Antec TX640B case/CoolMax Power Supply ?
 

Hi,

After months of being unable to fix the problem with my IWill mobo,I've managed to get, coming soon to a mailbox near me (LOL!) an Asus P5 LD2-VM motherboard (Small Forn Factor) with 2 gigs of DDR-533 RAM. The previous owner, an engineer, is clearing out some of his Linux boxes, but is keeping the case, power supplies and other gear.

He suggested an Antec TX640B case with a CoolMax power supply. I've looked at several suppliers, like NewEgg and have not been able to find that particular case. I'm at a loss. :-(

I'd like a Mid-tower(?) with space for a 3½" floppy, a r/w CD drive, a r/w DVD drive (for data back-up), and space for three hard drives. One hard drive would be an IDE, the other's ATA drives. I'd need a power supply that could handle 600 watts so the extra fans didn't cause power problems.

Any ideas? I'm sorta limited on budget as I'm on disability.

Thanks in advance,

Respectfully submitted,
73 (Best Regard)

"Buck"/KA5-LQJ

I have never heard of CoolMax as a power supply brand. I would not go with that brand. I prefer go with Seasonic. They have been in the business designing and making their own power supplies since the 70s. I doubt you need 600 watts. You can get by with a power supply that is around 400 watts.

I suggest the following power supply.

SeaSonic S12 II SS-430GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151033

I know it seems expensive but I do not go cheap on power supplies anymore. A cheap power supply relates to problems.

Computer cases are a matter of taste. What you want it look like depends on your wants. The user that recommended Antec TX640B case because that is what he or she likes. I suggest a case with a 120 mm fan and a motherboard tray that slides out, but with out an included power supply. You could get a chassis constructed out of Aluminum to make it easier to handle while building.


Using a DVD recordable disc for backups are more expensive than using hard drives as backups. Hard drives are more reliable, easier to write to, and a lot faster than DVD recordable discs.

An IDE and ATA are the same.

Good Morning......
 

Well,

I've learned from the "seller" that the Antec TX640B case may no longer be available. It's several years old. He did suggest other cases, but said that a case would cost @round a $100.oo, maybe a little more and I'm comfortable with that.

I've seen some I like including some with larger wattage power supplies. One even had the option for a 800 watter, LOL! What's that thing Tim the Toolman says? More POWER! Arr, arr, arrh!, ;)

Now, admittedly, I'm a NUBIE at this kind of motherboard and have my mental challanges when it comes to understanding things. The last two years, because of my mental disability (Dementia), I don't seem to grasp things in my brain as I used too. :( I can 'read' what some function is and still not understand. I'm going to need some HELP in figuring out what I need hooked up. But, still I need to make sure that I have ample fan circulation and no "dust" inside the case and plenty of "power" to run all the periferials (sp?).

The case I'd like to have is a mid-tower, with front slots for a 3½" floppy drive (I still have an old DOS database that I use and it takes 3-3½ floppies), a 5¼" floppy (same reason), a R/W CD drive for software and music, a DVD drive, to watch movies in the "shack" and, as I said place for a 78 gig IDE HD with 2 additional slots for say 750 gig
drives (RAID?) for "storage" of ham radio contacts, ham information, databases, and pictures and MP3 music.

I'll be putting KBuntu on the 78 gig drive and some other "linux" programs that will enable me to, hopefully, control my Icom 706 MarkII-G transciever.

This will probably be the "last" computer I'll ever own. I'm on Social Security Disability and my health is not good. I'm not complaining, it's been one heck of a "ride". I do the Best I can each day and help when and where I can.

I appreciate your "time" and "council".

Respectfully,
73 (Best Regard)

"Buck"

Hi,

If you find a case you like but doesn't have a 3.5 floppy bay. You can always mount a floppy with a 5 1/2 drive mount adapter.

Most of the new cases do have 3.5 bays that are used for card readers or other peripheral devices.

You could always use a external floppy drive.

I suggest the following case.

LIAN LI PC-60USB B2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112022

I have a case similar to it, but my has five (5) 80 mm fans. Its motherboard tray slides out easily and inserting a power supply is very easy. The hard drive bay slides out too with ease that can hold up to 5 hard drives. The hard drive cage may not do well for RAID. If you want an easy RAID setup, I suggest Lian Li PC-K7B. Its hard drive cage is a slide in and snap setup that includes anti-vibration rubber to minimize vibrations and helps in a RAID setup. I do not like its motherboard tray because it removes instead of sliding out. It is a tool-less case which means you do not use a screw driver to mount the drives. This can be a pro or a con. The PC-K7B will be annoying with IDE hard drives.

Even those cases have fan filters for the intake fans. The case internals will still get dusty. I suggest do not use filters because they just reduce the performance of fans over time. I recommend every other month to clean out the case with a compressor or compress air. Do not use a vacuum.

You do not need three floppy drives for DOS. The motherboard limits to two floppy drives. One is a 3.5" and the other is a 5.25". Finding a multi-connector FDD cable is a little hard now unless you have one in your junk box.

You can get by using your DVD drive. This will save on power and provide you with one more 5.25" bay.



In one of my computers is holding the following hardware.

ABIT KA7-100
AMD Athlon 700 MHz
512 MB PC-133 SDRAM (ECC)
Hauppauge WinTV Go
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
GeForce4 420M
(2) Western Digital 120 GB JB series
Teac 1.44 MB 3.5" Floppy
IBM 20 GB 75GXP series
ASUS 8X DVD-ROM
Teac 40X CD-RW
Seasonic S12-430 (430 watts)

After measuring the watts of the system with a Kill-a-Watt meter, it consumes 109 watts.

My Pentium 4 2 GHz computer consumes 120 watts and it has fewer hard drives, but with more expansion cards. The processor, memory (RAMBUS), and video card (nVidia GeForceFX 5700 Ultra) are consuming the most power.

A Core 2 Duo processor uses less power than a Pentium 4 at the same speed.

Again you do not need a lot of power for your setup. People have ran two GeForce8 8800 on a Seasonic S12-430 and still it worked. Enthusiast computers needs 500 watts or more. Over clocking needs 600 watts or more. I doubt you are over clocking.

When Seasonic states 430 watts, they mean it. Other power supplies that are sold half the price as Seasonic and states 800 watts will fail half way.

If you think you need a high wattage power supply I suggest SeaSonic S12 SS-550HT.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151027

You might find it to be overkill, and you might find it to be too expensive, but I have an Antec P-180B case that works very well for me and would for you as well. The case comes with 3 120MM fans and has screens on air inlets to protect against dust. Since I am in a dusty environment (phoenix AZ) this was an important consideration for me. It also cuts the noise way down (I have some noisy hard drives), and looks good in a bland, boring way.

The thermal design of the case is simply excellent. A basic system with one or two hard drives wouldn't need extra cooling and would be virtually silent.

The cable management system gives me a very neat installation.

My present configuration, which the case handles without issues, is this: Asus mobo with VIA chipset, Athlon 2800 processor and onboard sound, 2 gigs RAM, 5 SCSI hard drives, Adaptec 29160 SCSI controller, nVidia 7800GS video card, CoolerMaster 500 Watt PS, DVD burner, DVD reader, IDE Zip drive (yes, I still use those), 2 NIC cards, a modem (really should take that out...), and a TV card.

As configured the system has 12 fans and is usually pretty busy. The CPU temp stays under 50C with an ambient temp of about 24C (The athlon chip traditionally has run very hot). The video chip stays around 46C, and the motherboard stays in the mid-30s. I have to clean the screens on the air inlet about once a week to handle the dust issues, but after a year of 24/7/365 operation there is very little dust on the inside of the machine.

I could easily eliminate 5 of the fans if I would accept temperatures in the case that would be about 7-8 degrees C higher.

Two of my five hard drives make more noise than all the fans combined, and even at that the sound is substantially muted compared to the previous case this mess was installed in. Further, I still have expansion room.

The case costs about $150 in retail outlets; probably cheaper from someplace like egghead.