Point of full tower?

[Vampiel]

OK, I currently have an AMDk6/2-450 and am thinking about upgrading to an ATHLON 500. Right now I only have a mini-tower and wish I could see the point of spending much denaro for a full-tower. I know that things especially in a mini-tower can get crammed a bit, but I have always found space SOMEWHERE whether it be on top, or stuck up with tape under the floppy. This is my question, is there any way that you could have more then just 2 IDE slots. I know that you can have one on some SB's but they only support
normal CD-ROM's from my experience. Would it be possible for me to throw in an I/O controller and have the extra IDE's and be able to disable the floppy disk controller/serial/com port on the I/O controller, if not override the one's on the MB. Or maybe I could buy a MB for the ATHLON w/o them onboard (if they still exist like that even). Anyways.... would I be able to get more than 2/3 IDE's? If so how would I configure them, in BIOS. note : I will be buying a new MB and if there is ANY POSSIBLE way for this I would be willing to mold the computer around it, and dont forget about irq's.

[Ed_S]

Regarding case size, bigger IS better! Allows better air flow, easier access, better cable routing, and of course more drive bays.


I've heard about cards allowing 3rd & 4th IDE port, but don't know the brand or info.

Regarding sound card ports, although many cards have one, few can be configured as tertiary. I'm using AWE64 (full, not value) and it does work.
Have mine setup as follows:
Primary IDE master & slave : HDDs
Secondary master: HDD
Secondary slave: 40x CD-ROM
Tertiary master: CD-R drive
Tertiary slave: 4 disc CD Changer

Works great. The CD-R and the changer are both slower units and don't suffer from the ISA bus, and the CD-R burns very reliably.

[Vampiel]

thx! now I at least know that I would be able to put a cd-r and cd-rom on the SC and I am guessing the terietary is setup in BIOS?(btw does any1 know if the SBlive and/or diamond monster mx-300/400 have the ide?) If there is any way I could set this up I would be appreciative of the knowledge

AMD ATHLON 500mgz
4(least)or more 20 giGerz at 7200rpm Maxtor
1.5mb/1.5mb SDSL running an FTP 24/7
128mb PC-100ram (UNTIL PRICES COME DOWN OMG!!!!)
1 CR-RW 6x4x24x
1 true 50x CD-ROM zen tech ROX |)
1 DVD 6x24x CD-ROM w/ mpeg decoder
whatever SC will give me IDE+quality
whatever MB supports the most IDE's
creative labs 3D tnt2ultra 32mb
plus the other basic stuff, floppy, bla bla

[Ed_S]

There is no bios setup for the tertiary on sound cards. That's why it's not used for HDD. On the AWE cards, you set the port with jumpers. The drives are readily accessable from DOS and Windows.

[[dannzig]]

I personally use a big tower chassis
@home, before this i had only used miditowers. but after this change i would
never, and i mean NEVER go back. much more
space to work on and great airflow.
spend those few extra dollars on a good
bigtower like aopen hx08, you won´t be
dissapointed.

Concerning the ide controller matter.
Maybe you should look into a promise fast track i/o controller, ata 66 support and such. gives you 2 extra ide channels without
losing the original ones on the mobo.
abit also makes a ata 66 controller named hotrod 66. i think this one is a bit cheaper... go look for yourself /forum/smile.gif

go
www.promise.com
or
www.abit.com

hope it´ll help ya out in some way
/dann

[This message has been edited by [dannzig] (edited 10-13-99).]

[Vampiel]

thx, thats what I needed to know, and how would I setup those IDE's in BIOS or would they configure themselves to what you have the jumpers set to on the IDE devices automatically?

[Shane Reese]

I definitly agree with the consensus "bigger is better" go for a full tower you will love it in the long run. As for a card for more IDE's I have one "I got it for the sole pupose of having ATA 66 abilities" but it also adds two more IDE's which tranlates into four more very usefull hardware items. The card is made by I/O Magic and is called Magic IDE 66 just plug it into a PCI slot and hook stuff to it and reboot and in theory it works but I have not been able to get mine to work right yet!! Hope this helps!

[This message has been edited by Shane Reese (edited 10-13-99).]

[U-96]

Yup I agree [dannzig] - I too am an AOpen HX08 user. I can't say that I have seen a better-constructed case.
All the point mentioned before are quite true:
lots of bays for whatever gizmos you want (I think the HX08 is something like 8 3.5in and 5 5.25in bays)
nice airflow (CPU and Voodoo o/ced without specialist cooling, just 3 8cm fans in case positions)
easy access (mobo sliding tray, detachable side panels)
big cases tend to come with a higher rated PSU to support everything you might want to put into it (mine is 300W)

If you have the room and the cash, then big is better. You won't regret your investment.

U-96

[Stan]

Also, a full tower is impressive.
You respect a full tower case, you don't argue with it.
It makes your non-IT friend think that your PC is so powerful that you need a big tower case to hold and keep inside all the power generated by the big cpu, the big graphic card, the big ram, ...

???... too much coffee... better stop...

Stan

[Ed_S]

Oh, one thing i forgot to mention. Throw a cushion on top & it's a great footstool! /forum/smile.gif /forum/smile.gif

(Really not kidding - mine has custom-made upholstered top cover)

[Carl Uman]

Someone said something about 300W power supply in full towers. No matter what size of case you get give heavy consideration to getting a 300watt power supply to support everything you want. A good clean power supply/source can also give you better stability.

www.a-pro.com/ (http://www.a-pro.com/) has a good selection and will let you pick power supply.