New Case wanted with no Mods.

alexander · Post by **alexander** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 11:42 am

Hello, I don't want you to start cursing me for not wanting to fit a PSU myself but I have just been reading the review of the 3700BQE, I was originally going to buy the 3000B but have been put off due to it not having a PSU. I really do not want to fit a PSU. Is this 3700BQE around the same sound levels as a 3000B. I want it to be around the same noise as a Dell 4600 or less. I am wondering if this case is good as it is £58.79, many thanks, Alexander Pinder

PS: WOuld anyone happen to have a 64 bit 939 CPU going spare

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:07 pm

Sorry, but I can't understand what is difficult about fitting a PSU. The only thing you have to do to fit a PSU is screw four screws. Those screws are even easy to reach, since they are on the outside of the case. That's even more easy than screwing in a motherboard. A mobo has nine screws and you can't even reach these if your fingers are too thick.

alexander · Post by **alexander** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:18 pm

Its just the whole difficulty of buying, waiting in the house for it to arrive. I like Bundles and its just easy, could anyone please answer my previous question about if the 3700BQE is as good as the 3000B? Many thanks, Alex

Bitter Jitter · Post by **Bitter Jitter** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:19 pm

Come on Alexander, a little PSU won't hurt you (Unless you take it apart and stick hands inside when its on!

).
If your going to put your motherboard in then a power supply will be a piece of cake.

If you still don't want to then you'll be limiting your options down quite a bit and they tend to be expensive.

Bitter Jitter · Post by **Bitter Jitter** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:20 pm

There much the same, different hard drive bay, thats it i think?

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:50 pm

alexander wrote:Is this 3700BQE around the same sound levels as a 3000B.

You won't get a better answer as reading the review of the 3000B and the forum thread that goes with it.

As for the PSU that comes with it. The truepower gets only a 6 (out of 10). That means if was a tad bit louder it wouldn't even be on the recommended list. If you use it you can be almost guaranteed it will be the loudest component in your system.

BigDonut · Post by **BigDonut** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 3:43 pm

alexander,
I understand your liking for bundles but I think getting and fitting a seperate psu isn't such a big deal but up to you.

As far as i can tell the hdd orientation is back to 'normal' with the 3000b, which results in better overall case airflow.
3000b also has a trispeed fan meaning you can set the speed yourself. it also has a side event, which meets intels tac specification so should lead to cooler systems, though its debatable whether noise will increase

with the 3700bqe you are still getting a good case with a reasonable psu its just not going to be superquiet unless you change the psu.
The 3000B gives you the option of picking a quieter psu - fitting is really a doddle.

alexander · Post by **alexander** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 11:13 pm

If there was a PSU that was around £20-£30 and quieter than the BQE then I may consider it, is there one?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 3:13 am

Hello Alex:

alexander wrote:If there was a PSU that was around £20-£30 and quieter than the BQE then I may consider it, is there one?

Get thee to the recommended PS list!

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page1.html

BigDonut · Post by **BigDonut** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 4:09 am

I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread but there is a nexus 3000 from novatech.co.uk for 25 pounds
and fortron stuff from microdirect for 30 quid.

Kingcow · Post by **Kingcow** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 7:13 pm

You may check out the AC Silentium T1 case with 350W Seasonic PSU - http://www.bit-tech.net/review/370/ !

:p :p

Kingcow

alexander · Post by **alexander** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 9:38 am

Hello, just to tell you all I have bought a Nexus 3500 silent. I took your advice and am now just looking for a case and CPU, I think i am going with the 3000B but this is the cheapest I have found in the UK:

http://www.mediaatlantic.com/product.php?xProd=22302

I am just wondering if this is a legit company is there anyway I can find out?
Many thanks for all the help up to now, Alex

alexander · Post by **alexander** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 2:23 pm

Hello, just finished ordering, please tell me what you think:

3500+ Newcastle Core with retail fan and heatsink (Couldn't resist at £125 inc 2nd hand)
MSI Neo 2 Platinum (£70 of Byron)
Antec SLK3000B Case off: (£42)
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1215.html
A Nexus 350 watt realsilent PSU (£35)
6800GT MSI 256mb
Audigy 2
250GB Maxtor 8mb Cache
DVD+RW
LG1710B TFT
MX 700 Mouse

I was just wondering if that PSU will be able to handle everything, any advice on the system, I have never built a PC before so any useful suggestions would be very helpful. I have put cards in etc but never fitted an AMD CPU or heatsink, many thanks, Alex

BigDonut · Post by **BigDonut** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 5:00 pm

alexander wrote:Hello, just to tell you all I have bought a Nexus 3500 silent. I took your advice and am now just looking for a case and CPU, I think i am going with the 3000B but this is the cheapest I have found in the UK:

http://www.mediaatlantic.com/product.php?xProd=22302

I am just wondering if this is a legit company is there anyway I can find out?
Many thanks for all the help up to now, Alex

where did you get the nexus psu from?
I hope media atlantic are a reliable company, thats where i've ordered my 3000b from, i'll let you know if it arrives.

They look legit enough and i spoke to one of the sales guys to confirme expected delivery times

with regards to the psu, I'm not sure. I'm going to get an enermax 320w which should i think be enough for my setup, simialr to yours but no audigy and a lesser gfx card. so theoretically it should be fine. guess you'll just have to suck it and see....not literally of course

Bitter Jitter · Post by **Bitter Jitter** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 6:06 pm

Don't worry alexander, that PSU will be fine.

Never built a PC before? Be glad you started with an Athlon 64 and not an Athlon XP. The heatsink clip on the old XP's needed a screw driver to push the clip down, which was ok with small heatsinks but a nightmare with big ones. The Athlon 64 uses a clip which is easy to use, you just clamp the lever down.

If you brought your CPU second-hand then you might need to get some thermal paste and clean off the old stuff with some Isopropyl alcohol or Akasa Tim-Cleaner. You can get both at Maplins if you have one near.

- To start off, READ the installation instructions which come with the motherboard. Sounds simple but alot of problems people have, can be solved by reading the instructions.
- Make sure you put enough motherboard stand-off's in the case before you try and screw the motherboard in.
- Install your, CPU, Heatsink and memory before putting it in the case. It will give you more room to work with making the whole process easier.

Take it easy, don't rush and you will be fine.

Here's a guide i found on the internet which i found that might be of help?

By the way that computer looks great! Kicks my 6 month old silicon paper weight's backside.

alexander · Post by **alexander** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 11:19 pm

Hello, thank you very much for the help. I am just wondering what:

"Make sure you put enough motherboard stand-off's in the case before you try and screw the motherboard in."

What is a stand off?

pdf27 · Post by **pdf27** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 12:38 am

alexander wrote:What is a stand off?

It's a piece of metal or plastic that stops the electrical contacts on the back of the motherboard touching the case and shorting out.

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 5:50 am

This is a motherboard standoff:

You screw these into the case.
Then you put your mobo over it.
Next you put screws through holes in your mobo into the top of the standoffs.

The case has a lot more positions for standoffs than you need. This is to support different sizes motherboards. So make sure you pick the right ones.

alexander · Post by **alexander** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 12:38 pm

Hello, thanks for all the help so far, I am sure it will come in helpful when I try and put it together (It has all come but I haven't had the time to do anything yet

)

I was wondering about my graphics card, currently in my shuttle it is the loudest component, it is at the very side of my case and so is very hot and loud. In a full size case would I not be able to hear it as much because of the space it can travel in? Also do 6800GT's have thermal throttling as I am hoping in a larger case with better airflow the fan would slow down? Many thanks, Alex

alexander · Post by **alexander** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 7:33 am

Hello, I have got the case and have installed everything bar the drives. I cannot seem to physically fit the DVD Drive into the top slot. I have tried using drive rails but they stop when they get to the catch and the DVD Drive is hanging half way out of the computer. It is as if the holes on the DVD drive should be further foward. I have at the moment just jammed it in with one drive rail. It isn't exactly safe and I know I haven't done it right. How did you all fit your drives? Another thing is the hard drive, was I meant to put drive rails onto these or was I meant to just screw it directly into the HD cage? There are so many various cages that I do not know what to do. I succesfully screws the PSU in and everything is working but the two drives are literally jammed into the case so that I can use them, any advice would be much appreciated, please get in touch soon and thankyou for all your help so far, Alex

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:54 am

Hello Alex,

The DVD drive should stick out about 1.5", so that the front bezel is flush to the front of the case, so I would look for the threaded holes that position the rails so that this happens. Remind us what case you have?

BigDonut · Post by **BigDonut** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 1:58 pm

NeilBlanchard wrote:Hello Alex,

The DVD drive should stick out about 1.5", so that the front bezel is flush to the front of the case, so I would look for the threaded holes that position the rails so that this happens. Remind us what case you have?

iirc its the antec 3000b

alex,

i dont think the harddrive require rails thought normally you do screw them in place. I'll let you know when my case shows up

the rails should have multiple holes in them so you can position them suitably on the drive so nothing sticks out too far

BigDonut · Post by **BigDonut** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 6:51 am

alex,

recieved my case today.

the hard drives go anywhere in the bottom most cage. there are rubber grommets in the cage. in your bag of screws you should have some with a large ish head, smooth body then some threads. use these screws to screw the harddrive in place. might take a bit of fiddling to get the hard drive holes to line up wth the spaces in the grommets.

The rails for the c/dvd drives look standard and you should be able to line it up with the holes on your drive such that it doesn't stick out too far

i've not put my system in yet but will probably do so at some point over the weekend so if you have anymore questions just ask.

alexander · Post by **alexander** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 1:52 pm

Hello, thanks for all of the help.

I have now sucessfully fitted everything

I didn't know you could fit things via the front of the case and so i tried fitting it from behind which was obviously not a great idea. I somehow thought fitting my hard drive to the floppy disk holder was a good idea and so it did not fit, i only just realised what that thing at the bottom was for

My system is fairly quiet but I think I am going for a Arctic cooler freezer 64 for my CPU (3500+) and an arctic NV5 for my 6800GT.

Hopefully the last question, I know that changing my cooler completely voids my 6800GT warranty. If i fitted the arctic fine and thens say after a few months the card broke due to a fault not connected with changing the cooler and I was to then change the arctic cooler to the old stock cooler would I be able to RMA it?

By the way the case is bloody quiet but its just my components now, so thanks for all of your help on my first computer, it has been very useful, Alex

PS: I was so long replying as I got errors when trying to install WinXP, I wasted around 12 hours on it... (and 8 hours on trying to fit all the components...)

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 2:06 pm

"Hopefully the last question, I know that changing my cooler completely voids my 6800GT warranty. If i fitted the arctic fine and thens say after a few months the card broke due to a fault not connected with changing the cooler and I was to then change the arctic cooler to the old stock cooler would I be able to RMA it? "

You could try. Take note of the colour of the thermal paste used with the original HS. It's usually white in which case pick up some Arctic Silver Ceramique to replace it with, I'm sure they won't note the difference.