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New Design PC Finished!
- Thread starter jiarby
- Start date
Nuagedesigns
New Member
Nice machine! We just built ours a few months back.
FYI! We used the same case and had the top fan fail on us about 28 days after build. Antec was quick to send us a new one after a few phone calls. Just keep an eye on it. and good luck.
FYI! We used the same case and had the top fan fail on us about 28 days after build. Antec was quick to send us a new one after a few phone calls. Just keep an eye on it. and good luck.
jiarby
New Member
I already have the top & front case fans (already replaced the back one) in my crosshairs, mostly because I want to use standard 3-pin mobo connectors instead of that stupid molex pigtail arrangement. I didn't even use that front panel fan light switch.
BTW... My case is from Cooler Master, not Antec. Antec makes a case similar to this called the 900, and also 900-2.
They all have a cheap 140cm fan in the top!
BTW... My case is from Cooler Master, not Antec. Antec makes a case similar to this called the 900, and also 900-2.
They all have a cheap 140cm fan in the top!
It does look similar to the Antec 900. I have one for my RIP PC and I really like it. Great build quality and tons of fans for cooling. The only problem I ran into was some short cables from the PSU since it was mounted on the bottom as opposed to the top.
I am doing a build this week using an Antec 300, which I am excited to work with.
What is your purpose for the hot swappable hard drives? Forgive my ignorance, as I feel like I should know this answer.
I am doing a build this week using an Antec 300, which I am excited to work with.
What is your purpose for the hot swappable hard drives? Forgive my ignorance, as I feel like I should know this answer.
jiarby
New Member
Yep, I had to get an 8-pin power cable extension to reach from the bottom to the top also!
The drive bays are for removable backups. I store a backup HDD offsite that contains everything I need to rebuild the machine:
O/S HDD Disk Image, Application & O/S CD/DVD ISO files, license keys, customer data files drive image, etc... It is kinda my disaster recovery kit. I used to be an IT Weenie so DR Planning is still in my blood. If my PC melts down I can go build another and be back in business fast!
Occasionally I also have to do some IT work on the side and being able to pop in a customer HDD with the swap bay is nice. My old PC has them too. Between those bays & a USB IDE adapter I can attach any HDD on the fly. The difference is 3gb/sec for the SATA bay versus 480mb for the IDE/USB kit.
hydo...
loads of internal bays in that Antec 300, but I like the side mount 3.5 bays to tuck power & sata cables in the back. This CM Storm case has some nice toolless drive rails, and the whole thing is painted black inside (but costs $40 too) The 300 would be good to make a big storage server.
The drive bays are for removable backups. I store a backup HDD offsite that contains everything I need to rebuild the machine:
O/S HDD Disk Image, Application & O/S CD/DVD ISO files, license keys, customer data files drive image, etc... It is kinda my disaster recovery kit. I used to be an IT Weenie so DR Planning is still in my blood. If my PC melts down I can go build another and be back in business fast!
Occasionally I also have to do some IT work on the side and being able to pop in a customer HDD with the swap bay is nice. My old PC has them too. Between those bays & a USB IDE adapter I can attach any HDD on the fly. The difference is 3gb/sec for the SATA bay versus 480mb for the IDE/USB kit.
hydo...
loads of internal bays in that Antec 300, but I like the side mount 3.5 bays to tuck power & sata cables in the back. This CM Storm case has some nice toolless drive rails, and the whole thing is painted black inside (but costs $40 too) The 300 would be good to make a big storage server.
Letterbox Mike
New Member
Nice. Did you OC the i7 at all? What CPU cooler are you using?
jiarby
New Member
I am not an overclocking kind of guy... but I did crank it up to about 3.4-3.6ghz. It will run at 3.0-3.2 all day. I have the D0 Stepping Processor. Watercooling guys have this proc running at 4.0ghz, but for now I am at 2.66 (default)! ASUS does have a nice utility that allows you to adjust multiplier & voltages from windows on the fly. At 3.4ghz it shaves 2 seconds off the 1M SuperPI (11 seconds.... my P4 takes 42 seconds!))
I am using the CoolerMaster v8 heatsink/fan.
I am using the CoolerMaster v8 heatsink/fan.
omgsideburns
New Member
is than an iron-key sticking out of the back? or just some fancy dongle.
jiarby
New Member
Yep, the video is the Achilles Heel of this build for sure, but plenty good enough for drawing signs, banners, and engraving/sublimation jobs. A nuclear GPU would be idle most of the time. I felt that the extra money was better used to increase the RAM from 6gb to 12gb (plus I snuck in a BluRay Burner! Dont tell my wife!). It wasn't an unlimited budget build... I was trying to stay at the $2K mark.
I initially bought just one $59 9500GT, thinking that was enough. I didn't want to spend Quaddro money. THEN... while building it I got jonesing to SLI it (just bcuz) and picked up a second one. If I had known I was going to spend $120ish I WOULD have done just what you suggest....get ONE GOOD card for $120-150.
Even so, that will ALWAYS be do-able... maybe in 6-8months NewEgg will have some screaming closeouts on whatever the hot card today is and I can fix it then.
The swap bays are to facilitate removable backup hdd. I do backups on HDD's then rotate them in & out like an old school DLT tape rotation. PLUS.. the drives in there are 10° cooler than the raptors that are installed in the case. The iStarUSA enclosure has a 80mm Fan built in.
The dongle is a Patriot 200x SuperFast USB stick for Windows to use for ReadyBoost, which is probably unnecessary with the 12gb RAM. I had it in a drawer so may as well stick it in there and forget about it. I peeled off the rubber exterior (didnt like it)
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Craig Perry
New Member
Nice, Crysis would run well on that...
jiarby
New Member
There are alot, I got mine at NewEgg.... search there for RAID ENCLOSURES. Some are internal, some external. Mine is an iStarUSA BPU23-Blue Internal. The same enclosure comes in a 5-drive version in an external case using an eSATA port. Mine is a 3-drive version that allows you to install 3 HDD's into TWO 5" bays. I chose this one for two reasons... My case only has five 5" external bays, which had a USB card reader, Blue Ray Burner, & DVDRW.... PLUS my Mobo only(!!) has 8 SATA ports. I didnt have enough SATA connectors to hook up my 3-4 internal HDD's AND also a DVD, BlueRay, and 5 more HDD swap bays. I would have had to add a PCIe SATA card and then has a big cable mess. I think 6 HDD's and two optical drives is plenty for one PC@LOL!
As it is now I have not connected the front panel eSATA cable... if I need to use eSATA I can use the back panel mobo port.
Double check your chassis.... some of these enclosures are LONG, and will but into your mobo power conector in some cases. This iStarUSA one is the shortest one.
Here is a good review comparing 4 different internal enclosures:
http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/03/08/round-up-a-final-look-at-my-backplane-hot-swap-module-reviews/
As it is now I have not connected the front panel eSATA cable... if I need to use eSATA I can use the back panel mobo port.
Double check your chassis.... some of these enclosures are LONG, and will but into your mobo power conector in some cases. This iStarUSA one is the shortest one.
Here is a good review comparing 4 different internal enclosures:
http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/03/08/round-up-a-final-look-at-my-backplane-hot-swap-module-reviews/
jiarby
New Member
mobo is an ASUS P6T
Ram is Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600
It DOES have a modem...but not for dial up// for sending/receiving faxes!
Ram is Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600
It DOES have a modem...but not for dial up// for sending/receiving faxes!