Building a Computer
Printed From: Tippmann Paintball
Category: News And Views
Forum Name: Thoughts and Opinions
Forum Description: Got something you need to say?
URL: http://www.tippmannsports.com/forum/wwf77a/forum_posts.asp?TID=182295
Printed Date: 17 January 2026 at 8:02pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Building a Computer
Posted By: DeTrevni
Subject: Building a Computer
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 12:16am
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It seems I make one of these threads a month, but I really think I need a better computer. It's sad when I can only play Medieval II on the lowest settings without monstrous lag. I still want that Springfield 1911 pistol I mentioned in my other thread, but I'm just starting to feel that a computer would be more beneficial. If I make the computer a longer term project, I may be able to get both. Anyway, from my previous threads in the past about this subject, I have a better understanding of the function, customization and compatibility of various parts, but there's something I've got no clue about that seems rather important: brand names. I've got no idea who to buy from.
Let's start with the first thing: a case. Browsing Newegg, it seems like Cooler Master makes some nice cases, but with quite a bit of cost. I really like the simple yet almost industrial look they have, but are they worth the money?
Just wondering. If I follow through this time, I'll probably just update this thread as I get more parts. But for now, that's it.
Thanks guys. :) ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell" 
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Replies:
Posted By: High Voltage
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 12:44am
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I bought a CoolerMaster case for $30 from Newegg. Stop browsing the dream cases and find something practical, noob.
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Posted By: FROG MAN
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 12:51am
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Case price is usually jacked up for gimmicks like extra ports, digital displays, and fancy lights. If you are thinking of overclocking you may want to get a more expensive case but imo with out overclocking, interior case temp is pretty easy to keep low even in crappy cases. ------------- <1 meg sig = bad> |
Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 12:51am
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HV: Okay, so you can get cheaper ones. Are they a good brand? I know the case really doesn't matter much, but some have bad component layouts, poor construction materials, etc. FrogMan: I was toying with the idea of overclocking.------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: Darur
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 12:51am
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You mostly only need to care about brands with cases and power supplies. Motherboards are also fairly brand-dependent, but what you are looking for above all else is the chipset. Good options there include Gigabyte and DFI. Video cards only matter with brand when you are looking for warrenties and box art. I usually take EVGA where possible, for the lifetime warrenty, but most brands matched that. RAM can be a little brand-dependent, but unless you are overclocking it wont matter much. The good stuff is usually from OCZ, Corsair, Kingston or G.skill, under their botique labels. Hard drives can be a little dependent. Good bet is always Seagate, but Western Digital is good now too. As for your current request. Cases: Cooler Master makes a number of cases which are very good. Other good brands are Thermaltake, Silverstone and Lian Li. The latter two are considered more high end. Keep in mind every brand has some bad eggs. Focus a little more on the individual model or line of cases then the brand where possible. There are a lot of sites dedicated to case modding so search around. Power supplies: PC Power and Cooling is still the best line of PSUs out there, but OCZ (the new owner of PCP&P) and Silverstone both make excellent PSUs. http://www.jonnyguru.com/ - Johnny has the best reviews on the topic. Post if you need help! ------------- Real Men play Tuba [IMG]http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1859/newsmall6xz.jpg"> PH33R TEH 1337 Dwarf! http://www.tippmann.com/forum/wwf77a/log_off_user.asp" rel="nofollow - DONT CLICK ME!!1 |
Posted By: Darur
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 12:54am
Assuming you can get something with good airflow. I agree a cheap case is nice, but personally I prefer to get something Aluminum and something I can strip apart easily enough for mods. Plastic limits you a lot in what you can mod. EDIT: Whoops, double post, my bad ------------- Real Men play Tuba [IMG]http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1859/newsmall6xz.jpg"> PH33R TEH 1337 Dwarf! http://www.tippmann.com/forum/wwf77a/log_off_user.asp" rel="nofollow - DONT CLICK ME!!1 |
FROG MAN wrote:Posted By: FROG MAN
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 12:57am
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My other PC has a aluminum/plastic case that is "toolless" and I love it, sounds weird, but I can take out drives and cards really fast with no tools, and it holds them really steady. But I would watch out for this gimmick i am sure there is some really bad versions of it.
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Posted By: High Voltage
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 1:04am
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068 - My case . I caught it on sale when I bought it 3 years ago, and I feel it is worth the $45 now. I had plenty of room for the mobo I got and my uber long video card fit without any hassles. The case fan moves plenty of air and I'm sure without the psu fan and cpu fans turned all the way up it'd be a very quiet case. (I still have my old P4 Prescott so I keep all my fans turned up.) The reviews on Newegg seem to agree it is a sturdy case with plenty of space. The toolless design makes installing your hardware pretty quick and very easy. -------------
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Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 1:43am
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Well, the thing is, I like all that flashy LED's and stuff.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160 - This is the case I was looking at. I like the way it looks, seems to have some nice features, but is kinda spendy. Also, apparently it's kinda loud.
Edit: I also kinda like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119129 - this one . It's a bit cheaper, and it may be fun to design a cool window to cut into the side.
Edit v. 2.0: Eh, in looking, I'd prefer to steer clear of tooless. Seems to overly complicate things. So that second one is out. ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: adrenalinejunky
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 2:06am
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if you're looking in that price range, i would get the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021 - antec 900
not only is it cheaper then the case you posted, but its also has the best customer rating of every case on newegg, 3 120mm fans and a 200mm fan are also included. |
Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 2:13am
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I saw that. In the few minutes I've been searching, I've heard good things about it. Seems like a good sign. I also saw http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129058 - Antec's 902 . Does anyone know if it's worth the extra green? I do like the way it looks better. ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: High Voltage
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 2:26am
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Nice to know all those good looks will improve the performance of your hardware... Throw some spinners on while you're at it, DeTrev. I'd much rather save cash on the cutesy LOL LOOK AT ME attention whoring cases and spend it on a better psu, ram, cpu, gfx card(s), mobo, audio card, optical drive(s) or HDD. Almost forgot better cooling for my cpu. What kind of budget do you have fro the whole project? -------------
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Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 2:30am
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Well, that's true too. I'm just drawn to shiney things. :) Though you may be right. The less I spend on a case, the more I'll have for components. Not really too big on LAN, but haven't done a big LAN party yet. Might give it a try when I build up a respectable computer. As for budget, I'm not even sure. I don't have too many monetary obligations at the moment, so I've got quite a bit to spend. On that note, I'd like to save where possible. Since I'll be buying parts as I get the money and just using my lappy in the mean time, I figure I can grab some nice components. ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: Linus
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 2:32am
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My case is a Cooler Master Sileo 500... VERY quiet, but you're going to want a 3rd party CPU cooler as the quieting material also keeps a bit of heat in. No biggy, as with my cooler I still don't pass 50* C
Cost only $40ish, but now it's going for $55. Still, considering how quiet it makes the PC, it's worth it. No clicking, no fans, no noise at all. ------------- 
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Posted By: adrenalinejunky
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 2:50am
the 902 has some cool improvements, whether its worth the exra money is purely a matter of opinion. the highlights are that each fan in the case can be individually adjusted from 6-12 volts from the outside of the case. its also heavier duty that the last one - to the point of being rediculous, newegg lists the cases weight at 25 pounds. one review i read said it topped the orriginal 900 by 3 kilos - or 6.6 pounds. the 902 has a drive bay dust filter system built in that i've heard good things about. |
Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 3:34am
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Weight doesn't matter too much to me. I doubt I'll be going to too many LAN parties. My friend has an Alienware. Talked his parents into buying it for him. THE THING IS A FREIGHT TRAIN. It's ginormous to the point of being goofy... ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: vash357
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 4:25am
I've actually done builds in both of those cases, the HAF is an awesome case and I've considered getting one for myself. I currently have a Centurion 5 that was mentioned earlier and I'm pretty happy with it, but I've got it so full of crap I'd like to get a bigger case. The Mystique though, the door thing doesn't work for crap. It feels cheap as hell, it looks like crap, so on. I'd go with the HAF 932 over an Antec 900, mostly because the 900 doesn't have slots in the motherboard to run PSU cable threw, so everything is hagging out in the middle of the case, or the bottom, or whatever. With the HAF though, you can hid the wires pretty easy, and it's got 2 220mm fans, one on top, one in front, and one on the side. You also have to option of replacing the one on the side with 4 120mm fans, and the one on the top with 2 120mm fans. Makes it a great case if you plan on ever doing water cooling, becase you can easily mount a dual radiator on top. I belive the Antec 902 does have a revised motherboard plate that you can hid wires behind though, and it looks slight cheaper than the HAF 932, so that's somthing to consider as well. I've also done a few builds in Silverstone cases and worked on a few older Lian-Li cases, and honestly I prefer Cooler Master and Antec to just about everything else. Another good case to look into is the Antec P182, another great case. The toolless things generally work out pretty good too, unless you get a really cheap case. |
Posted By: Benjichang
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 9:52am
I spent entirely too much money on my case. (Antec 900.) I like it though. If you want a ritzy case, then get one. Old pic. Don't have the CRT anymore thankfully, and my main monitor is a 22 inch now. -------------  irc.esper.net #paintball |
Posted By: pntbl freak
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 10:40am
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I ended up spending about $120 for my Lian Li case and I love it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112040 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112040 -------------  |
Posted By: FROG MAN
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 10:43am
back when I was building my first comp I always wanted doubt they even sell it now a days, its just to BA ------------- <1 meg sig = bad> |
Posted By: High Voltage
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 4:19pm
How do you figure that when everyone else has said it makes things much easier to install/remove? Enjoy all your tiny screws. -------------
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Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 5:02pm
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You're a sarcastic one, ain't ya?
All the reviews I've read on the tooless junk said that they were iffy and hit or miss. They seemed to cause more trouble than they were worth. ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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Posted By: pntbl freak
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 5:12pm
In my experience with them they arent iffy at all. My Lian Li is tool less and it makes working with the computer easy. ------------- |
Posted By: Darur
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 5:15pm
Its entirely dependent on the manufacturer and model. Some kits are total crap, others aren't. Most tooless kits are just built over the normal mounting sysytem, so if you don't like it you can remove the tooless parts. My TT Mozart TX has a tooless kit which lets you use the tooless rails or just manually screw in the hardware without having to alter anything. ------------- Real Men play Tuba [IMG]http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1859/newsmall6xz.jpg"> PH33R TEH 1337 Dwarf! http://www.tippmann.com/forum/wwf77a/log_off_user.asp" rel="nofollow - DONT CLICK ME!!1 |
Posted By: High Voltage
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 5:21pm
Same here with my CoolerMaster case, you can use the tool-free system or simply use screws without removing anything. The only thing I decided to bolt down was my gfx card, all the other PCI cards I use are held in place by the tool-free design. DeTrev, why bother asking our opinions if you are comfortable with the reviews on Newegg and the like? IMO it defeats the purpose of creating the thread. -------------
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Posted By: Glassjaw
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 6:17pm
My NZXT case is the same way. It's a pretty nice feature, I do say. ------------- |
Posted By: jmac3
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 9:31pm
fixed. ------------- Que pasa? 
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Posted By: DeTrevni
Date Posted: 07 July 2009 at 10:29pm
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Jmac, I'm pretty set on this. HV: I wasn't saying the reviews on Newegg are end-all, and that's why I'm asking here as well. I just read a contradiction, and wanted some clarification. Also, with you guys, I can ask questions as they crop up. A review is fairly limited with information and suffers from fanboy bias.Plus I just like you guys. :) ------------- Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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