Might Build A New Computer, Ideas?

[Calzinger]

The PowerStream is $30 more and the specs look better, so I guess I'll go that route. Thanks for all your input.

You will be very satisfied with the powerstream. It actually looks really good, almost looks like a chrome surface. It also has this awesome looking green LED fan that will be ejected out the back of your case. The one downside to the powerstream is the amount of excess wires compared to the modstream. You had the option of using certain cables in the modstream while you just have to find a place to dump the excess with the powerstream.

 

[zygomatic]

Yeah, a modular power supply would've been nice, but can't argue with quality. What about case fans? The case I have is kinda' old and I don't think I wanna spend more money on a new one, but maybe some better case fans would be nice. The case I have only has room for 3 80mm fans, 1 intake, 1 exhaust, 1 in front of the hard drive bays. I think I've got a Sunon fan (2900 rpm, 39 CFM, 32 dBA) and couple Kingwins (2500 rpm, 32.4 CFM, 25 dBA). Wanna keep it cool if I can. Has anyone ever used those PCI slot fans? Are they any good? I'm not entirely opposed to modding my case either.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

How old is your case, is it ATX?

 

[zygomatic]

It's 3 years old, Mid-ATX, the board should fit fine, but I'm sure the airflow could be a lot better, it's a Chieftec DH-01W, it works. I put a window and some cold cathodes in it, w00t The PSU that came with it is pretty crappy as most stock units are, so I'll 86 it if I upgrade. Think it makes sense to sell any of the parts I would replace? Probably couldn't get much for them:

2x 256MB PC2100 Kingston DDR RAM
Gigabyte GA-7VRX Rev. 2.0 motherboard
Radeon 8500 LE 128MB
Athlon XP 2200+

Might recoop some of the costs. Or I could just slap those into an old case and have a better backup comp. *shrug*

 

[Calzinger]

I'm sure anyone of these Dell/Compaq types would die to have that Radeon 8500 LE. I guess their non-existant graphics card and integrated trash is beginning to wear on them.

 

[Hacp]

Epox is a half decent board, and can get you to 3.1 volts Vdimm. It is also 50 dollars cheaper than the DFI. Another board you might want to consider if you don't ever plan on going SLI or dual core is the Abit AX8.It also has a good Vdimm option, up to 3.2 volts. Although it isn't as high as the DFI-Lan party series(4.0), it is pretty good if you want to do some moderate overclocking. It will also save you about 110 dollars, so you can go buy the 6800GT. Only downside to this board is that it is not compatible with dual core processors. By the way, I'd be careful of going over 3.3 volts if your using BH5 ram that isn't warrantied for it. People have reported their ram burned out with extremely high voltages over time.

Another thing I'm worried about is the ram you are planning on getting. That ram will not work well if your plannig on overclocking with the DFI-Lan party series. It used to be winbond BH5 ram, but now it isn't. The cheapest BH5 ram is the OCZ value ram that costs 105 dolalrs on Newegg, or the TWINMOS speed premium, which costs 96 dollars on Newegg.

 

[dhw200]

Epox boards suck. sure, u can put 3.1V through the dimms, but they explode when u do. Crappy BIOS, bad layout, they are budget boards and suck

 

[Hacp]

Ummm sureeeeeeeeeeee. Nice scare tactics.

Btw, if your looking to get the DFi- ultra D, monarch has it for 119 dollars. I just bought it 2 days ago.Free shipping too if I remember.

 

[zygomatic]

Good point, Dell and Compaq suck.

 

[Calzinger]

Good point, Dell and Compaq suck.

You can even sucker 'em further by selling them your old parts. It's probably much better than theirs (since they only use value parts) and you could probably overcharge 'em. Most Dell owners aren't too smart when it comes to hardware so they won't bother looking up the actual value.