# Do I need a new case, or should I stick with my no-name brand one?



## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

I am currently building a new Core 2 Duo system (all the parts have arrived except the motherboard) and I can't decide whether I should buy a nice new case or stick with my current one.

This is the current one I have:






It looks ok IMO (red is cool), but it doesnt really have a brand name and feels flimsy. There is a dent in the side as well. The cooling is ok, with space for 2 80mm's on the back, 1 120mm on the front and an 80mm already installed on the side, but it seems like a very noisy case. I don't think its very well noise insulated at all. It is also quite bulky.

I was looking at either this one:
http://d10861143.kiwi84.kiwihosting...d=309&osCsid=388456dbb71517cfb969602da40ecd01

Or this one:
http://www.globalpc.co.nz/proddetail.asp?prod=CS12005

(BTW the prices are in NZD, so if it seems expensive thats why.)

They are both Icute brand and both look pretty good. One has a HUGE 25cm fan on the side, which would be great for cooling.


So should I stick with my old one and buy some more fans, or buy a whole new case? If so, which case?


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## Protius (Sep 28, 2006)

its a really personal prefrence, as long as the cooling's good i see no real reason for you to upgrade, other than noise or looks, as for the 2 cases i've never really seen or heard of them before


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## cdawall (Sep 28, 2006)

no point in wasting money on the new case old one looks fine  just get a better cpu cooler q/ the extra money


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## pt (Sep 28, 2006)

if that one cools fine, and look good keep it if not go search a new one, Aerocool make good, cheap cases


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## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

cdawall said:


> no point in wasting money on the new case old one looks fine  just get a better cpu cooler q/ the extra money



Well then I'll spend the same money on trying to make it as quiet as possible. 

The PC that will be in this case will be a DVD watching/hometheatre PC which doubles as a gaming PC. The old setup I had in it was this:

Athlon XP 2400+ w/ stock cooler
Radeon 9600XT
512MB DDR-400
Crappy PSU that came with the case
1 old and noisy ATA133 Hard Drive
2 80mm fans

It generated so much noise that I had to shut it in a cupboard and re-route the cables under the house, so the cupboard doors would shut (alot of trouble to go to just to shutup a computer I know, but it saves money , and even with it shut in a cupboard I could still hear it. 

The NEW setup will be this:

Core 2 Duo E6300
MSI NX7600gt Stock OC
1gb DDR2 533
New good-brand PSU
Western Digital SE16 SATAII Hard Drive 
1 120mm fan, 1 80mm fan,

Hopefully the new setup will be a bit quieter than the old one. If its not, then I will have to do something else to make it quieter. If this is the case, I wil post a new thread on this forum.


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## pt (Sep 28, 2006)

wich memory are you going to get?


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## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

pt said:


> wich memory are you going to get?



I made a bit of a mistake with the memory... Some people on IRC said it didn't matter what brand DDR2 you got, as it was all the same. They also said DDR2 had the same performance as DDR so I should get the cheapest.

So I got some Kingston DDR2-533... It might be ok, as I'm not planning to overclock hardout, but I probably should have got some Corsair stuff...


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## pt (Sep 28, 2006)

fraseyboy said:


> I made a bit of a mistake with the memory... Some people on IRC said it didn't matter what brand DDR2 you got, as it was all the same. They also said DDR2 had the same performance as DDR so I should get the cheapest.
> 
> So I got some Kingston DDR2-533... It might be ok, as I'm not planning to overclock hardout, but I probably should have got some Corsair stuff...



kingston  , balistix?
the guy who said that is plain stupid btw:shadedshu


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## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

pt said:


> kingston  , balistix?
> the guy who said that is plain stupid btw:shadedshu



Lol yeah... I'm never going in that channel again! (it was #computers on Efnet)


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## pt (Sep 28, 2006)

fraseyboy said:


> Lol yeah... I'm never going in that channel again! (it was #computers on Efnet)



good idea  
get some ddr2 800 or at least 667 of a decent brand


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## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

pt said:


> good idea
> get some ddr2 800 or at least 667 of a decent brand



Bit late as I've allready bought the 533  

I guess if I ever feel teh need to overclock some more, I'll buy some better RAM. By then the pricesw will be EVEN lower.


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## pt (Sep 28, 2006)

fraseyboy said:


> Bit late as I've allready bought the 533
> 
> I guess if I ever feel teh need to overclock some more, I'll buy some better RAM. By then the pricesw will be EVEN lower.



cant you cancel the order, or send it back saying it isnt compatible with your system, wich timmings does it have? 4-4-4-12?


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## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

pt said:


> cant you cancel the order, or send it back saying it isnt compatible with your system, wich timmings does it have? 4-4-4-12?



I wish I could, but I got it very cheap ($90USD for 2x512MB) off an online auction site. The timings are  4-4-4-10 and there is a review here http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/reviews/63766/kingston-kvr533d2n4k21g.html

EDIT: A more recent review here http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/labs/69831/kingston-valueram-kvr533d2n4k21g.html says they have 4-4-4-12 timings...


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## pt (Sep 28, 2006)

fraseyboy said:


> I wish I could, but I got it very cheap ($90USD for 2x512MB) off an online auction site. The timings are  4-4-4-10 and there is a review here http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/reviews/63766/kingston-kvr533d2n4k21g.html
> 
> EDIT: A more recent review here http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/labs/69831/kingston-valueram-kvr533d2n4k21g.html says they have 4-4-4-12 timings...



if you are not planning on overclocking you should try to boot them at 3-3-3-9 at 533mhz, it will give a boost in performance, also ask ketxxx to help you out on timmings if you need


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## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

pt said:


> if you are not planning on overclocking you should try to boot them at 3-3-3-9 at 533mhz, it will give a boost in performance, also ask ketxxx to help you out on timmings if you need



I was going to overclock a bit... As much as I could with teh stock cooling.

I've never overclocked in my life, so I'll read the overclocking basics guide here. I don't really understand tinmings either...


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## pt (Sep 28, 2006)

fraseyboy said:


> I was going to overclock a bit... As much as I could with teh stock cooling.
> 
> I've never overclocked in my life, so I'll read the overclocking basics guide here. I don't really understand tinmings either...



timmings is simple, the lower the better, but the more mhz on the memory the better too, you have to find the harmony between the 2 about the cpu is simple, those c2d are highly overclockable, wich board are you going to get?


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## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

pt said:


> timmings is simple, the lower the better, but the more mhz on the memory the better too, you have to find the harmony between the 2 about the cpu is simple, those c2d are highly overclockable, wich board are you going to get?



I can't afford a P5B, so I thought I'd get Gigabyte GA-965P-S3.


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## pt (Sep 28, 2006)

fraseyboy said:


> I can't afford a P5B, so I thought I'd get Gigabyte GA-965P-S3.



it's a great board too, you probabily going to hit 2500mhz on stock or maybe more pheraps 3000mhz, but that ram wil botleneck you, i have some ddr2 533 at 4-4-4-12 timmings that at stock speeds did a crappy job, only when i overclocked them all the way to 770mhz they showed how well they perform


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## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

pt said:


> it's a great board too, you probabily going to hit 2500mhz on stock or maybe more pheraps 3000mhz, but that ram wil botleneck you, i have some ddr2 533 at 4-4-4-12 timmings that at stock speeds did a crappy job, only when i overclocked them all the way to 770mhz they showed how well they perform



3000mhz :O Wow thats good.


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## Ketxxx (Sep 28, 2006)

imo the case u have now is better than those.


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## fraseyboy (Sep 28, 2006)

Ketxxx said:


> imo the case u have now is better than those.



BUT ITS SO NOISY!!!

When I had it up it had 2 80mm case fans + 1 in the PSU. My other PC (raidmax case) has 2 80mm case fans, 1 120mm case fan and 2 in the PSU and its quieter than it! The raidmax one also seems alot more sturdy, and the metal doesnt bend when you hit the side...


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## cdawall (Sep 29, 2006)

why are you hitting the side? and thats why its called a cheap case


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## fraseyboy (Sep 29, 2006)

cdawall said:


> why are you hitting the side? and thats why its called a cheap case



lol I dont normally hit the side... It just feels flimsy when I move it. 

It wasnt very cheap when I got it, but that was just stupid buying on my part. I wonder if it stuck polystyrene all over it, it would quiten it down...


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## pt (Sep 29, 2006)

fraseyboy said:


> lol I dont normally hit the side... It just feels flimsy when I move it.
> 
> It wasnt very cheap when I got it, but that was just stupid buying on my part. I wonder if it stuck polystyrene all over it, it would quiten it down...



cork would be cheaper


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## Ketxxx (Sep 29, 2006)

fraseyboy said:


> BUT ITS SO NOISY!!!
> 
> When I had it up it had 2 80mm case fans + 1 in the PSU. My other PC (raidmax case) has 2 80mm case fans, 1 120mm case fan and 2 in the PSU and its quieter than it! The raidmax one also seems alot more sturdy, and the metal doesnt bend when you hit the side...



sound dampening kits, rubber plugs u can also get to attach to the fan mounting holes, and obviously not forgetting the obvious, some fans are just cheap crappy things using loud motors. then if you can stomach the extra clutter in the case thers also fan controllers.


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## JC316 (Sep 29, 2006)

Dynamat, or equeivlent. It should quiet it down ALOT.


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## Ketxxx (Sep 29, 2006)

that is.....after the initial "big bang"


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## pt (Sep 29, 2006)

c4 is a good choice too, put it all inside the case, take the cpu cooler and run


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## ex_reven (Sep 29, 2006)

pt said:


> c4 is a good choice too, put it all inside the case, take the cpu cooler and run



lol...but C4 takes too long to make, and fertiliser nitrates work so much better 



> The raidmax one also seems alot more sturdy, and the metal doesnt bend when you hit the side...



Thats what the case is for , protect your 'stuff'...i kick mine regularly 

and about the noise...maybe its just one or two particular components that are noisy? I know that my cpu fan is noisy as hell where all my other cooling fans are pretty quiet. 

Sometimes its worth it just to check out individual components, like checking cpu contact with the heatsink and dust buildup between cpu and heatsink for instance. But thats just me, im a noob .


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## devinXkillyou (Sep 30, 2006)

i bought a dynamat kit for my comp a couple months ago (4 sq.ft) and its helped quite a bit. i have a loud 80mm fan on the window, so thats pretty loud, but besides that i can tell a difference.


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## cdawall (Oct 1, 2006)

i dont know what you guys issue is my current replacee comp is 100% silent so hahaha dell engineering at work 1 han the size of my thumb and it just keeps going


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## pt (Oct 1, 2006)

cdawall said:


> i dont know what you guys issue is my current replacee comp is 100% silent so hahaha dell engineering at work 1 han the size of my thumb and it just keeps going



only good thing of Dell's


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## ex_reven (Oct 1, 2006)

pt said:


> only good thing of Dell's



are you saying everything else by dell is utterly crap?

their cases are ugly but i cant say the same about their performance laptops, ive got a mate that owns one and even though its old now i envy its portable power .


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## cdawall (Oct 1, 2006)

ex_reven said:


> are you saying everything else by dell is utterly crap?
> 
> their cases are ugly but i cant say the same about their performance laptops, ive got a mate that owns one and even though its old now i envy its portable power .



yeah we are saying dell is bad i mean for someone who knows nothing about pcs they are fine but past that nope nothing good


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## ex_reven (Oct 1, 2006)

id agree. they make a great office or home computer for the information technology inept.

Same with HP...*shudder* they can be so ugly. Though ive seen some models with impressive performance despite the fact that their specs are scary (in a bad way).


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## pt (Oct 1, 2006)

HP las time i checked was worse than Dell

"A quote Dell comercial: this computer has one of the best gfx card in the market a brand new 7500le"  

They should be sued over and over again


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## ex_reven (Oct 1, 2006)

pt said:


> HP las time i checked was worse than Dell
> 
> "A quote Dell comercial: this computer has one of the best gfx card in the market a brand new 7500le"
> 
> They should be sued over and over again



more like plowed in their rectumus maximus

(hp is worse ... i wouldnt own one if you paid me lol)


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## cdawall (Oct 1, 2006)

the old hp comps were ok i have a smelleron 4xx and the mobo is unlocked so you can oc it  good time good times and its old so the multi is open


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## W1zzard (Oct 1, 2006)

ex_reven said:


> are you saying everything else by dell is utterly crap?
> 
> their cases are ugly but i cant say the same about their performance laptops, ive got a mate that owns one and even though its old now i envy its portable power .



i'm very happy with my dell 2001fp flat panel .. after exchanging it 7 times


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## cdawall (Oct 1, 2006)

lol 7 times thats umm a lot shoulda got an hp 1080p rear projection tv those are nice


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## error_f0rce (Oct 1, 2006)

I'm am particularly pissed at Dell for buying Alienware, IMO one of the few really, really good pre-built performance PC makers on the market.  Now they will be sucked into the crapiness that is Dell :shadedshu

And now HP owns Voodoo PC... what is the world coming to?  I understand wanted to make a profit and all that, but it would be nice to have one good company that wouldn't sell out...


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## ex_reven (Oct 2, 2006)

error_f0rce said:


> I'm am particularly pissed at Dell for buying Alienware, IMO one of the few really, really good pre-built performance PC makers on the market.  Now they will be sucked into the crapiness that is Dell :shadedshu
> 
> And now HP owns Voodoo PC... what is the world coming to?  I understand wanted to make a profit and all that, but it would be nice to have one good company that wouldn't sell out...



in my opinion nothing will change. Dell is coming to the point where they realise that their computers fail to satiate growing performance needs in the geek market, buying Alienware allows them to fill the gaps they have in their company's coverage of the PC market.

Im pretty sure although Alienware is now a subsidiary of Dell that it will still operate somewhat independently, which means that the awesome PC's (although overpriced) that they built in the past will probably keep coming for a long time yet


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## xman2007 (Oct 2, 2006)

imo i would ditch that nasty looking red and black case   and opt for the second one you posted,nice n black not too fancy etc cool.


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## error_f0rce (Oct 3, 2006)

I know, prices, prices... but before you buy either of those, check out this one that Darksaber wrote the review for:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Apluscase/TwinEngine/


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## ex_reven (Oct 3, 2006)

or he could just buy a cheap $40-60 case (thats australian dollars mind you)...

even a beige one would do, he could spray paint it with a few coats of black
do some stencilling on the sides, paint the drive bays etc.

get some nice new 120mm fans
chuck the 80mm ones
buy some cold cathodes 

the works


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