build advice wanted

I'm considering building the following system for use with Slackware
Linux 12.2 and possibly freebsd 7.x (no over-clocking):

Antec 300 case
SeaSonic SS-550HT PSU
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
EVGA 512-P3-N954-TR GeForce 9500 GT PCI Express 2.0 x16
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

My questions:

1) The PSU bracket is in the bottom of the Antec 300 case. I've heard
that some PSUs will not fit in this case. In addition, I've heard that
some PSU motherboard power connectors are too short when mounted in the
bottom of cases. Is anyone successfully using the above case, PSU, and
motherboard combination?

2) I would prefer a fan-less video card (the one above has a fan). I'm
not a gamer and I currently use matrox g400/g500 agp cards, which cannot
be reused in the above motherboard. Any recommends for a fan-less video
card that will work with this motherboard and Linux?

Any additional advice/warnings on the above combination is appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your assistance,

Peter

Peter wrote:
I'm considering building the following system for use with Slackware
Linux 12.2 and possibly freebsd 7.x (no over-clocking):

Antec 300 case
SeaSonic SS-550HT PSU
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
EVGA 512-P3-N954-TR GeForce 9500 GT PCI Express 2.0 x16
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

My questions:

1) The PSU bracket is in the bottom of the Antec 300 case. I've heard
that some PSUs will not fit in this case. In addition, I've heard that
some PSU motherboard power connectors are too short when mounted in the
bottom of cases. Is anyone successfully using the above case, PSU, and
motherboard combination?

2) I would prefer a fan-less video card (the one above has a fan). I'm
not a gamer and I currently use matrox g400/g500 agp cards, which cannot
be reused in the above motherboard. Any recommends for a fan-less video
card that will work with this motherboard and Linux?

Any additional advice/warnings on the above combination is appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your assistance,

Peter

You can use the Newegg advanced search, in the video card section, to see
a selection of fanless video cards. You don't have to buy there, just get
a make and model number so you can use your favorite retailer. Also, read
the review comments, as some fanless cards run too hot for the size of
heatsink provided. It helps if there is good airflow going past the video
card. (I have one fanless FX5200 card here, that won't remain
stable in games, unless I point a fan at it.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...d&Pagesize=100

And if a computer case is going to give you installation headaches, why
buy it ? Buy something with a conventional setup.

You can buy power supply extension cables, so it is possible to
extend the reach of the main cable. There are also brands
of power supplies, known to have excessively long cables.
So with a little shopping, you can probably find something
that will work. Some products even include length information
for the cable assemblies.

http://www.pcpower.com/downloads/MEC-S61EPS_3825.pdf

As for the Freezer 7 Pro, again, the Newegg site can help. The
first review in their review section, gives advice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...er%207% 20Pro

"Plastic push pins are terrible. Don't plan on ever using this
again if you unmount it. I took it out to replace the thermal paste
with some Arctic Silver and it would never mount properly again
because the plastic pins had bent and stretched out of place. It
also didn't improve temperatures much over the stock cooling for
my QX6850."

On my Core2 system, I use a Coolermaster cooler that bolts into place.
It doesn't use plastic push pins. I wouldn't recommend that cooler to
someone, mainly because it is very inconvenient to uninstall it.
(I have to take my computer all apart, to get at the nuts on the bottom
of the motherboard.) But if you search around, you may find a better
scheme for fastening the cooler, than those push pins. (If you're
buying an Intel retail processor, why not try out the Intel cooler
first ? Retail products should include a heatsink/fan in the box.)

Intel has an LGA775 installation video here. The file still seems
to be there, but I cannot find the page I downloaded it from.
It shows how to use the push pins.

http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/...209_241209.wmv

Paul

Paul wrote:
Peter wrote:
I'm considering building the following system for use with Slackware
Linux 12.2 and possibly freebsd 7.x (no over-clocking):

Antec 300 case
SeaSonic SS-550HT PSU
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
EVGA 512-P3-N954-TR GeForce 9500 GT PCI Express 2.0 x16
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

My questions:

1) The PSU bracket is in the bottom of the Antec 300 case. I've heard
that some PSUs will not fit in this case. In addition, I've heard
that some PSU motherboard power connectors are too short when mounted
in the bottom of cases. Is anyone successfully using the above case,
PSU, and motherboard combination?

2) I would prefer a fan-less video card (the one above has a fan).
I'm not a gamer and I currently use matrox g400/g500 agp cards, which
cannot be reused in the above motherboard. Any recommends for a
fan-less video card that will work with this motherboard and Linux?

Any additional advice/warnings on the above combination is appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your assistance,

Peter

You can use the Newegg advanced search, in the video card section, to see
a selection of fanless video cards. You don't have to buy there, just get
a make and model number so you can use your favorite retailer. Also, read
the review comments, as some fanless cards run too hot for the size of
heatsink provided. It helps if there is good airflow going past the video
card. (I have one fanless FX5200 card here, that won't remain
stable in games, unless I point a fan at it.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...d&Pagesize=100


And if a computer case is going to give you installation headaches, why
buy it ? Buy something with a conventional setup.

You can buy power supply extension cables, so it is possible to
extend the reach of the main cable. There are also brands
of power supplies, known to have excessively long cables.
So with a little shopping, you can probably find something
that will work. Some products even include length information
for the cable assemblies.

http://www.pcpower.com/downloads/MEC-S61EPS_3825.pdf

As for the Freezer 7 Pro, again, the Newegg site can help. The
first review in their review section, gives advice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...er%207% 20Pro


"Plastic push pins are terrible. Don't plan on ever using this
again if you unmount it. I took it out to replace the thermal paste
with some Arctic Silver and it would never mount properly again
because the plastic pins had bent and stretched out of place. It
also didn't improve temperatures much over the stock cooling for
my QX6850."

On my Core2 system, I use a Coolermaster cooler that bolts into place.
It doesn't use plastic push pins. I wouldn't recommend that cooler to
someone, mainly because it is very inconvenient to uninstall it.
(I have to take my computer all apart, to get at the nuts on the bottom
of the motherboard.) But if you search around, you may find a better
scheme for fastening the cooler, than those push pins. (If you're
buying an Intel retail processor, why not try out the Intel cooler
first ? Retail products should include a heatsink/fan in the box.)

Intel has an LGA775 installation video here. The file still seems
to be there, but I cannot find the page I downloaded it from.
It shows how to use the push pins.

http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/...209_241209.wmv

Paul

Paul,

Thanks for the advice. I changed my video card and cooler to the following:

video card: MSI N8400GS-TD256 8400GS 256M (has a fan, but with less ram
and supposedly works well with linux)
cooler: ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT (does not use push pins)

I finished building the system last night and I did not have any issues
with the case or power supply. I haven't installed anything yet, but it
does boot linux from a live cdrom.

Peter

Peter wrote:


Paul,

Thanks for the advice. I changed my video card and cooler to the
following:

video card: MSI N8400GS-TD256 8400GS 256M (has a fan, but with less ram
and supposedly works well with linux)
cooler: ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT (does not use push pins)

I finished building the system last night and I did not have any issues
with the case or power supply. I haven't installed anything yet, but it
does boot linux from a live cdrom.

Peter

You can run Prime95 from mersenne.org on your new build,
to see if it is stable under load. You can do the "stress test",
without joining GIMPs. Some of the latest versions are multithreaded,
so you can test all cores at the same time. (I used to have to
run multiple separate copies of the old version, to simulate the same
behavior.) If there are no errors in four hours, the machine
should be ready for most challenges.

http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/
http://mersenneforum.org/gimps/mprime259.tar.gz

Graphics testing isn't a lot of fun in Linux, and
it is easier to find tests for that, in a Windows
environment. There is GLXGears of course, if you can
tell it is being hardware accelerated.

http://www.phoronix.net/image.php?id...ars_ glxgears

Paul