View Single Post

  #9  
Old 09-14-2007, 05:07 PM
fritzi93's Avatar
fritzi93 Offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Posts: 516
I'm surprised no one else has jumped in yet.

No, no specific recommendations, but a few general observations:

Your mobo/CPU pairing is your critical choice, but you know that. From there, it's easy to get bogged down in too many details. For instance, say you want to re-use some PATA devices and the mobo you want has only one IDE controller, as SATA becomes the standard. I myself have 4 PATA hard drives in this box and 4 PATA optical drives. Only two IDE slots. No problem, a controller card in a PCI slot will do the job, and cheap. I have a crapload of SATA connectors to use as old devices are replaced.

Perhaps you should write down what you think you want, pruning away inessentials. If you want to re-use anything, e.g. monitor, etc., take that into consideration.

-Get a big enough case, with provision for some fans. I have 6 in mine, 3 intakes situated low, 3 exhausts high up. One intake blows over the hard drives, another is aimed at the video card, the third towards the heatsink.
-Make sure your power supply has enough wattage and enough connectors. A few splitters are okay if necessary. Don't be cheap. Read the reviews at Newegg, it'll save you from buying a crap PSU, and maybe frying your mobo.
-PCI Express slot, at true 16x. Enough extra PCI slots.
-PCIe graphics card.

Okay, I leave the floor to someone else. Good luck.
__________________
Pull! Bang! Darn!
Reply With Quote