First time builder looking for input

[PTROTH]

Stormcrow - From looking at Newegg it seems the Thermaltake Armor Series Silver ATX Full Tower is only marginally larger than the Antec
Armor - 22.1" x 8.7" x 20.9"
P182 - 21.3" x 8.1" x 19.9"

What is the real difference between a midATX tower and a "full tower"?

[Elysium]

The P182 is really designed for noise dampening, not so much optimal temperatures. It's really for the person that wants an ultra quiet rig, not someone that wants a quad-core and a 8800GTX.

The Thermaltake Armor (or any other full tower really) is really designed to house those top-shelf components and gives them the air they need to breathe. THIS Armor has the massive 25cm side fan, and that alone will cool better than the P182 could do, ever.

[PTROTH]

Sounds like this case would be better for me.

On another note - it has been suggested that the Corsair CMPSU 620HX is overkill, and even if I run SLI I won't need that much power - better off getting the Corsair 520HX. Thoughts?

[One4yu2c]

Having used both the P182 (reviewed it) and Thermaltake Armor (currently using one for my personal system), I can tell you there's quite a bit more elbow room in Armor, particularly if you're going to dabble with water cooling. And yes, you do need to remove the top drive bay if you plan on running an 8800GTX videocard:

[_WBaS_]

Don't most mobo's accept booting from USB devices now? I think floppies should be killed off lol

EDIT: Woops, didn't realize there was another page of replies! Sorry for the off topic!

[Athildja-x64]

Originally Posted by halutzparilla

screwball, i though you owns a 965P-DS3??? this one i link is not a DS3 965P chipset...

here is another one but i haven't have this, Newegg.com - EVGA 122-CK-NF63-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail i'm planning to buy this myself...

I would avoid any of the 680i boards and a quad. I have two (including the one you mention above) and niether work properly with the QX6850 or the QX6800. The eVGA is also picky on RAM.
If you are seriously considering going with a Quad I would stick with an Intel based chipset, you are going to run into less problems than with nVidia's broke one.

Also the X38 chipset has some problems with speedstep on the quads you could wait for the X48 but that is not due out until January next year.

All that having been said I would look at either the Asus P35 or the Gigabyte P35 boards.

On the 64 bit note. Vista x64 has driver signing requirements that tend to get in the way of many 3rd party and freeware applications.
There are ways around it but it is something to be prepared for if you are considering going that route.

Sorry, I just realized that I missed 6 pages worth of posts..
If this information has been given before I apologize.

Sean

[PTROTH]

One4yu2c - That was awesome! Spot on photo - and being worth 1,000 words it succinctly explained the problem - Loved the tape measure!

[PTROTH]

Current build is Asus P5k-E Intel P35 mobo w/ Kentsfield Q6600. I don't think there are any compatability issues there, right?

Also I've read lately about how all the whining and griping about Vista is overdone and a LOT of compatability issues have been cleared up. Push comes to shove I suppose I could always install XP for dual boot system.

[fstroupe]

Originally Posted by PTROTH

Sounds like this case would be better for me.

On another note - it has been suggested that the Corsair CMPSU 620HX is overkill, and even if I run SLI I won't need that much power - better off getting the Corsair 520HX. Thoughts?

IMO, whoever suggested that really doesn't have a clue.

The rule used to be "buy the biggest and best PSU you can afford." Now that the 1K mark has been breached, that really doesn't apply...but personally, if there is even the slightest possibility that there will be overclocking involved, I feel that 600W is the minimum power supply for any modern rig...and if that rig is running a power-hungry 8800GTX or Ultra, I'd say 750W.

I have seen 500 watt PSUs that weren't powerful enough for 7900 series GPUs.

Also, keep in mind that the 620HX is SLI Certified for only up to twin 7900GTX or 7800GTX 512MB. In my book, that makes it marginal for a single 8800GTX. The 520HX is Certified for anything less than that.

There are a small handful of PSUs under 800 watts Certified for twin 8800GTXs. I know that you aren't planning SLI at the present...but rethink your PSU if you think you might later. Though, you will probably be so blown away by a single 8800GTX, the though of another will be laughable.

[Athildja-x64]

Originally Posted by PTROTH

Current build is Asus P5k-E Intel P35 mobo w/ Kentsfield Q6600. I don't think there are any compatability issues there, right?

Also I've read lately about how all the whining and griping about Vista is overdone and a LOT of compatability issues have been cleared up. Push comes to shove I suppose I could always install XP for dual boot system.

The P5K-E is a pretty good board, there should not be any issues with it.
As for Vista most of the complaints about the 32 bit version have been fixed or there are tested work-arounds for them. Vista x64 has the annoying driver signing that prevents many free applications from working, there are a few work arounds for this but they have to be applied each time the system is started to keep working.
One of the most comming ones I know about is with CoreTemp.
Unless you use Atsiv it will not run under Vista x64. it wont load the driver.

As I said x64 Vista is hard to get setup and running with everythingyou might want due to driver and driver signing issues but it is faster than the 32 bit version.