel).
So it’s taking shape and I’m looking forward to getting my old games running properly; I’ve now got Ubuntu 7.10, Win XP AND Win 98 all running virtually (and all except Win 98 have proper Internet access). Which makes me very happy…
Rated: 100% (1 votes)
Loading ...It’s built….. sort of
thewelshbrummie
In that I now have a working PC!
Specs:
- Asus P5E3 Deluxe Wifi ap @n
- Pentium Dual Core E2160 @1.8GHz
- 1x Leadtek 256MB 8800GT O/C (I really don’t care about SLI, and my mobo is crossfire only anyway)
- 2GB OCZ DDR3 @1,333MHz
- 2x 1TB Seagate 7200.11 HDDs
- 1x 250GB WDC 250GB 2.5″ drive (in Icybox 3.5″ dock for use as an external HDD)
- 1x 500GB Samsung HD501 HDD, from old rig (backup for above 250GB HDD and laptop HDD)
- 1x TSST Corp DVD-RAM, from old rig (48x/20x)
- 1x Pioneer Slimline DVD-RAM optical drive
- Cooleermaster Realpower M620
- Scythe Kama Panel
- Vista Ultimate
- Antec P182 in black
And it works. But there are problems; I’ve already had to reinstall Windows, thanks to a crash installing Windows updates… which resulted in BSODs every 15 mins with driver issues, probably a corrupt dll but I thought it wise to start over with the installation.
More worringly, the iMon panel still hasn’t arrived (it had to be an eBay job as they’re nearly impossible to find) but I think the fault may lie with the UK shipping company; we had a card left on Friday to say that the item had been left in a safe place; typically no such thing exists outside the flat. I’m also still waiting for my PC Pro USB hub and the PCI USB card from Amazon.
Building it was really easy thanks to the case, and all of the power cables run behind the motherboard so there’s no nasty airflow problems. Having said that, the CPU is running at 60-63 degrees with stock cooling (though case fans on slowest speed) and some of the cabling is messy; the slimeline optical drive didn’t like the IDE-SATA converter, so I’ve had to use the IDE cable. And Scythe really need to supply header cables with the Kama panel; it’s ridiculous that I’m having to run the supplied cables out to the back panel (through gaps in the supplied pci plates) rather than being able to directly connect them to the motherboard. Mounting the panel is also something I’ve yet to achieve properly, thanks to the case using runners to slide in the parts; it’s far easier than directly screwing bits in, but only if they are full length. The Kama panel doesn’t even have screw holes, so I’ll have to go to B&Q to get some screws that will work.
So it’s not finished by any means; I also need to consider whether I want to transplant the Compro T750 TV card in (or upgrade it to the Vista version [T750F], if at all). And I intend on upgrading the CPU in the not too distant future (when the new Penryn quads with 12MB cache drop to sub-£200, along with a better cooler). But it runs, and Supreme Commander looks gorgeous and is incredibly smooth at 1280×1024 (native resolution for my TFT), and C&C3 runs much faster than my 4 month old laptop can manage it.
Just need to chase up Amazon and eBay sellers….
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Loading ...Just need a spare day….
thewelshbrummie
I’ve now got all the essential parts to build the rig;
- Asus P5E3 Deluxe Wifi @n mobo
- Antec P182 case
- Leadtek 256MB 8800GT O/C
- Pentium Dual Core E2160 @1.8GHz
- 2GB DDR2 @ 1,333MHz
- 2x 1TB Seagate 7200.11 HDDs
- Coolermaster M620 PSU
- Creative X-fi Soundcard (PCI-E)
- 250GB 2.5″ WD HDD
- Icybox 2.5″ enclosure
- Scythe Kama Panel
- IDE-Sata converter (so I can use the slimline drive over sata & not use any IDE cables)
I’m also taking the 500GB HDD, TV card and DVD-RAM optical drive from my existing rig.
I’m still waiting for:
- Slimline optical drive (Scan didn’t have any and the item is discontinued, so got it from eBay)
- iMon Ultra Bay (I’ve bought it from an Italian eBay seller, as it’s impossible to source them from UK retailers & the only US based one that ships to the UK wanted to charge the same amount as the actual unit
- free USB Hub from PC Pro (Essential for mounting the dongles inside the case)
- PCI USB card (with 2x internal USB ports)
All I need now is a day to build it….. which could be a while.
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Loading ...I will get round to taking some photos…. once it’s built
thewelshbrummie
My Dabs order arrived today….
So I’ve now got the case, the two 1TB HDDs, DDR3 RAM and Vista DVD. I’ve already installed the 1TB HDDs and the Icybox 3.5″ mounting for my 2.5″ external HDD enclosure. I can’t do much more for the time being, as I still need access to my 500GB HDD, so that will be staying in my current rig until I’ve built the replacement. My card reader is also proving tricky, as none of the holes are threaded and I don’t have any screws with nuts to mount the runners to (with the P182, you screw the components to runners and slide them into the case).
I’ve also got round to ordering the other bits from Scan, the total ending up at less than £300 inc.VAT:
- 256MB Leadtek 8800GT
- 1.8GHz Pentium (allendale core)
- Creative PCI-E card
- Coolermaster Realpower M620
- Pioneer Slimline Optical DVD-RAM drive
The GPU seems like the best option, as my monitor is only capable of 1280×1024 and I don’t plan on upgrading this year, so I’ll be probably be replacing the GPU when I upgrade the monitor… and anything more powerful than a 256MB GPU is a waste of money IMHO.
There’s still a few bits I need, notably the mobo (I’m waiting for confirmation on that) and the iMon Ultra bay…. which I believe has been discontinued so I may have to manage without it. In addition there’s the free USB hub I’m getting with my PC Pro subscription (which I’ll be using in the upper HDD chamber) and a USB pci card with 2 internal ports. But with the exception of the Mobo, I can build the rig when my scan order arrives tomorrow.
*UPDATE 9/2* My Scan order was delayed thanks to the slimline drive being unavailable, found it on eBay so bought it. The mobo has been confirmed too, and I’ve ordered the pci USB card (from Amazon, has 4 USB (2 internal, 2 external), 1 four pin & 1 six pin firewire). I’ve also realised that I’ll need a DVI-VGA converter….*
I’ve decided not to use my existing IDE 250GB HDD or connect the Sata Power and Data powers on the card reader; I’m really not going to need either and will have to get an additional PCI-E card for additional Sata ports (and running a round IDE cable through to the main chamber of the P182 is said to be impossible).
So I should be able to build a working computer by this time next week and I will take photos of the finished build, though I won’t be making and cosmetic mods to it.
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Loading ...Let’s get serious….
thewelshbrummie
well I’d like to think a £600+ spend is good enough reason to.
On Friday I noticed that Dabs are/were offering free shipping on all orders at £99+ until midnight Sunday (3/2/08)….. it’s too good an offer to ignore, especially as I’m in line to make some good savings (Scan don’t multiply shipping as quickly but some of the parts, especially the case, are significantly more).
So I’ve bought the following:
- Antec P182 in Black (£81 rather than £87 + £12 shipping)
- 2GB OCZ Platinum DDR3 RAM 7-7-7-20 @1,333MHz (sub £150)
- Copy of Vista Ultimate (£106)
- 2x Seagate 1TB HDDs (£163 each)
The HDD’s are the major change, but being £18 less per disk than the Hitachi 1TB disks, with near identical specs, £36 is a saving worth having, especailly for drives with 4 platters rather than the Hitachi drives 5 (though I can’t use molex power). The total is £665, certainly money worth spending.
I’ve also got the card reader and recently got the 2,5″ external HDD sorted, so the remaining bits are:
- Asus P5E3 Deluxe/Wifi @n
- GPU (probably a 256MB 8800GT, though sub £160 512MB 8800GT cards are being considered)
- CPU (Q9×50, though I’ll probably wait for decent steppings and get the E2160 1.8GHz Pentium)
- Slimline Pioneer DVD-RAM writer
- Coolermaster M620 PSU
- Creative PCI-Ex1 Soundcard
I also haven’t ruled out upgrading my router to support draft n and gigabit networking (the current one supports neither).
Scan will be supplying all bar the mobo; that’ll be coming from morecomputers.co.uk, though I dislike their security stopping shipping to addresses that aren’t listed on debit/credit cards unless part of a business. That’s going to be difficult, as getting to Sheffield to collect in person isn’t really viable and no other company seems to have such a limitation, or the mobo I want…
More to follow when I order the rest or start building the rig