The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

Yah really. This thread hasn't even gone 2 full years yet ;P

 

Oman7,
All they did was remove the sticky from the previous thread. That's what they are talking about, not this one! You did notice that it isn't closed? LOL!!

Russ

 

I'll be slapping an MSI mobo in a HEC HTPC case today. I'll post all relevant pics This will be my first HTPC case. Should be interesting

LOL! RIGHT before I posted this, my brother texted my email address saying his kid(my nephew) cracked the tv screen, and to forget about the computer. I texted back "You must be joking...". Apparently he was not. I will still however be doing the build.

 

Here's what his screen looks like now. A childs sippy cup is what struck it! Poor thing is barely over a month old. It was a pretty decent tv too

Just watched District 9 on it last night. Pretty good movie

 

Dynex? Who?

Nah, it is a shame when stuff like that happens though. I still get nervous every time I walk past our TV

 

LOL! Thats how I reacted to my brother when he brought it home. They picked it up for like 450$. Not bad for a 40" Full HDTV. Good all around picture too. Now they can't even play their new wii...much less surf the net in the living room. Apparently that kind of damage is not covered. Such a shame.

 

It's not covered by warranties, but it is covered on household posessions/equipment insurance.

 

Are you saying that home owners insurance might cover it? I know my mother already suggested it to him

 

I believe so. Most homeowner's insurance policies cover appliances (of which I believe TVs are included, but not for faults, only accidents) and student posessions insurance do cover damage as my friend damaged a PC monitor in a taxi and got a replacement off insurance - I will warn you though, the process was far from quick. You would be better of buying a replacement, trying the insurance and then selling what you get back from the insurance company.

 

Oman7,
That's another big reason I prefer DLP to Plasma, LCD or LED. Go into a big store that has a lot of TVs on display, and just look for the best picture. Chances are you will pick a DPL set every time! Hell, I can do it from about 50 feet away! LOL!! I haven't missed yet!

Russ

 

Strange, most of the people I know thought DLP TVs had the worst picture. All of the ones I've seen have been pretty mediocre. Also, if I remember correctly, DLP TVs aren't really sold in the EU because they don't meet energy efficiency standards or something like that, along with being much too big compared to smaller LCDs and Plasmas.

Also remember, TVs used in shops are set to the highest brightness and contrast settings to grab users' attention even though it makes the picture look crap. Real image quality is moot since all the sets will be hooked up to a cheap splitter junction off of either an incoming TV signal or cheap DVD player, and they'll almost always be in Standard Def. Since DLP TVs can't produce the brightness and contrast levels of Plasmas/LCDs they are effectively set up correctly from the get-go at maximum brightness. This means they seemingly have the best picture in the showroom, but the worst picture in actuality.

 

Sam,
Maybe it's the way TV is in the UK, but here, nothing beats a Mitsubishi Diamond Plus for picture quality, and it will have that same picture quality, long after the Plasma has faded away. The older Plasma's were even worse, as they lasted about a year before the picture quality started to go downhill. All the current one's I've seen seem to start losing picture quality after about 2 years. The DLP has the more natural picture, thanks to what technically is a Technicolor picture. They use a color wheel, with the source being black & white. The lamps do burn out over time, and they are expensive, but far cheaper than a new Plasma screen, and much easier to replace! The Sears store here has about 100 large sets on display, and it's not the brightness that attracts you, as Sears doesn't do that sort of thing. Most reputable places don't! The first time I went over there I inquired to the Salesman where the DLP sets were. His answer was to look for the best picture. I found every one of the 5 they had on display by picture quality alone, without any difficulty. You never have to worry about burn-in either. As you can see by the picture omegaman7 showed, plasma screens are also somewhat fragile.

Here, Videophiles prefer DLP! I can't tell you how many times I've seen reviews of Plasma and LED TVs from CNET and other sites like that, that started with, "Personally I prefer DLP, but"! I concur! There must be some reason the theaters here that have digital projectors, are all DLP technology!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

From what I've seen of LED NOT LCD tv's they are very nice. Plasma are ok but NOT what I want.

Never really paid attention to the DLP tv's... I'll look next time I hit the electronic store.

 

The screen I posted was an LCD screen. The best one i've seen in person too The picture quality didn't change by ones viewing angle. No matter where you sat in the living room, the picture quality didn't degrade. My mothers screen is plasma though. I won't buy a plasma myself. Thankfully a very short-lived technology! What a shame that LCD screens can't be replaced in the same fashion that an SD card can But then the industry wouldn't make as much money...

 

Ah Ha! Here is the HTPC pics. Quite the challenge actually. I probably won't make a habit of doing these. And i'll definitely look for other designs next time. While this one is ok, i'm sure there are better ones out there.

Here is the task at hand. Putting the µATX board in the HTPC case. When I opened up the MSI barebone case(Mid tower), I almost laughed looking at the board. I always forget how small they are LOL! I generally stick with atx boards. Yes, i've seen mini ITX boards. I've even heard of a pico itx board LOL! Fits in the palm of your hand.
Kind of convenient that this case has stationary/permanent risers. Not use to seeing those.

You definitely need a game plan when building these badboys! I got it nearly done, and realized I hadn't plugged in the Front panel connections. No biggie. All I had to do was disconnect the IDE cable on the HDD, and had access to the ports. The 24pin power inlet on the other hand is a very close call! You absolutely must have the optical drive slid out, to have access. And you also have to give the wires a bit of a bend. I gave it a 90° angle, which did the trick

Your probably thinking, "why IDE drives/cables"? Well the fact of the matter is, I was using stuff laying around. The 500Gb AAKB is an IDE Drive, that was simply storing some TV episodes. I dumped the drive to one of my TB drives, badda bing! In the future, I will NOT be using IDE In one of these cases LOL! And I also wonder about changing out the fans in this beast. I've read a few bad reviews about the fans. At least one of them is sleeve. Aren't Bearing fans usually the better ones?





All in all I think it's a decent build. I don't like the cable management. It blocks air from getting into the poor case. But most of the devices don't run very hot. I suppose the 5200+ athlon could run warm. But it really isn't gonna do anything strenuous except playing blu-rays down the road. At least I hope it can. Be an interesting test! And besides, the top cover is gonna allow intake air for the CPU I suppose the AAKB drive runs a bit warmer than its successors though too. During the transfer, I grabbed it to move it, and it was WARM to the touch. Not hot by any means, but perhaps enough to heat the system up.

LOL!!! Don't worry. I noticed the Usb cable in the intake fan

 

I'm no big fan of Plasmas either for much the reasons you stated. The image quality deteriorates after time. Neither DLPs or LCDs have that issue. I will concede I have not seen a Mitsubishi Diamond Plus specifically, but I find it hard to believe it's the only example of the technology that was any good picture wise. Generally I have found that DLPs provided good 'real' colour accuracy like that of CRTs, but had very weak contrast settings which meant a 'washed out' picture. LCDs and to a lesser extent Plasmas are usually heavily oversaturated, with the colours so bright and vivid that they are only any use playing animation - anything real looks stupid. This is as a result of the high settings employed in showrooms. Spend a couple of minutes in the menu and you can get a decent LCD TV looking very good indeed.
You also covered the other reason why I don't like DLP TVs, having to change lamps. Replacement lamps are very expensive. LCD TVs are mega-cheap now compared to what they were, £550 for a 42" is nothing compared to what they used to cost. Last time I looked, a replacement lamp for a DLP TV was approaching half that price.
Omega's TV looks like an LCD by the way it has fractured, not a Plasma. Yes, they are fragile, but they're half the size, use a lot less power with recent models, overall IMO provide a much better image and don't have any time-limited parts to refit!
LED TVs don't exist yet, but rather, LED backlit LCD TVs at the moment. There's a big difference!

 

Oman7,
This is what I recommend for 80mm fans.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220023
It comes with a speed control with a port bracket. A 92mm blade in an 80mm frame 1300 to 1400 RPM, should move enough air and at that speed, and is very quiet. They are not silent, but not near annoying either. I still have the first one I bought in my computer, from more than 4 years ago and my Pentium D. It's been in the E4300, E6750, moved to the AMD Athlonx2 7750, and now in my Quad core! That's a lot of use being that it's on more than 14 hours a day, and it's quieter than it was when new! The speed control will let you balance the airflow for best cooling. They also move a good bit of air. They are capable of terrible noise, but I've never found need for more than 1200 to 1400 RPM yet! I can't even imagine someone running it at 3600 RPM without ear plugs!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

i can't wait for oled to take off.ill probably be buying a decent tv this year, if only for the world cup in 3d

 

Wow russ. That's one of the most expensive fans on newegg i've looked at I realize you get what you pay for though. And it does look like that sucker can push some air What that case really needs is good exhaust. At present, the only thing pulling air out, is the PSU. No wonder the damn things are failing LOL! People put hot components in the case, and wonder why the damn PSU's are going.

I haven't even run that PC yet. For all my extras, space is somewhat an issue. I believe i have an idea now. I'd like to run it for one hour, and check its temperature I think i'll go with windows 7 just for the heck of it

Guess i'm gonna go see that new movie "Avatar" first though