need help with case

[bonestonne]

ok, earlier today my dad got home from the dump with my much anticipated computer. [its taken about 3 weeks]. its a Dual core Pentium II Xeon processor. now i've had a few debates from people i go to school with about a few things, like dual core being a single processor with two cores, or a motherboard with room for two processors. in this case, its two physical processors.

here are all the things on the motherboard

Inputs:

ATX

PWR_SEC [not sure what the connector is called]

two SCSI inputs

one ultra SCSI input

one floppy input

IDE Channels 1 and 2

1 AGP slot [which matches my ATi Rage 2C]

5 PCI slots

2 PCI-E slots

4 RAM slots [not sure what to call it, it takes what i have around here]

6 fan controllers

two serial ports

two USB ports

keyboard/mouse inputs

printer/scanner serial [not sure what thats called either]

the model is a Super S2DGU

im aiming to have a 60GB hard drive in it when i get that, but tomorrow i'll try to get a 40 GB ready so i can use that.

my first question is that, if i were to build the case out of plexiglas, is there a person here who could help me with that, or a place i could be directed to if i wanted to do that.

also, if i'm not able to build a case for it, is there a cheap cause i could buy that would fit this? its no small motherboard, and the processors are about the size of the power pack that i plan on using with it.

any comments are welcome and anticipated.

Edited September 17, 2006 by bonestonne

[ripken204]

do you really need a special case for it? its not like you have 10 hdds to fit in there... a regular case should do.

and dual core=1cpu w/ 2 core

your talking about dual sockets

[bonestonne]

its no regular dual socket motherboard though.

it uses a pair of Pentium II Xeon processors.

http://www.geek.com/procspec/intel/pentium2server.htm

that has pictures/specs.

i don't know how to really fit it in a case because the processors together are about the size of the power pack i want to use.

[puntoMX]

This motherboard fits in every standard ATX case (no uATX). It could be that the RAM needs to be ECC or buffered, check the user manual or Google on it .

[bonestonne]

ok, another question.

i've not yet unleashed the beast inside it, i spent my day getting a 40GB HDD ready for it [sure beats the 6Gb i found before]. the power supply that the guy put in the box with it [it was something he just gave me] the power supply is like a dual power pack, i think how its set up is that one pack has the cables for the motherboard, the other has a bunch of 4-pin power connectors [8 regular, 1 for a floppy, then a bunch of 2 pins bundled at the beginning]. in my basement earlier, i found a power pack that has the right connectors for the motherboard, 3 normal 4-pin connectors, and then one for a floppy. would the smaller one work fine?

my dad [who isn't exactly the best with computers] tells me that i need the big one for the power, but i want to make or get a nice small case for it, not some huge thing. the large one has a power output of about 310W, the smaller one is 144W i believe.

also, i posted about an external yamaha CD burner that used SCSI interface. am i right in guessing that if i left this open case i could attach it? in with everything there was a long SCSI chain ribbon cable, i think it had 7 or 8 connectors.

[puntoMX]

Get a bigger case so all will fit and use a power supply of 300Watts and up, that will do fine.

If I was you I would build in the SCSI CD burner, it will have a 68pin connector so you only need a 68pin ribbon cable. I don’t know the cost of the cable. If you don’t have it would be cheaper to buy just an IDE CD burner. Old burners like those from Yamaha burn at 2.4 or 4x or so, and read at 16 or 24x.

[bonestonne]

well, thats the thing, the 300 watt supply is huge. i don't really want to use it if i can avoid that. partly because it has no mounting screws, and also, a lot of the connector pins have some grease or something in the ATX supply, and a couple 4 pin connectors, which to me, suggests that it wasn't the same supply being used, because the ATX on the board is clean. i do know that the guy who previously owned it had it open as a server, which to me suggests it didn't have much connected. the 300W supply requires 2 AC power cables, it has two switches, generally more than i want to worry about.

if i use the smaller pack, would there be a problem, or would it work fine. i plan on only having one hard drive, a 60 gig when i get it back, and a DVD-RW drive.

it has 6 fan controllers, so far i'll use four between the heat syncs on the processors, and one for the graphics card fan, that would leave one for a mid-speed case fan.

i don't exatly want to have a huge power pack, this computer is more of a what can i fit in with minimal power without too little.

[puntoMX]

Just use a normal ATX powersupply, that what I was saying ...

[bonestonne]

i just wanted to know if it would make a difference if i used the smaller pack vs. the gigantic oaf of a power pack.

i measured out the sheet of plexiglas i have to use, its 45 3/4" square, with a 7"x18" rectangle cut from one corner. the motherboard is about 12"x11", so roughly 1 foot square.

i didn't include the dimensions, and i know it may be a little tricky, and it probably will change by the time its finished, but this is my idea for a case design, everything is explained as i can do it, i'll try to take pictures of each step as i do it, i'm only 15, so i'll be getting help from older people with it, such as my dad, and people i know at my school when it comes to putting together, building and finalizing.

[puntoMX]

So you make a desktop model out of it? 2 layers of Plexiglass? Or 3 (that´s how I would do it, 3 layers. PM me and I will make a 3D model for you ). you should use LEDs to lighten up the Plexiglass, or use fans with LEDs. Ow, and if you use the old PSU then I would test it before you connect it. Black paint for the CPU would look cool too B).

Edited September 19, 2006 by puntoMX

[bonestonne]

i don't exactly have enough to really layer it...i think its 1/4" thick plexiglas, it'll for a basic case, about say

8"x17"x11" max, with the cut corner part about 13 inches or so.

it'll definately get LEDs...i have an LED fan for the graphics card just for kicks right now, it'll get a cathode in the back bottom corner, LED case feet, and an LED case fan, probably 80mm. the one thing i wont do is put lighted fans on the processors...just 60mm 4700RPM fans, 2 per processor. that'll keep it cool after i overclock it. i want to overclock it from a total 900MHz, to hopefully 1.2GHz or better combined. yea, i think thats about all...

but the PCI cards going into it will be:

Wireless internet

10/100MB/s ethernet card

USB 2.0

i'll also have a PCI slot fan under the hard drive to kinda get some of the air out.

i'll put the case fan in the corner above the serial ports/mouse port so that it can keep the processors cool...still air is no good. hopefully i can arrange it so that everything can plug in. if not i can fashion a fan connector to have longer wires the hard way. as long as it works, no?

[puntoMX]

Those are are PIIs so they will work on 450MHz max not OCed, so if you can OC it with that chipset you should be happy if it can get at 112MHz FSB if there are settings in the BIOS or with jumpers. Most of the rime server boards don’t have those settings.

Any way, I will help you get on with it, I build more think out of Plexiglas before .

[bonestonne]

ok, theres my updated case idea, and i worked it out yesterday before my radio show, and scratched it down. but apparently the paper has walked away. well, in a quick mental note, it goes something like this:

the Hard drives will be held in place by 4 metal beams with drilled holes in them [stratejically placed] so that there will be airflow between them. because i now have an ATA66 PCI card, the DVD-RW drive will be plugged in through that, so that there are no cables stretching from IDE2 over everything to the drive, in purpose of airflow. i have an IDE cable thats meant for that sort of thing too. IDE1 and IDE2 will be used for HDDs, up to 4 of them.

1 will hold the OS, 1 will hold my music 1 will be a /TEMP folder for Adobe Audition, there may be a 4th if i get another HDD.

the floppy cable will, however stretch across, as i can't change that in any way. as for ribbon cables for the hard drives, i have one specially cut cable here thats bound tight so that it doesn't take up so much room, it has 5 slits and its folded over each one.

lastly, while i was cleaning up the power pack that i got with the motherboard im building upon, i got its true output. its a 600W power pack. a pair of 300W packs, one for ATX, the other for all molex connectors. with that much power, i don't need it, i can get a molex y-cable if i need connections.

Edited September 21, 2006 by bonestonne