A mini Upgrade.

[Fozzik]

My previous computer, or second box, or whatever you want to call it, was having some issues. It's been running basically non-stop for more than three years, and was my prime gaming rig for most of that time.

Now it has moved to the spot beside my desk, as second fiddle and home to my LAN's backup drive and printer. It is also getting use as a secondary Internet machine for email and other tidbits.

Lately, the fan noise has been getting to me. The case was a Lian Li all-aluminum chassis that was supposed to be really nice, but I always found it loud and was bothered by little rattles. Compared to my new box, this thing was absolutely too noisy. Along with the rattles and things I'd been hearing ever since I got the case, I was beginning to hear the buzzing sound that signifies an off-balance fan.

Although this is no longer my main system, it still serves some good purposes and I didn't want it to burn up. It turned out that the nasty fan noises were coming from the processor's cooler...so I knew it was time for a few changes. The processor was idling at about 48c, which is really too hot.

The orginial specs -
Athlon XP 1800+ (palomino core at 1.5GHz)
1GB DDR266 RAM
Abit KR7A (VIA KT266A chipset)
Antec 550w power supply
Geforce 2 GTS (the geforce 4 ti 4400 which was in this machine got traded to a friend who had a PC meltdown...so I swapped in my old old faithful 2-series).

I decided what was needed was to finally get rid of that annoying case, replace the CPU cooler (socket A, so I knew I didn't have much longer). I also picked up a DVD burner, partly so it would be black and match the new case, and also because I like doing backups of the backup drive. ;)

Here's the new parts -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827129164
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835151110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068

Going with the case I recommend for the $1k system allowed me to give it a really good look... swapping all the components over went great, and I am extremely happy with the results. The machine is much quieter overall, and is running very smoothly with a 10c drop in CPU tempurature, and a 6c drop in mobo tempurature.

The case overall looks fantastic, has a good quality feel to it, and wasn't hard at all to work in. The one complaint I have is with the motherboard standoffs and other hardware that was included with the case... it was cheap and rather crappy. It ended up being functional, though...and besides that I have only good things to say (especially for such a great price).

[sunsfury]

Lately, the fan noise has been getting to me. The case was a Lian Li all-aluminum chassis that was supposed to be really nice, but I always found it loud and was bothered by little rattles.

I have always used Lian Li cases in the past. I decided it was time for a change with my last build I wanted something a little different. I used a Silverstone case and couldn't be happier with it. This thing is Huge and heavy as hell.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811163038

I'm going to make a case from scratch hopefully in the next few months. I have wanted to do this for awhile but always seem to get sidetracked and can't quite decide what material to make it from.

[tennex]

I have seen that case a few times in the past and it has always caught my eye. What has detoured me in the past was, I needed a cheap case/ps bundle, usually for a friend or someone else. It has been on my "next possible case list" for quite sometime. I saw the writing on the wall when you had it under your your recommendation for the $1k system. A few things concern me, in the reviews. The lack of screws? LOL, I guess the motherboard mounting brackets. I have somewhat of a stash of spares built up, but not enough to cover all of them. Anyway, could you clear the more than likely nonsense about the front audio ports not being compatible with Audigy 2 ZS? The consecutive complaints about the screws, doesn't really bother me I would just order some more mounting brackets, surely I have everything else.

[Fozzik]

I don't really know whether the audio ports in the front are compatible or not with an Audigy 2 ZS...partly because I don't have that soundcard, and also because I've never figured out how to plug front audio ports into any soundcard at all. ;)

The cases where I've connected front audio ports were typically onboard sound...and connecting the wires to the motherboard usually is fairly easy because there's some kind of diagram in the motherboard manual.

The case does come with several different connectors for the front panel audio, two different block-type connectors, as well as individual split wires...which probably means it would be possible to plug it into just about any kind of audio solution. Whether or not it would work, I don't know.

Like I said, the motherboard standoffs and other screws were rather cheap and junky...but they worked. I have tons of additional case hardware laying around...but I ended up only using the stuff that came with this case.