Advice please on a new PC case ATX - Self build PC project

jpe20

Hi folks,
I am building myself a new PC over the next couple of months so I am purchasing the price insensitive components first ending up with the motherboard and CPU as my final purchase!

So far I have purchased

250GB HDD Western Digital from ALDI for 60 quid thanks to MSE!!
Canoscan 3200F and MS keyboard and mouse for 45 quid.

Now I am after a ATX PC case ....
I would like front mounted USB and audio sockets (line in and headphone) with PSU and cables and screws for a standard setup.

I am aiming to run a basic athlon 64 with the aim of it being upgradable to a dual core 64 when the prices are more sensible!! IE in a years time.

I won't be spending alot on a GFX card maybe 150quid and no dual card nonsense.

Anyhow the case I've got my eye on is from amazon at £66.41 which is the Antec Sonata Piano Black Quiet Midi Tower Case with 380W psu, front audio and usb. Seems a good case !

Will this case power a decent dual core athlon 64 in the future at 380W???

Anyhow I would appreciate any advice on a more suitable case or any comments on the one mentioned above. (I tend to like to buy decent stuff at low prices --- a value shopper!).

The other stuff I am looking for are:

(1) Reasonably priced dual layer multi format +/- RW .
(2) Windows XP Pro OEM -- 64 bit edition???
(3) DAB radio PCI card
(4) Sound card -- audiophile quality for my sennheisser hd600 headphones.
(5) ATI x800 gfx card --- ones from overclockersDOTuk look good.
(6) Socket 939 mobo and a value for money athlon 64
(7) 2GB DDR400 memoryThe
The above are in likely purchase order! Please note that I will not buy from ebay or obscure websites. My fav sites for components are dabs, savastore, misco, amazon etc.

Any advice on the above will be appreciated ie prices, quality and tech advice.

Many thanks
Julian

flang

For a start how much do you want to spend on a Case?
Your find that decent cases dont usually come with PSUs and from experience, PSUs that do come in cases are usually noisy!
I wouldnt go any less then a 400W!

Toxteth_OGrady

You can calculate the wattage of psu you will need here.

Stick with any of the following psu brands and you wont go wrong:

Enermax

Ultra

Tagan

Antec

Hiper

Seasonic

OCZ

Zalman

Akasa

:cool:

TOG

jpe20

Thanks Toxeth.....
Seems that I need a 450-500 watt PSU ... great site tip. Looks like the Antec case I was thinking of is no good. Time to hunt for a decent 450-500 watt atx case.

I don't want a noisy PSU just a decent value for money PSU thats reasonably quiet. I'm partially hearing so paying megabucks for a silent PSU will be rather silly!

flang: thanx for the comments : I'm thinking of spending in the region of 80quid for the PSU and mid-tower ATX. Seems that I need a PSU arounf 450-500 watts.

Thanks for advice and I look forward to hearing from you all again.

Julian

Toxteth_OGrady

@jpe

If you look at the eleventh item up from the bottom on this website you will see it's the case you wanted with a 450W psu for 78 quid.

:cool:

TOG

wolfman

I did run a 380W Tagan with my AMD64 3500+ and GeForce 6800GT and a number of other peripherals, but the psu was hitting its limit.

The Antec Sonata is a brilliant case. You should look at the second edition of it (Antec Sonata II). Places like Microdirect and SavaStore have it for about £80. It irons out some of the very few flaws the case originally had. It also comes with a 450W psu instead of a 380W one. This should suite you fine for quite some time. The Antec Sonata II would definitely get my recommendation, I've used it to build friends machines and for the price it is of unbeatable quality.

With regards to the other parts:

Motherboard - have a look at the MSI K8n Neo4, the SLi version retails at around £80-90 and will allow you to upgrade right into dual core. It gets some good reviews.

Windows - I'd still leave the 64-bit version. It's still not fully supported. Personally I'm going to wait until Vista has come out before switching across to a 64-bit OS.

DVD-Writer - If you can still find it the LG GSA163 is a very good writer and usually around £30. You shoud generally be able to pickup most writers for around £30. Have a look at http://www.cdrinfo.com, they have some great, in-depth reviews on most writers on the market.

Graphics - I'd maybe go for a GeForce 6800 instead of an X800. The GeForce 6600GT used to be the best bang for you buck, although it's beginning to become dated. The GeForce 6800, or soon to be 6800GT will generally offer good performance to price.

Sound - This I'd leave till last. You won't notice a huge difference (and the MSI board I mentioned has an inbuilt Soundblaster chip instead of the cheaper codec other boards use), and a decent card can set you back £50-100 easily. Personally, I'd leave this as a nice to have, and do buy it at the end.

jpe20

Hi folks,
The Sonata II case looks a good bet from OverclockersDOTcoDOTuk. I'm nearly tempted to order it right now!!! (I'll wait till later incase I get any more tips!)

On the overclockers site I saw this for a DVD RW

---

Pioneer DVR-110DBK 16 x 16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter - (Black) OEM any good??? its £29.32 ..... Just that I'm keen on saving on P&P (ie I don't want to buy all my items from separate suppliers .. increasing my overall P&P!).

wolfman: thanx ... I think I'll avoid win xp pro 64 for now and my strategy will be to wait until a reliable 64bit Vista OS comes out and then buying my supa dupa dual core 64bit athlon!!!

Thanks for the tips so far......

Julian

Hintza

I have the nexus istyle in Silver not cheap but a nice case with all your looking for. Plus it has covers so it doesn't matter what colour your drives are.

See at Novatech

I aslo use the nexus super quiet PSU also at Novatech