I'll probably order the parts this weekend.

My Newegg wishlist has everything on it, I can give a link once it shows up.

The important parts are:

ARK 4U-500-CA Black 4U Rackmount Case ($75)

ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard ($130 w/ Mail-in Rebate)

EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 ($120 w/ MIR)

CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 Power Supply ($130 w/ MIR)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz $190

OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 ($80 w/ MIR)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive ($65)

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler ($27)

It's going to be rackmount because I'm running out of space to put my stuff... I'm planning to run it on air, but I won't OC much because I'm not interested in putting a windtunnel in my living room.

Any thoughts?

 

Not much interest, apparently, but here's Here's the complete list anyway.

I ordered the parts yesterday, I'll post a build log when everything shows up.

 

Decent budget build, but be warned man, rackmount cases suck ass for airflow cooled components imho, then again I'm a temperature whore.

 

The parts showed up last week and I was able to get everything put together with only a couple of hiccups (I'm posting from the new machine).

First off, this is the computer I replaced:



That's a Dell Dimension with a PIII @ 1 GHz that I bought in college in 1999--I paid an absolute fortune for that machine, back in the day. Note the "Designed for Windows ME" sticker on the front of the case (Worst. OS. EVAR.)



My beige box has been bulletproof for the past 9 years (in fact it's been left on basically the whole time I've owned it), but it just wasn't getting the job done anymore.

Anyway, here are the parts for the new build:



I went with rackmount because I've got plans to add a couple of machines in the near future and I'm looking to conserve space. Next I'm going to build a file server, then a Myth box and I'd rather not have my computer room look like my last one...

Anyway, here's the case with the top off:



and another view:



First I replaced the stock case fans with much quieter ones and installed the PSU:



Next, I removed the motherboard tray and installed the motherboard standoffs. This is where I had my first issue. Although there's plenty of room inside the case to fit the ATX board I picked, due to the shape of the tray there's one corner of the motherboard that won't get screwed down.



The choice was either to RMA the case and get something else, or to suck it up and finish the build...

In the end, I decided that I'll live with it for now but I'll recycle this case when I build the Myth box, which I'll probably base off a mini-ATX board so it will fit with no issues.

So here's the motherboard installed in the case:



At this point I noticed that the center bracket that came with the case was going to interfere with the CPU cooler:



So I left it out.

Here's the CPU and Cooler, installed:



And the graphics card, RAM, spare USB/Firewire ports, and hard drive (not shown):



At this point I was ready to test the build, so I connected it and powered it on. It fired up with no problems so I set up the BIOS and installed the OS.

I was configuring the advanced heat management when had the next issue. After enabling heat monitoring, the tool came up, showed the Core temp at 127 degrees C, and promptly shut the machine down (Needless to say, I shit a brick).

So I reseated the heatsink, restarted the computer, and had the same issue. Since I'd had some difficulty getting all four corners of the heatsink down (one of them was between the back fan and the PSU and was hard to reach), I decided to install the stock cooler, since it had better clearance around the posts.

Here's a picture of the stock cooler, installed:



That seemed to solve my "heating problem", although now the temperature reading jumped between 0 C (impossible) and 127 C (unlikely). Not to mention that the stock fan sounds like a Cessna taking off.

So I did what I should have done in the first place, and looked online to see if other people had had the same issue. Sure enough, the problem was that my board had shipped with an old version of the BIOS (v14) and that the problem had been fixed in the next version. I downloaded the new BIOS and flashed it (not an easy trick without a floppy drive, BTW) and the core temp now reads correctly. So far it runs at about 30 C, which isn't bad considering that, as Midknight noted, the airflow through the case isn't great.

That solved, I reinstalled the other cooler and buttoned the case up.

Here's the front panel



(the card reader has a flip up LCD panel that gives temperature readings from inside the case and can control the case fans).

Here's my desk, with the new speakers set up (yeah, it's a mess)



And the computer, which is going to live on the file cabinet until I get a rack to put it in



So far, so good, and now that I've got my data mostly transferred from the old box I'll start playing with the OC settings.

 

Nice machine. Thanks for the pics. I've never had anything to do with rackmount cases so it's good to see your step-by-step system building pics.

I'd be interested to hear how you go with your file server and myth box too when you get around to them.

 

Nice build, good job, nice all around

 

Nicely done.

 

Whats the card reader you bought?

 

Click on the list link (second post). Everything's there.

You'd probably be better off with a normal reader than the one I bought. The flip up LCD is cool for a couple of hours, but then it gets a little *meh*.

 

I'm going to build a cabinet after I put the next box together, I can post a log when I'm done (hopefully I can convince Mrs. Nukular Winter that I need to order parts soon...)