10-bay Antec vs 14-bay Chieftec

[az]

Yes, they both use the IC Ensemble Envy24 (bought by via, still a good product), not the cheaper Envy24HT

AZ

[Kurt]

Originally posted by az
As a soundcard, I highly suggest the Terratec 6Fire 24/96. It's a GREAT card, especially for music, but also for games. It's about the best sounding card you can get for the money (I think it shares the DSP with the M-Audio revolution).

I have a chieftec CS601 miditower, and it's HEAVY. The bigtower is definately not a PC to carry about. That said, the chieftecs and Antecs are very similar AFAIK.

BTW, if you can do with a 350 W PSU, the Seventeam ST-350HLP is quite cheap, good, reliable, and very quiet.

AZ

you mean they both use the *VIA* Envy24....(actually I don't think VIA has had time enough to muck up the Envy24 seriously...yet...)

[Guru]

Originally posted by bsdgeek
Is that WTX?

Crazy lookin'

Nope http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php...light=Chieftec

[xortam]

You might consider an external SCSI box. I like the flexibility (move between systems) and power/heat benefits it provides (separate PS and fans, and not contributing heat to the main box). You might also be able to locate the box where it doesn't contribute as much noise as it would if the devices were in the main box.

[bsdgeek]

Is that WTX?

Crazy lookin'

[Guru]

Hmmm are you sure that is a chieftech DA-01 ?

Here is what mine looks (looked like over 1 year old pics) like!

http://www.teamdgc.com/computers/comp1.html

[az]

I'd recommend a good soundcard and good, reasonably priced headphones, like the Sennheiser HD497 I got. Amazing clarity, and I paid ~50 EUR for the cans.

AZ

[UtwigMU]

Forget soundcard, I won't violate soundcard worth more than speakers rule here (as I did with graphic card - worth more than displays - just because I got a good price on it and it was a requirement for better displays).

I might even get Muse untill I overhaul monitors and then transfer it to other rig and get serious soundcard.

[az]

Oh yes, firewire on soundcards might not be as good as onboard, or on firewire cards, but I don't know how this is twith the Hercules. I only know that my 6Fire sounds FANTASTIC.

AZ

[az]

As a soundcard, I highly suggest the Terratec 6Fire 24/96. It's a GREAT card, especially for music, but also for games. It's about the best sounding card you can get for the money (I think it shares the DSP with the M-Audio revolution).

I have a chieftec CS601 miditower, and it's HEAVY. The bigtower is definately not a PC to carry about. That said, the chieftecs and Antecs are very similar AFAIK.

BTW, if you can do with a 350 W PSU, the Seventeam ST-350HLP is quite cheap, good, reliable, and very quiet.

AZ

[UtwigMU]

The reason for Hercules is Firewire port.

[UtwigMU]

Yes, you may also buy them on Newegg, board a plane and bring them along.

Seriously: The Pabsts (some of the better fans to be had here - small market) are 15$ a piece while Zalmans are 5$. The performance is not 3-times better.

Could you please link MAudio Revolution?

Basically the market is small here and enthusiast market is even smaller, so there's a huge premium on everything decent (such as PSUs, cases, fans...)

[bsdgeek]

May I suggest Panaflo L1As for case fans, and MAudio Revolution for the sound card?

[bsdgeek]

Re: 10-bay Antec vs 14-bay Chieftec

Originally posted by UtwigMU
OK, case and PSU are next on my upgrade list (gradual upgrade).

The PSU will be 480W Antec truepower, I still haven't decided on the case (getting either case sans PSU).

I consider this case as a long term (in computer dimensions) investment.

After HDD and videocard upgrade the heat went up and so did the noise (increased RPM of case and CPU fan in ordher to compensate).

Requirements:

• Drive bays: Right now I have 1HDD, 1FDD and 3 optical drives. The current generic midtower (3-3) is practically full.
  
  I could potentially add 1 or 2 SCSI HDDs, 1 IDE drive, 1 IDE portable HDD rack with IDE HDD, DVD burner. If I'll need more storage, I'll build a fileserver with ATA JBOD or ATA RAID, based on current CPU/MoBo combo. I could live with both cases, however, the 4-2-4 case would not handle 4 opticals and IDE 5.25" HDD rack.
  
• Number of Fans: As much intake fans as possible (IIRC both cases can have 3 intake fans, exhaust fans = intake - 1 + PSU). Fans are going to be Zalman F1s @ 1800RPM (5 case fans + 2 CPU coolers)

• I have a Cheiftec version of the smaller 1040B, 2 intake, 2 exhaust (3 if you count PSU)
  

• Portability: This is going to be a workstation box, however, I do take it elsewhere (to work at a friend, to work, ...) or to a LAN about few times per year to once per month. IMO the difference between ability to carry case arround is not that different between the two. I could potentially build an extra gaming rig next year.