The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

Oman7,
I don't think you could find a more appealing HTPC Case than this one!

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_spec.php?pno=LC13-E&area=usa

Very Elegant looking and functional case!

Russ

 

Oman7,
I don't think you could find a more appealing HTPC Case than this one!
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_spec.php?pno=LC13-E&area=usa
Very Elegant looking and functional case!
Russ[/quote]
NICE! Very nice. I also found this one. They dont appear too different other than the one I found will hold more internal HDD's. But for a media center PC, why would someone need that much storage. a couple of 2TB drives would suffice LOL! I like the silver look a lot!!! However, I also like black a lot too. Im starting to think long and hard for my bro. He wants/needs an HTPC, so he can store his discs. The kids manage to keep getting their paws on them LOL!

 

Shaff: Remember the HAF has four front USBs not two like most cases, so it's using two headers, but I do think it's probably the case given what omega said.
Fred: Glad you enjoyed it over here, but a small town like Peterborough? Guess that's a sign of living in the US, Peterborough is a BIG place by our standards. Thermaltake Kandalf is indeed a full tower, the same size as most large cases, the HAF932 we use included. However, I believe Shaff's Lian Li A70B was atually slightly bigger as it is longer than standard full towers (I think)
Shaff: Speak for yourself, I'll be quite frank, I'd prefer to live here than in the US I think. True, there are no 30+ºC entire weeksof perfect sunshine, but then there's also none of the tropical summer weather like you get in Florida, no (significant) earthquakes, no hurricanes, no (significant) tornadoes, no blizzards.

Silverstone's small cases (can't speak for their big ones but I imagine they're similar in this regard) are a real disappointment. They look amazing in the photos, and when you see them in real life, unlike Thermaltake/Aspire/Apevia etc. They look good, but then you see how well they're put together and you lose a lot of that enthusiasm.

 

NICE! Very nice. I also found this one. They dont appear too different other than the one I found will hold more internal HDD's. But for a media center PC, why would someone need that much storage. a couple of 2TB drives would suffice LOL! I like the silver look a lot!!! However, I also like black a lot too. Im starting to think long and hard for my bro. He wants/needs an HTPC, so he can store his discs. The kids manage to keep getting their paws on them LOL![/quote]
The Silverstone I linked you, comes in black as well! Actually I love the Antec Fusion HTPC cases, but I want more than one optical drive bay!

Russ

 

mmm hmmm. I definitely like the look of the black. Sexxy LOL! XD

 

Well Folks, My 7750BE arrived an hour or so ago! AMD shipped it late Monday and it took 5 less days to get to me than it took to get it to Florida, UPS! I'm going to let it run at 3.2GHz for a few days and see how it goes!

Oh! It shipped with a new cooler, even though they didn't have me ship the old one! Outstanding Service!

Stay Tuned,
Russ

 

sam i used a card reader and the 2 case usbs, so i was using 2 usb headers at a time aswell

 

Well there you go, it's definitely the USB ports on the case.

 

Great news Russ, finally huh!, is it the exact same model mobo you had before?

 

Sam,

I found this in amongst some other specs at www.usb.org

According to the specs a USB 2.0 device can't sink more than 500mA @5V if it's connected on the main hub or self powered hub.

and if the device is connected to a bus powered hub it can sink up to 100mA(at)5V.

If you need more power you must make your USB Device self powered and not Bus powered!

That's a 400mA loss of efficiency using bus power. At only 5v, it doesn't take a great deal of distance for line loss to show up! That being said, what they are telling you that the front, bus powered ports are not as good, by about 80%, as the ones on the back of the motherboard, that are on the main hub! The front ports do not conform to the USB 2.0 Specs fully! I just plugged in a keyboard with two usb ports on it into one of my front ports. The keyboard works, but I get an error message that the port will not support the device when I plug in a 1GB Travel Drive into it. If I click on the balloon that pops up, it gives me a list of available ports it will work in! I have a 128 and 512 Sony's that work fine in the same port, but I'm not about to risk the 32MB corsair flash drive, by plugging it into a front USB, not after getting this from the Horses Mouth!

I don't think I have to say very much, as usb.org said it all for me!

You say that the wires aren't that thin, but they are. Most I've seen are #22 stranded or smaller, and an absolute bitch to solder. The same size as smaller fan wires, like for chipset fans. The catch is those fans are 12v, not 5v! If they were 5v the present wiring would get very hot. They would have to use about #14 to #12 stranded, if the fans were 5v! The motors would also run hotter. It's also the same reason, for cars going from 6v to 12v. You can meet the same amount of electrical demand at roughly half the amperage with considerably smaller wires. 80 Lbs. of copper wire for the 12v, vs 150 Lbs. for the 6v! You said it yourself that "a flash drive draws all of 600-700mA". That's 100 to 200mA more than the specks for a Main port or Powered hub! I'm even surprised to find out that people do so much with front usbs. Half the stuff they plug into them really shouldn't work at all! LOL!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I think I understood most of what Russ explained and think I have just learned some. As he said (If you need more power you must make your USB Device self powered and not Bus powered!) with the PC you helped me build if you remember I did purchase an internal usb hub, I don't remember how I connected it, but I must have connected it the way you just explained cause I have no problems at all.

 

Fred,
I started out with the DS4H, and when I thought it was defective, Newegg replaced it with the UD4H. Gigabyte in turn replaced it because of chipset problems! I've had the MB for months, it was the 7750BE from AMD that I was waiting for. The first UD4H damaged the CPU! Right now I'm just fooling around with it, but this weekend I will wipe the C drive and do a fresh install of XP-Pro. I think there is a few glitches in the installed software caused by the bad CPU! By the way it was running when I pulled the CPU, I figured there would be file errors. I need to wipe the drive anyway, as you can't do a thing with folders that have corrupt files, that I know of. They won't let you delete or open the folders! I get my Sceptre back today or Friday, so I'll be busy this weekend! LOL!!

Good to see you back! Sorry to hear you are hurting. I just hope the third time is the charm!

Russ

 

I just hope the third time is the charm! Yeah me to Russ! I just hope you can finally get your PC together proper, I know both you and I had almost the exact same build, as harsh as it may sound if it did have to happen to one of us sadly it happened to you but better you lol, you know my do's and dont's and probably know that if it was me that sucker would have been thrown right out the window, thank the bearded guy upstairs you know what your doing.

 

Opps forgot!

Russ or anybody, as you will see, besides one being lightscribe and one not which I don't care, what is the difference between Bulk-OEM, and one saying Retail.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140035

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140028

 

Russ that's not power efficiency that's because bus powered hubs split the power from one socket four ways, and the actual hub, usually complete with LEDs needs powering as well. Bus-powered USB hubs are a silly idea anyway.
I've seen 5V fans use that diameter wire actually, but not high speed or large ones.
My estimate for the power a flash drive uses was a rough estimate, and was actually based on that of a full size 2.5" SSD. A normal size USB drive (16GB or less) should be drawing well below the max output of a USB port.

 

retail you get the white faceplate with it and a owners manual and in a nice box.OEM all you get is the drive in plastic bubble wrap.

Fred stay away from the HP burners they only do a Firmware update about once every 3 years.

try this one if ya want a new 24x drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

 

Lol, wouldn't affect me, I've never updated the firmware on an ODD. Seen no need to.
24x, very nice. Why is it Sony Optiarc now? I'm guessing Sony are trying to oust NEC for any input with ODDs. That can never be a good sign, NEC's burners were better.

 

The drive in my laptop is a Sony Optiarc AD-7560S and so far it's been flawless, absolutely no complaints. Done ~40 burns and every single one turned out perfect. Also got a Samsung SH-203N for my desktop that I'm very happy with. A couple times I burned a dvd at 22x on accident and as far as I can tell it turned out just fine.

 

I burn discs as fast as the drive will go, regardless. As long as I buy decent discs, I never have a problem.