My new PC is Done

[erehwon]

I got a new pc for christmas (and for school). My P3 wasn't cutting it anymore.

The Specs:

Antec PERFORMANCE TX TX1050B Black Steel Server Computer Case 500W ATX12V v2.0 Power Supply
GIGABYTE GA-K8NSC-939 Socket 939
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400
ZALMAN CNPS7000B-ALCU 92mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan
NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner Model ND-3550A
SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive

I also have another DVD burner in there I took from another computer. I have a 9800 Pro for my video card. I have 120 and a 160 WD hard drive in there.

Pics

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/1945/mycomputerfront2rh.th.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mycomputerfront2rh.jpg)http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8551/mycomputerside7fq.th.jpg (http://img405.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mycomputerside7fq.jpg)

It's pretty nice. I'm definitely not ever going back to a cheap case. Good power supply, very good instructions, and the drive cages and rails make this case well worth the money. I did cheap out on the round cables. I got two round IDE and one round floppy cable from SVC for the price of one cable and shipping from newegg. The problem is I got the only IDE cables they had on sale. Which are too long. I did clean up the wiring job. Those pictures were taken after I had just gotten it together.

If any of you think of getting this case, remember this in not a Lan Party case. It's a Server case and weighs a ton.

If you notice in the background, there is another case. My dad built a computer which he got from tigerdirect for $140 as a replacement for his emachine.

[NoRain]

Congrats.. Thats a huge case. The cereal boxes make a good comparison for seeing the size.

[erehwon]

Yea, it's huge, but I wanted it that way. It's a lot easier to work in. I just wish I would have gotten shorter cables.

[NoRain]

I've been eyeballing a similar build, but small form factor. I wanted something I could take around with me for lans and work and stuff. The only problem is all the 939 cpus are still too pricey for me. 3800 64 x2 for 330? and then 3200 64 is still like 167 at newegg. I want the dual core but I'm gonna have to wait till they get a little cheaper. It'd be nice if they had a 939 semperon for around a hundred to make it work out until the dual cores got more affordable.

[Moxio]

Nice build. However the cables are everywhere! O_O Try dashing them to the sides for better air flow.

[erehwon]

I did manage to clean up that mess of wires, but there was only so much I could do with those long IDE cables. They're very long and that became a problem with the hard drives since they're so close.

I also spent the week trying to install Gentoo Linux on my computer. That's not easy. I might try again and see if I can get around a problem with my network card.

[CYRiX]

Congrats.. Thats a huge case. The cereal boxes make a good comparison for seeing the size.
Well those boxes are far away, not even level with the case, so how can you tell how big it is?

By my guess its not even over 2 feet.

[Toireht]

Nice build! I have the same case, antec really do make the best cases. Just one thing about the case, make sure you dont knee smash the door from the side at the henge. I accidently did that and broke it clean off. But antec has the best customer support so they replaced it in under a week :D .

[javeryh]

How much was it?

[Hex]

So similar to mine, parts-wise. :lol: Nice job. I'm having troubles with cables, too, namely, I have a bunch of power cabels that I don't need. I just stuffed them into a spare drive bay. I'm liking the Zalman heatsink/fan, I was eyeing one on newegg, and I think I'll hit up computer rennaisance tomorrow for one. The stock AMD cooler is okay, but it's stuttering a bit.

[usickenme]

Cool man, over the weekend I finished my PC overhaul as well. Nothing remotely as good as yours but it is nice to have a decent system again.

Like a true CAG, I got Windows XP Pro (the final piece) for $35 from a buddy who works at Microsoft.

[erehwon]

How much was it?
I think it was a little over $600. I already had a video card and a hard drive. The second hard drive was a gift. For the OS, a college copy of XP Pro. Nice thing about that is no activation. 8-) I also spent a good chunk of the week trying to install Gentoo Linux (http://$$$$$$$$$$$$/d56t) , which is one of the harder ones to install. If you want an idea of how much you have to go through, look through the installation section of the handbook (http://$$$$$$$$$$$$/d6a4x) for your processor type. I gave up because of some issues with my network card. It wouldn't work in linux and stopped working in Windows too. I'll stick with dual booting debian and windows for the moment.

[redgopher]

AGP, barf.

[P0ldy]

I think it was a little over $600. I already had a video card and a hard drive. The second hard drive was a gift. For the OS, a college copy of XP Pro. Nice thing about that is no activation. 8-) I also spent a good chunk of the week trying to install Gentoo Linux (http://$$$$$$$$$$$$/d56t) , which is one of the harder ones to install. If you want an idea of how much you have to go through, look through the installation section of the handbook (http://$$$$$$$$$$$$/d6a4x) for your processor type. I gave up because of some issues with my network card. It wouldn't work in linux and stopped working in Windows too. I'll stick with dual booting debian and windows for the moment.
Gentoo installation isn't really that difficult. I think they recently did away with stage1 and stage2 installs, but it's strange your network card wouldn't work, although it's possible that wasn't a Linux problem if it failed in W32 too.

That said, it's pretty much overkill to install Gentoo when Debian can do nearly everything just the same. Apt and emerge aren't very different, and apt sure as hell is faster.

[Hex]

Gentoo installation isn't really that difficult. I think they recently did away with stage1 and stage2 installs, but it's strange your network card wouldn't work, although it's possible that wasn't a Linux problem if it failed in W32 too.

That said, it's pretty much overkill to install Gentoo when Debian can do nearly everything just the same. Apt and emerge aren't very different, and apt sure as hell is faster.

You're both wrong. Mandrake ftw. :D

[Zing]

Geez, you sure like cereal. I see at least 4 boxes.