CompBlog part 5 - UPDATE
I know it's been 10 months since a post. Wow.
Anyway here are the new highlights relating to my computer. About a month ago my power supply (remember from previous posts, the $40 case/power supply combo?) died. Just stopped working, yup. So it lasted about 9 months which makes it completely useless.
In any case I went and bought an 800Watt Ultra power supply which comes with cables in nice tightly bundled sleeves which take up less space and look nicer than the giant cables that have been the standard (A bit more money and I could've gone for a supply which lets you choose what cables are connected and add and remove them as necessary but I didn't give in to temptation.)
This also came with a free case. An Ultra Aluminus case to be exact. And it is awesome.
When I last build my computer I stated that the ease of install couldn't be finer, I was wrong. It is easier. This case proves it.
First every drive sits on an easy mounting bracket which then just slides in or out of the case.
The motherboard mounting plate is removable (so you can screw it on while it's outside the case then just slide it in) and is secured (very well) by two thumbscrews.
The hard drives face the side of the case (in stead of the front) and the wires go out the other side. The "other" side of the case comes off, so you don't have to reach in and manipulate things trying to plug the power cord into your drive. It's right there and no challenge at all to reach.
The cables from the power supply can nearly all (except for reaching a few fans) be routed behind the motherboard mounting plate for easy access from the side and keeping them COMPLETELY out of the main area of the case. Much improved air flow and much nicer looking interior without tons of wires going every which way.
I pulled the LED illuminated fan off the old demon case and secured it between the case side and the attached plastic tube designed to focus incoming air straight onto the CPU. There was too much space between it and the CPU fan for it to be very effective, but it was just about right after installing the extra fan which adds that much more air right onto the CPU to keep it cool.
I took the opportunity to add 2 more gigs of RAM. Unfortunately Windows XP 32bit doesn't let you access all 4 gigs, even though it's supported. Supposedly up to 1Gig can be lost, though it's somehow or other supposedly being used by the system.
The 64 bit systems (and some windows server editions) support it just fine, but because I run pro-tools 7.0 I need Windows XP 32 bit (my pro-tools version doesn't support 64bit operating systems)
All in all a good improvement though.
(oh and I remembered about the standoffs this time!)
The move of the entire computer into a new case went as easily as could be.
Anyway here are the new highlights relating to my computer. About a month ago my power supply (remember from previous posts, the $40 case/power supply combo?) died. Just stopped working, yup. So it lasted about 9 months which makes it completely useless.
In any case I went and bought an 800Watt Ultra power supply which comes with cables in nice tightly bundled sleeves which take up less space and look nicer than the giant cables that have been the standard (A bit more money and I could've gone for a supply which lets you choose what cables are connected and add and remove them as necessary but I didn't give in to temptation.)
This also came with a free case. An Ultra Aluminus case to be exact. And it is awesome.
When I last build my computer I stated that the ease of install couldn't be finer, I was wrong. It is easier. This case proves it.
First every drive sits on an easy mounting bracket which then just slides in or out of the case.
The motherboard mounting plate is removable (so you can screw it on while it's outside the case then just slide it in) and is secured (very well) by two thumbscrews.
The hard drives face the side of the case (in stead of the front) and the wires go out the other side. The "other" side of the case comes off, so you don't have to reach in and manipulate things trying to plug the power cord into your drive. It's right there and no challenge at all to reach.
The cables from the power supply can nearly all (except for reaching a few fans) be routed behind the motherboard mounting plate for easy access from the side and keeping them COMPLETELY out of the main area of the case. Much improved air flow and much nicer looking interior without tons of wires going every which way.
I pulled the LED illuminated fan off the old demon case and secured it between the case side and the attached plastic tube designed to focus incoming air straight onto the CPU. There was too much space between it and the CPU fan for it to be very effective, but it was just about right after installing the extra fan which adds that much more air right onto the CPU to keep it cool.
I took the opportunity to add 2 more gigs of RAM. Unfortunately Windows XP 32bit doesn't let you access all 4 gigs, even though it's supported. Supposedly up to 1Gig can be lost, though it's somehow or other supposedly being used by the system.
The 64 bit systems (and some windows server editions) support it just fine, but because I run pro-tools 7.0 I need Windows XP 32 bit (my pro-tools version doesn't support 64bit operating systems)
All in all a good improvement though.
(oh and I remembered about the standoffs this time!)
The move of the entire computer into a new case went as easily as could be.
posted by cyber-mountain guru at 11:22 AM
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