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This is the case I'm using for my renderbox: https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-HAF-EVO-Motherboard/dp/B07KMMM1R2/ ; I like that the top and both sides are all easily removed, and it has incredible airflow. Even with silent fans, it stays cool. Only issue was with a rather long Power Supply (1200 Watt) I got some cable routing/fitting issues. But otherwise its great!
I was refering to the Cooler master case you linked.
I picked this one up in 2010 for $80
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196
It's got a nice mid-size front fan, 2 side fans, a rear fan and a large top fan.
The only thing I don't like about the case is that the power supply installs at the bottom of the case, but with the 2 side fans to pull all that heat out, it's worked pretty good.
Me the Thermaltake; I don't particularly rate Cooler Master; there are good ones, and less good ones. They so often seem more concerned with looks than functionality. It is possible to have both, but first and foremost I want it to do the job, and I don't give a rat's ass about looks.
Oh boy; that case.
Ron, I still think the best deal is going for a used workstation. Those things are built for rendering and you can pick them up pretty cheaply over on E-Bay. I usually stick with the Dell Precisions, but you can pick a good HP one too. I picked up a pretty hefty Precision T5610 with dual processors and 32 Gig of RAM back in October for $890. Put whatever video card you want in it.
I agree wth most of the suggestion you've received.
Just don't forget an SSD for your DIM/Daz Connect data, 16Gb of RAM and at least 6Gb of VRAM! ;)
For the CPU, go AMD, at least a Ryzen 5 1600 (6 cores, 12 threads).
That's what I mean about Amazon being terrible for shopping for computer parts. You can surely find that case from Amazon itself or a more reputable supplier of you look or go over to newegg and they'll certainly have it for no shipping.
My very first computer build was in 1994. I insisted on having a full tower case. Every time I lifted it, I hurt my bad back. I had to give up the case!
My very first computer build was in 1994. I insisted on having a full tower case. Every time I lifted it, I hurt my bad back. I had to give up the case!
Yea, it's great.. the only reason I didn't get the pedestal addon was it wont sit on the floor under my monitor :D
kameneko, I'm not convinced that an SSD is worth the extra investment. I think the money is better off going toward the CPU, motheboard or Video card.
kenshaw011267, other cases on Amazon have free shipping with Amazon Prime. I might end up getting the computer parts from NewEgg or other stores. It's just easier to use Amazon as a convenient place to "window shop" right now.
diogenese19348, I'll go over to eBay and do some browsing! Is this one any good?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-T3600-Workstation-Xeon-E5-2690-2-9ghz-8-Core-32gb-1tb-DVD-Win10-Pro/292891627125?hash=item4431b38e75:g:7y8AAOSwTglYkf-P:sc:FedExHomeDelivery!55033!US!-1:rk:7:pf:0
Ron, do you have a Microcenter local near you? They usually have pretty good (better cost than Frys & New Egg) motherboard bundles. Which AMD processor were you thinking abut getting? My personal preference is to go to Frys or Micrcenter to buy cases so I can actually lay hands on them but I also tend to keep my cases for a while. I am still using my Coolermaster CM690 case that I bought 8 years ago (third build in this case). I might be better to pick up a used unit on Ebay if you can find a good one and upgrade the GPU. Just make sure the rig you buy has a large enough PSU to give you some headroom wheh you update the graphics card (let's NOT start another PSU debate please).
billyben_0077a25354, right now I live in a small Minnesota town. "Nothing" is close to me. I will relocate to the St Paul, Minnesota area in a few months. I want to be closer to my 91-year-old Dad so we can enjoy whatever time we have left. I don't exactly know what computer stores are in the area. Well, they do have an Apple store!
I added the following to my wish list. I'm not sure if they're what we're looking for.
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler - YD2600BBAFBOX $164.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B41WS48/?coliid=I2D7CCQY8CQYXP&colid=3KXB04AR3HU6U&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
ASUS Prime B350-Plus AMD Ryzen AM4 DDR4 HDMI DVI VGA M.2 USB 3.1 ATX B350 Motherboard $84.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X416NJ1/?coliid=I8S8I7VCQHYKR&colid=3KXB04AR3HU6U&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
I hope you don't mind my throwing this post in here. I have some very compelling ideas for "cartoons" that would (perhaps loosely) portray some of my life events. The concept would be the struggles of a man to "grow up," deal with family dynamics, and the challenges of aging. I intend to make this series one that would appeal to a variety of people.
I want the ability to assemble my scenes, and render them in a reasonable amount of time. I work in burst of inspiration. I get the idea, and want to crank out scene after scene. Sometimes I'm actually able to come up with good camera angles, whatever. I just want the ability to follow my inspiration without needing to wait hours or days for an image to render!
...nice case (W100) but a wee bit on the expensive side. Also with casters, would mean it sits on the floor. Nice if you have hard floors, not so good with carpeting.
...yeah my old P-193 has a large fan on the left side panel (200 mm) by the GPU, as well as two 140 mm ones on the top, three on the front and the usual one on the back. Still runs nice and quiet. Wish they never discontinued this case.
@ nicstt: Good airflow does make a difference. With the additioonal fans I added to my old P-193 (I also have an aftermerket CPU cooler [non liquid]) there was a noticable drop in component temperatures than before.
...looks like my old Pentium 166 build. Had a NEC Multisync Monitor. That alone was beastly heavy. The keyboard had a closeable cover as where I lived we had several cats.
...what I did was go with a smaller SSD for the Boot/Application drive (240 GB) and a large HDD (2 TB) for the Library/Runtime drive. I don't use Connect, and route the DIM backups to a secondary storage/backup drive, so no content gets permanently loaded onto the C:drive (only freebie and Rendo downloads, after installation, the zips go onto the secondary drive as well).
kyoto kid, I had a 486SX CPU. I was working at the Computer City store in Tampa, Florida, and bought my stuff there. I ran OS2 Warp (did I get that name right?!). I didn't touch Windows until Windows 95 came around.
...yeah Win95 was what I had. Several years before where I worked, they put Windows 3.0 on my system (an old 286 with 1 MB of memory and a "whopping" 20 MB HDD). I asked them if they really wanted me to get any work done as it was so much slower than DOS 4.5 (even with DOS Shell). They ended up restoring it to it's original state.
In the grand scheme of things I didn’t really want to scrimp.. and would have loved to get a Caselabs one but sadly they went bust before I started the build.
...yeah my P-193 was a bit on the high end for my budget, but clean looking "professional" styled cases at the time often had poor airflow (designed for general office, not rendering systems) and the style trend for gaming cases back then made them appear as if they'd morph into a Decepticon when your back was turned.
That aside, If I had the funds, the W100 would be ideal for a render box.
It's pretty much been determined that side fans don't add anything to cooling a PC, someone will now post some crank site or 10 year old article contesting that but there is a reason cases no longer even include mounting options for them.
BTW I just checked there is a Microcenter out side Minneapolis in a town called St. Louis Park. If you can wait till you move I'd definitely but most of your parts there. To start with they have a store brand for stuff like psu's that will probably be more than enough for your needs at very good prices and there sales on other components generally are better than anything you can find online.
The reason for the shipping being so high is due from being overseas. If you like that case...
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811119341
Yeah I saw Microcenter listed on Google. The site didn't appear all that friendly. Yeah, it would take some time after I relocate before I could consider building a new PC.
I'm sure if you spend some time poking around onAmazon you could find the H500P mesh at a reasonable shipping price.
The website is actually really useful if you know what you're looking for. If you're just browsing its not.
....depends, partly on the design and how they are used. If set up as an exhaust fan(s) they can. I've checked temps using CPUid with the side panel on (fan running) and fan disconnected and there is a drop in GPU and CPU temperatures with the fan running.
Any gain is still good even if it isn't a large one.
There are also new cases that still have them, some with provisions for fans on both sides. However, the trend today with many case designs (primarily due to gaming) is the tempered glass "vanity" window to show off the guts and internal lighting like it's a bloody "show car".
This is pretty basic physics. It takes a lot of energy to get moving air to change direction. It's wasteful to try and get air going somewhere other than straight through the case.
Modern cases are designed to be positive pressure systems that is the intake fans draw in more air than the exhaust fans remove. This causes the excess air to escape the case by all the vents and other gaps taking dust with it. Side panel fans were always set up to be exhaust and interfered with this design as well. You can see this for yourself by opening up a case with a side panel fan. It will be one of the dustiest parts of the whole rig. Setting up the fan to be intake would be counterproductive as it would be blowing air right onto the gpu fans exhausting air off the card.