Another Qpack

[CrunchoX]

Well tomorrow Ill be placing the order for my first SFF system! I am very excited to make the upgrade as I have been carefully planning this system for quite some time. I wanted to run my parts list by you guys to see if anyone can spot compatability issues or if anyone has some other suggestions. Thanks!

All from the egg,

CASE: ASPIRE X-QPACK-NW-BK/420 Black Aluminum 1.0 w/ ABS plastic front panel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case ATX 420W Power Supply

MOBO: Foxconn 6150K8MA-8EKRS Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

GPU: eVGA 256-P2-N529-AX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

PSU: ENERMAX Liberty ELT500AWT ATX12V 500W Power Supply

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4400CDBOX

RAM: CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model Twinx2048-3200c2pt

HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD4000KD 400GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

DVD/RW: PLEXTOR Black IDE Slot Load DVD Burner Model PX-716AL/SW

CPU COOLER: ZALMAN CNPS7000B-Cu LED 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan - Retail

OS: WinXP Pro x64 Edition

all for around $2k

hopefully with a x2 Dell 2405 soon to follow, was going to go for the Westinghouse but opted for 2 of these at the last minute.

Thanks in advance!

[Bona Fide]

PSU might be a bit big, but I can't confirm that.

[M4rk]

PSU might be a bit big, but I can't confirm that.
Nope, it'll fit. I have the same one. Too bad the fan points up...

[Treyshadow]

No the liberty fits. I have one in mine.

Just need a short dvd burner like the BenQ DW1640

[CrunchoX]

The plextor comes in at just under 179mm. It will fit too, right?

Im mostly concerned with the 7800GTX as I hear it is a LONG card.

[Bona Fide]

The plextor comes in at just under 179mm. It will fit too, right?

Im mostly concerned with the 7800GTX as I hear it is a LONG card.

I hear the X1800XT fits, and it's just as long as the GTX.

[cbecknet]

The liberty power supply is 140mm plus 5mm for the modular connectors. The plextor is 179mm this will make it pretty tight. I would go with a Lite-On drive which are 170mm and give you just that much extra space, plus their alot cheaper.

One question, your going for a GTX, I dont know if you have read the review posted on Hard's main page, but they say that the x1900 AIW performs the same as the GTX. Plus their should be plenty of overhead for overclocking to XT or XTX speeds. Its only 10$ more than an GTX. So for the same money you get the same performance, plus PVR capability, plus the IQ upgrades and AVIVO for converting those recored shows to diffrent formats. Also support for HD decoding now, and not having to wait for Nvidia's 85 driver series in march.

[CrunchoX]

I must say, that sounds pretty damn convincing. will I experience any performance downgrades by using an ati card on an nforce board. sorry if its a stupid question, but im spending a bit o cash and stability is a must! thanks for all the replies

[cbecknet]

You shouldn't see any performance diffrence with a Nvidia motherboard and a ATI card. If you think about it most reviews done with ATI cards and Nvidia cards are on Nvidia Nforce 4 motherboards with AMD processors.

Here's another link to a review on the X1900 AIW
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1578_1.html

Another thing the only place selling X1900 AIW right now, is ATI through their website and only in the US.

[CrunchoX]

great! thanks man. do you think that the ATI x1900 AIW would be a lot cooler (temp wise) then the 7800gtx. Id be willing to make the extra pci slot sacrafice if it made the case cooler.

[cbecknet]

The x1900 series runs hot. But the AIW used a single slot cooler for the AIW so it uses the same space as the GTX. If your worried about case temps you might want to invest in an aftermarket cooler, because both of these cards put out heat. The one thing that I have noticed from the reviews is that ATI have tuned the AIW cooler to be quiet for alot longer before the fan spins up. The only problem with this is that the card will run hot for a while till the fan spins up, since it is hotter the fan spins up fast and tends to make more noise till it cools the card down.

In general ATI has considered the temps. and decied that it's ok for them run hot.

[Ockie]

Go with the GTX, they are coming out with MATX SLI boards :)

[sleepeeg3]

I've got a quiet case with the X1800XL AIW and it's only really noticeable at bootup where it is running 100% for a few seconds. Otherwise, it's not too much noisier than the rest of my rig.

Plextor is a good choice. Lite-On is noisy. Plextor has software that will flash the firmware and allow you to change drive speeds to reduce noise.

[CrunchoX]

goddamnit, now I cant decide... any other advice?

[cbecknet]

I'm still serious about the lite-on or the benq as metioned above. The member that suggested the Plextor has a ARIA case not the Q-Pack and does not have to deal with the clearnce issue's that Q-pack owners have.

As the other member stated you can get a GTX and your current choice of motherboard. Then wait till cebit for the m-atx sli board to come out. Then buy another GTX. This option will cost you another 600$ down the road for a system that will be replaced buy the G80 chipset.

Its all a waiting game. Wait for SLI m-atx board a month or two away, which buy then the Nvidia G80 will be out, or get the best now.

[w00ty]

erm are all liteon burners shorter or is it a specific model?

[emptyshell]

Dont listen to ppl about the plextor drive being 2 long, it isent. In my Qpack I have the Enermax Liberty 500w, and a pioneer dvr110 which is 180mm long and it fits fine (as far as Qpacks go). You shouldent have any problems with the plextor.

[Mistrblank]

Nope, it'll fit. I have the same one. Too bad the fan points up...


What do you mean points up? I have the liberty 500 in my Qpack and it's aimed down toward the motherboard sucking air out of the case. Fits great and shorter than some of the other PSUs I looked at and even lowered the ambient temps inside the case by about 3-4 degrees (it's another huge 120mm fan).

The few things I didn't like about it:

1. It's a lot more audible (just fan noise) than I had expected though, but supposedly I can control that through a connector to the motherboard that comes with the power supply. I haven't touched that yet and it's very doable compared to the previous system I had built which was much more audible.
2. I also had to cut some of the aluminum on the case where the port for the plug on the psu sits that was preventing the psu from fitting into the case properly. Very minor detail, the cut neither affected the stabilty of the case nor was it that difficult to make.
3. I wish there were some single connector cables. It comes with 2 PCIe cables. Then it has 4 more that are dual pin molex and dual sata connectors (2 of the four also have a floppy connector). It's a lot of extra cable length and connector heads than I need. It's funny too since the PSU itself has 6 ports and only 4 cables to plug in at the most.

None of these really affect my recommendation for this powersupply, they're just things I think some people might be interested in knowing.

[cbecknet]

Its up to you what drive you get. If you look at most people with their Q-packs they run lite-on's.

To anwser if all lite-on drives are 170mm, the anwser is yes. They all should be 170mm.

I personally don't have a problem with plextor other than their prices are about 30$ to 40$ higher than most other drives.

I will say I'm biased towards Lite-on, I have used them in every computer I have ever built, and will keep using them.

[kenyee]

What do you mean points up? I have the liberty 500 in my Qpack and it's aimed down toward the motherboard sucking air out of the case.

Wouldn't fit in mine unless I wanted to hack away a portion of the base around the 120V power connector. The Liberty's external power socket sticks out a little and hits part of the case if you mount it w/ the fan down...

Pointing it up might not suck as much hot air out, but you get to watch the fan spin :-)

[M4rk]

Wouldn't fit in mine unless I wanted to hack away a portion of the base around the 120V power connector. The Liberty's external power socket sticks out a little and hits part of the case if you mount it w/ the fan down...

Pointing it up might not suck as much hot air out, but you get to watch the fan spin :-)
Exactly my problem! How did Mistrblank cut his case? With what tool? I don't have many tools availible to me, plus I don't want to screw up my (crappy) paint job... :(

[emptyshell]

I put in my Enermax Liberty with the fan facing down, dident do anything to the case either, the power suply might not be 100% flush at the side with connectors, but whatever, it works, and no way am I having the fan pointing upwards..

[M4rk]

I put in my Enermax Liberty with the fan facing down, dident do anything to the case either, the power suply might not be 100% flush at the side with connectors, but whatever, it works, and no way am I having the fan pointing upwards..
I wouldn't do that if you paid me. The original PSU was already mounted wrong, warping the aluminum. I would cut my case a little, if someone would tell me how. I think the fan pointing up looks pretty sweet, imho, even though it's impractical.

[emptyshell]

meh, only part that bends a bit is the part thats blocking it, and i just have to go buy a cutter piece for my dremel and ill cut it off, so not like it matters at all.

[Tiny]

anyone know how much long the GTX is than the GT in the 7800?

I have a 7800GT with a Zalman fan and the Liberty 500W in my Qpack. Fits fine.

And the card has to fit with-in the confines of the mobo no? If that is the case, then there is plenty of room for a GTX.

[Mistrblank]

I own a dremel (actually two) with a several cutting tools for it. Since the case isn't exactly hardened steel it's not too tough to cut through. Score the case with an Xacto blade and then made a slow cut with a cutting wheel. You could probably make the cuts with a small hacksaw as well. Just make sure you take everything out of the case before you make any cuts and make sure to clean up the case as well before putting everything back.

[Bona Fide]

anyone know how much long the GTX is than the GT in the 7800?

I have a 7800GT with a Zalman fan and the Liberty 500W in my Qpack. Fits fine.

And the card has to fit with-in the confines of the mobo no? If that is the case, then there is plenty of room for a GTX.

It's less than an inch longer, I think. 25mm?

[aiya]

i just finished my qpack build using the liberty 500w. i put the psu fan facing down. should i flip it to face up? i also have a BenQ DW1640 and it fits with room to spare. i can post some pics if needed.

[Tiny]

i just finished my qpack build using the liberty 500w. i put the psu fan facing down. should i flip it to face up? i also have a BenQ DW1640 and it fits with room to spare. i can post some pics if needed.

No, do not face it up...that position would only serve to hinder the cooling aspect of the fan.

I have the liberty500W and 1640 as well.

And yeah...pics are always fun. :D

[M4rk]

Does anyone here know if it's hard to reverse the Liberty's fan? I want it to suck air into the case, since my 120mm fan is sucking air into an internally-mounted radiator and it would be stupid to have hot air going out and coming right back in.

Thanks for the hacksaw tip. I guess I'll have to try that. Good thing I don't have any parts installed yet.

[Mistrblank]

I don't see a point in trying to suck air in with the PSU fan.

It will just muck up the airflow in the case.

[M4rk]

Actually, it should drop my temps a couple degrees. Btw, if you didn't notice my comment, i am watercooling my QPack. So, any real ideas on how to flip the Liberty's fan without fvcking up too bad?

[Tiny]

Open the unit and flip the fans around. Really shouldn't be that hard.

[M4rk]

Open the unit and flip the fans around. Really shouldn't be that hard.
That's what I'm hoping, but I opened up my Aspire QPack PSU to flip the fan and killed it! :(

[Tiny]

That's what I'm hoping, but I opened up my Aspire QPack PSU to flip the fan and killed it! :(

I replaced the fans in my Tagan PSU and all is well.

To be honest, I think just the threat of power going through the Qpack's stock PSU would kill it.
:p

I took a look at my Liberty, but without opening it up I can't tell how they connected the fan.

I know in my Tagan they were tiny little two prong connectors...I ended up just splicing the wires of the new fans onto the original connectors.

[M4rk]

I guess I'll take it apart and flip the fan, all while taking pictures, for everyone else's enjoyment. Then I have to cut a little metal on the back, and viola! You have another addition to my worklog in the Gallery subforum!

[Tiny]

I found a pic of the innards!

Thanks to www.phoronix.com

http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/fanLiberty.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/fanLiberty.jpg/view/)


If you look at the top of the pic...the fan has a plug-in connector. So the worse that could happen is that you have to splice the wires if you replace the fan.

Flipping it should be no problem.

[M4rk]

Well, it looks like I'll have to thread the other side. Here's to hoping the plactic wont break! :D