Project: Im new here. :D

[Dominating]

Ok guys im new to all this stuff first of this is my first real computer built from the ground up i've been saving for awhile to build this budget rig and gradually bought new parts as i was going. The rig consists of 9800GTX+, E2140 for cpu "budget cpu that OC's hard" a generic 650 watt psu and a a-power cheapest case i could find. the rest is just as budget as i could go 2gb ddr ram a p31 mobo... etc anyway im here to ask for some opinions on my build...

This is the case.

http://www.a-power.com.au/upload/5670eb98d7bf3cd8c169e47c0f2444a0.JPG

http://www.a-power.com.au/upload/ad2995c17989b55d93bf7eff900ab143.JPG

I have so far painted the inside black and mounted a fan at the front.

I have gone to the nearest hardware and managed to pick up a dremel so now im thinking a side window would be nice also a top mounted fan "maybe" are there any mods or ideas you guys have to make this case better looking it'd be great.. Also im running a 9800GTX+ and that bish loves to draw power i really dont think the standerd 650w psu i got will handle it i have a 300w psu from a old comp laying around im wondering where the best place would be to mount it at first was thinking it would fit in the 2 5.25 inch bays at the front but that means i would have to run the power cored out the front and that would look horrible now im thinking of having it on the outside of the case but without the side off i couldn't get the power cords inside :D, so maybe you guys have some better ideas for adding a psu and where to mount it.

[jdbnsn]

Welcome to TBCS! Congrats on starting your first DIY build, you are going to have a great time working on it! As for ideas, well there are so many things you can do you'll need to be more specific. My advice is to browse the gallery (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/modding) and fish for things that peak your interest. There are options on the right sidebar to browse a random selection, but I recommend browsing alphabetically and just making your way through some of the fantastic projects within. You're sure to see some stuff that gives you ideas, and then if you need help figuring out how to apply them there are lots of folks here who would be happy to lend a hand.

Jon

[Dominating]

Thanks alot :D well the first mod i was looking for answer for is mounting a second psu best position :D, inside would be great but really dont know where i can fit it and not make it look bad :P, any ideas modding the case to fit it or mounting on the outside or somthing like that would be great..

[DonT-FeaR]

yea welcome... and the way i got ideas for my projects was looking at all the wonderful mods around.... (frenkie and boddakker are really good modders)

[The boy 4rm oz]

A very nice starting case. Welcome and good luck.

[CodyOdiOdi]

I think the 650w PSU should work fine... I have a 700w PSU in my case, with a 9800GT in it. It works just fine. If you SLI maybe you'd have a problem, but again, I doubt it.

[SKDgarbage]

Welcome! 650 will be fine, I've got two 9800GTs in SLi and my PSU is only 680.

As for ideas look around here and google, look at designs you like, what materials look cool to you, anything you enjoy besides computers that could work it's way in? Let us know and we'll help with some ideas!

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Ahh, as I said yesterday to someone else - 650 would be fine, but "the cheapest" one you could find is almost certainly employing false advertising.

So what I'm saying is, I'd just run a single power supply from a reputable brand, anywhere from 600 watts on up, rather than fiddling with two supplies, either of which could burn out at any time.

[PartyLikeARockstar]

First of all: Welcome to TBCS! Second, here's The thing with power supplies though... Don't just go on watts alone, do not disrespect the 12V rail(s). Get a reliable power supply with a high (35 amps+) single +12V rail or multiple rails at least totaling that amount before overclocking if you can, lest your system moonlight as the new neighborhood grill.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Corsair, Antec, Tagan, Thermaltake, Seasonic and quite a few other manufacturers make excellent PSUs. I use Antec and have never had a problem with it. If my mind serves me correctly Corsair are making some of the best PSUs ATM. Adding on what Rockstar said above. You also need to make sure the PSU has enough connectors to suit your needs and meets the minimum requirements for your graphics cards. I know for a fact that ATI list a minimum PSU requirement for single and crossfire systems for most of their cards, I am pretty sure Nvidia do the same.

600W should be more than enough. I run a Q6600 and an 8800GTX with water cooling off an Antec Neo HE 550W PSU with absolutely no trouble at all.

[Dominating]

Ok guys thanks a heap for the replies... about the power supply "the main reason i was posting on sites :D" i have like 0 moneys atm :P so this is why i was thinking about mounting a second power supply i have my 300w psu and was thinking i could use this dedicated to my graphics card and some fans then use the 650w to power my mobo, cpu, hard drives, cd drive etc i have some guides on how to bypass the motherboard bit so the power supply doesn't need to be connected to a motherboard and i can start the computer and the 2 psu's run at the same time. so the question is, is it save to run 2 psu's in the one box and where do you guys beleive is the best place to mount it thinking maybe the 5.25 inch bays or either on the outside of the case i really do think i would be better off running the 2 psu's untill i get a new power supply... which prob wont be for awhile so what do you guys think writing this at school.. so sorry if its unreadable will prob edit when i get home :P dont have time now. Motherboard should arrive next week and will hopfully start putting it together also watching on ebay to pick up a few 80m fans to mount at the top of the case.

Will prob try and find a old p4 case this weekend to practice cutting for my window mod.

[The boy 4rm oz]

You can run duel PSUs and it does work. It is as simple as getting a pass through adapter so both PSUs atatch to the motherboard through the same plug. Personally I don't like the idea, mainly due to the extra weight, moreroom used, extra noise and if one goes your screwed especially if you have modded it. The only way I would go duel PSUs is if I got a Thermaltake 5.25" bay PSU for the graphics card, they are quite good.

[Dominating]

Ok haven't posted anything in a while because i have been trying to find my camera, i have found it so tonight i will be posting pics of my comp black my motherboard finaly arived so i was putting it together last night for the first test but i stumbled :S i was using the old cpu cooler of my oem computer but relised how am i going to get it to screw into the motherboard because i dont have a backplate :S so tonight i will take it apart post pics of the black case and i guess ill have to order a new cooler because i need a new backplate because i beleive the old oem one won't come off it must be glude on or somthing... so tonight hopefully some of the pics will be up..

I also bought a old p4 case and a cheap verstion of the dremel but it faild won't cut the metal, i ended up tin snipping the window out of the p4 but i dont think i will do it with my main cheap case because the tin snipps kind of bend the metal and i dont think my case will handle it very well. I'm thinking i will just do a fan or somthing on the side because i've got one of the round drill cutting things somwhere lol, also a top mounted fan, watching ebay for some cheap fans :P

[Dominating]

Btw anyone have suggestions on what cooler i should try and get if i can just get a backplate.. thinking zalman heard good things about them or thermaltake its needs to be as cheap as possible and from a australian store :D so if you have recomendations post them :D that would be great.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Check out PC Case Gear then see if your local MSY store has it any cheaper. They are both Australia wide.

[Dominating]

Oh God! i am so cut, ok i worked out how to get the backplate of my old motherboard with a hairdryer and screw driver :D put it on screwed the fan and heatsink in bam put everything together checked all the plugs put all the power plugs in crossed my fingers and bam a light on the mobo came on i was like yay!!! THEN PRESSED THE FRONT SWITCH AND NOTHING!

The thing wouldn't start at all :( i cant really work out whats going on i made sure the pwsw was in checked the power cables onece again.. everything fine, it either is a faulty power supply or cpu could be in the wrong way i guess lol would that make it not power at all? the other thing is could be a faulty connection on the front power switch i guess prob take it all apart onece again tonight see if i can figure it out..

Anyone know any other reasons why this would happen?

[nevermind1534]

Is everything plugged in correctly? Is the switch on the back of the PSU set to the correct voltage? Try shorting the two pins that the power switch plugs into.

[Luke122]

Did you remember to add the 4pin connector to the motherboard? I've done that myself a few times. ;)

[nevermind1534]

Did you remember to add the 4pin connector to the motherboard? I've done that myself a few times. ;)

And all 24 pins (if the motherboard takes 24) of the main ATX connector?

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Corsair, Antec, Tagan, Thermaltake, Seasonic and quite a few other manufacturers make excellent PSUs.

Note that Antec, Corsair, and Thermaltake simply rebrand PSUs from other companies - Corsair are high-quality Seasonic, Antec are Delta (Signature, these are excellent but pricey), Seasonic, or FSP/FortronSource/Sparkle (Basiq), and Thermaltake... well, their ToughPower line are built by Channel Well and are just fine; their lesser models aren't nearly as good.

I'd recommend any of these, as well as Enermax, Silverstone (some are Etasis-built and excellent, some are Seventeam and still very good)... Zippy/Emacs are also very good but rather expensive; same goes for Etasis.

Cooler Masters are generally good, but overrated by 50-100w. They can be a good deal when on sale, however. The ones you're likely to be looking at are AcBel or Seventeam units of older design; their only weak point is the 120mm fan, which will require oiling or a RMA of the power supply. Still a good deal on the cheap. (I've got one; the fan died after 13 months of 24/7 operation.)

EDIT: This is a good guide for when you save up a bit. Hopefully I'll learn to check whether a thread's grown onto two pages someday!

Nothing turns on? No fans spinning, nothing? Try unplugging the PSU and sticking a paper clip from the green wire (signal) to one of the black ones (ground) in the 24-pin connector, then plugging it back in and turning the switch on. That'll test whether the PSU's completely cactus. At least the board's receiving power, in theory.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Was the backplate metal? Was there any insulating material between the backplate and the mobo? If the backplate was metal it could have created a short and fried your board.

[Dominating]

Ok guy's ive been playing around and trying get this working :S i have so far found out that it isn't the power supply because i jump started it with a paper clip and the LED fan came on and the front panel lights then i plugged the motherboard plug and atx power back in and started it and again nothing! besides a yellow light under "SB PWR" so im thinking the motherboard will have to be sent back.. also checked cpu and its in the right way :P, unless there is a lose or wrong connection i cant find :S

[The boy 4rm oz]

Have you tried removing the cooler backplate? Try the stock cooler. I have a feeling the backplate shorted out on the mobo and fried it.

[Dominating]

Have you tried removing the cooler backplate? Try the stock cooler. I have a feeling the backplate shorted out on the mobo and fried it.

I am using the stock cooling of my old btx board nd the backplate is a plastic kind of meterial i think. :mad: looks like ill have to take the mobo out and send it baack and get a new one the only thing is there is a yellow light on it would that prove its not faulty :P i just dont :mad:know what else 2 do

[Dominating]

Hell yea boyyyeee! :D its working took the mobo out and plugged it in outside the case and nothing was working as before so i thought hmm is there anything i can do to boot the motherboard and searched arounnd forums and found i could boot the mobo with a screwdriver metal onto the pwr sw and it turns on so i tryed that and bam the mobo booted!, so now i new that it was the front switch so looked at menual again and it said plug it into the 1 pin pw sw on motherboard but i suddenly relised that the front penel cable 2 the switch is 2 pin rofl and relised that it must need to be grouded so i took the system speaker out and then put the switch cable in side ways so the white cable was on the grounded speaker pin and the orange was on the pw sw pin and BAM it worked waas like w0000t :D so put it all back together and installing windows now.. so from this experience just shows how reading the menual for directions isn't always the best thing to do :) will post pics when my computer is up and running :)

[Dominating]

Also THANKS alot for the replies and trying to help out wouldn't of done it without you guys would of just givin up :P but now my comp is working OVERCLOCK time :D and hopefully will hve a look at doing some mods next weekend window mod's the go just gotta find a tool that i feel comfertable using.. :)

[The boy 4rm oz]

Glad to hear its working. I have never had a problem with plugging my speaker in back to front though lol.

[Dominating]

http://img15.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=pict0254lyx.jpg

Some images of my build first build :) so wasn't really worried about cable management or anything :P just wanted to get it working up and working well i've overclocked the e2140 to 1.92ghz need some better ram to push it more because my ram is rated at 333 and its running at 400mhz atm :P but it seems to be stable atm... there's a pic of the cold diode light that i picked up from a dump shop for 5 bucks witch was a lucky find. :P the cd drive isn't working atm because i need to get another molex splitter. But yea think the black painted inside looks sweet i wanna do a window mod but really haven't had the time and still searching ebay see if i can find some nice 120mm fans cheap for top mounted fan and bottom but yea nothing really been done to it lately might take it apart next weekend now its working to cut some holes for cable management so when i get the window in it will look nice :D