[LUNI] Rockin' the Hat again

[Mike Scott]

TD changes their special offers every week, so it is probably a lot of
the same parts, just different packages.
In fact, the week after I bought, they had a deal with a Quad core CPU
and 4G of RAM.  Same mobo, but no case, HDD, or video.

The power supply in the Ultra was the only part that seemed decent,
though the CooleMaster had its own.
One thing the Ultra PS did right was to eliminate the bundle of wires on
the secondary side.
Instead they have a bunch of jacks on the side and they have various
cables that you plug in between the power supply and peripherals.  That
way you don't have a lot of extra wires dangling inside the case.  I'm
sure they aren't the only ones that do that.

The nVidia motherboard has a 6-pin connector for the additional 12V used
by the P4 and my old case had a 4-pin.
The docs say it will accept the 4-pin, but I like the idea of 3 pairs of
wires in parallel carrying the 12v rather than 2.

Anyway, another thing to avoid from TD is the $20 CPU fan.  It uses
cheap clips that were a struggle to get locked.
I would recommend spending a bit more and getting a fan/heatsink combo
that mounts with screws.

If you do decide to get a new case the CooleMaster CM-690 is a tank.  I
would check out MicroCenter since I saw they are offering rebates and it
ends up being about $90 instead of the $140 I paid.

As for layout, the mobo seemed pretty good.  I am only using a single
video card, though it supports two in an SLI configuration.  I'm not
sure if Linux supports it yet and I don't do high-end graphics stuff
anyway.
The only card I plugged into it besides the video card, was the Adaptec
SCSI card for my old Umax Astra 610S scanner.

- Mike Scott

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [LUNI] Rockin' the Hat again
> From: Branko Kotur <skie at dragonsvalley.com>
> Date: Sat, February 16, 2008 3:20 pm
> To: Linux Users Of Northern Illinois - Technical Discussion
> <luni at luni.org>
> 
> 
> I was looking at putting together a new, relatively cheap computer since my 
> current computer is over 5 years old.  I think I'm looking at the right one 
> that you bought (it's listed as $464.99 after rebates).  It's the only one 
> that I can find with the XFX motherboard for close to the $400 that you 
> mentioned.  
> 
> How is the powersupply?  Does it seem to be well built?  I'm not familiar with 
> Ultra PS's.  Does the motherboard have enough room for everything to be 
> plugged in without interfering with other stuff?  I already have a case that 
> I'll be using, so I don't care about the existing case.