The current chapter of this story is just getting started because
nothing is getting assembled yet.
Background: I like to buy cheap computers or computer parts when they
are on sale at Fry's (or mailorder houses) for extremely good deals,
which often includes rebates. As a result, there are a number of
computers around here, some of which I built from parts and some of
which I bought 'intact'. There are also some computers that I've bought
used in the past and then salvaged parts from and then over time many
pieces and parts which have been sent to the recyclers, such as CRT
monitors, old AT & ATX cases and mobos, etc.
The first Wintel computer I bought preassembled with Win95 installed by
a local assembly dealer. That computer has since been salvaged and
recycled. I still have 2 computers in operation which I built, which
technology would be 'over the hill' if they weren't running Win98 as
their OS and both are also quite capable of running various linux
distros on alternate partitions. My newest 3 computers were bought
preassembled and with a preinstalled OS extremely cheaply. 2 of them
came with Linspire installed and one came with a very bad installation
of WinXP + an incredible amount of bloatware and no XP disk. Thanks a
lot Compaq. But, it was a really really good deal. The two previously
linspires are running an assortment of linux distros, none of which is
linspire but one partition on one of them is freespire2.
Over a year ago the oldest of my homebuilt computers still intact was
acting so hardwre 'flakey' that I took it out of commission and parked
it intact. Its behavior was inconsistent, sometimes only 2 of the 3 ram
sticks would show 'temporarily' but then they would all appear sometime
between the POST and the windows or linux boot. Sometimes I had no
video like the pci video card wasn't even there. Sometimes the ethernet
pci card would also act like it wasn't there. Similarly the sound card.
I don't even want to talk about the troubleshooting strategies which
were employed and worked sometimes and didn't work other times. I
finally concluded that not only was the mobo very old and out of date,
but it was also b0rken, like maybe a faulty/erratic trace or something.
Since I didn't really need the box in the lineup, I just parked it out
of service.
Along comes 'spring cleaning' around the house. Getting rid of old
stuff in the closets, garage, etc and the question arose as to whether I
was going to break down that box and salvage its pieces and parts or
what.
At the same time, along comes a great deal on 2 sales at Fry's. One was
for a modern microATX mobo and one was for some cheap 2G ramsticks. So,
I bought the mobo & 4G ram, figuring to replace the old flakey mobo.
I decided to give the old box one more shot, figuring that if it acted
up too much this time, that was the end of the road for the old mobo,
with the intention being to replace the mobo (and soundcard and network
card and video card) with the new integrated mobo in that ATX case.
As you might guess, the old mobo leaps into life firing on all cylinders
and I install a Win98se on it and everything is working fine -- so I
don't want to tear it down right now.
Well, I'm thinking... I also have a neverused ATX towercase in a box
over yonder which I bought years ago for practically nothing which has
never even been taken out of the shipping box -- noting the barcode cut
off the shipping box for the rebate I got which made that case
practically free.
So, I decided... 'What the hell. I'll just let the old box I built with
the flakey mobo keep running where it is and I'll build another box with
the new mobo and ram and put it into the 'old' but brandnew neverused
ATX tower along with some other salvaged peripherals'
So, I took a look inside the shipping carton at the old new ATX tower in
preparation for starting the assembly and I decided that I didn't like
it.
It was ugly and big/bloated looking. Hmmm. What to do. I had shopped
online numerous times before looking for microATX cases when looking for
even smaller formfactor cases and had found the microatxes overpriced
and unappealing in various ways. I searched/shopped online again for
the last day or so and I still didn't like what I was seeing in terms of
one of my important criteria which is to get a good deal.
In the meantime, besides my dynamite deals on the mobo and ram, I was
also shopping for more good deals at Fry's and finding a decent cpu
cooler and a good price on a sata II 300 MB/s hdd, and so I decided to
see if Fry's had any cases which appealed to me and were also a good
price.
I found one.
Coolermaster makes a case which is like a small tower just big enough
for microatx and which is well constructed. I was amazed to see that it
only cost $35 - huh? - until I realized that it had no powersupply (or
PS fan, wireharness etc) and no case fans at all, intake or outlet. I
had never seen a case sold like that before, but what do I know?
Anyhow, I tho't - Aha! There's the answer to my ugly bloated ATX case
problem. I'll buy this little $35 coolermaster and gut the ugly bastard
and use its PS, wireharness, and case fans in the CM. Pretty good idea,
huh? The PS is hefty enough at 425 and the case fans are quite adequate
considering how cleverly efficiently cool this coolermaster case is
designed. In fact, coolermaster calls the case fans 'optional' --
especially seeing as how no fans come with it.
To be continued...
--
Mike Easter
kibitzer, not SC admin
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