a PC case...

[BrettB]

Hi all, I was planning to make the alternative system Allen suggest in the big topic:

Enermax CS-3051L-B3A (Black)Aluminum Case with 350W PSU 55.00
Asus A7V600 Motherboard 79.99
AMD XP2500+ Barton FSB333 (Heatsink/Fan Included) 83.00
Micron 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM 68.00
ATI Radeon 9200 64Mb DDR 8x Dual Video Card 49.00
Western Digital 80GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB CACHE Hard Drives 89.00 x 2 = 178.00
Lite On 52x32x52x Black Color CDRW Drive LTR-52327S 38.00
Total= $550.99

i have a few questions, but I'll ask them one at a time (experience with recording but I'm a total newbie regarding PC steups:)

The store I want to visit doesnt have the Enermax cases. What is important in a case? What should i look at when I want to replace it with an alternative?

[Riad]

Looking at your post I don't see a power supply, so I'll assume that you'll need one with the case. I like to overshoot my power supply. You may see 200W, or 250 in most cases, but try to find one that will handle 350 or 400.

Make sure the AT style case you get fits your motherboard.

Depending on how many peripherals you will have make sure the case has enough expansion bays for additional CD-ROMs, HD, Fans, etc.

I used the Antec Quiet Case and lined the case with sound absorbing material, they sell them at Best-Buy if you wanted to look at one.

[BrettB]

Make sure the AT style case you get fits your motherboard.

All the cases I see just say ATX? Any way of finding out a motherboard won't fit?

[Riad]

To be honest I think you would have to go out of your way to find an AT style motherboard that didn't fit in the case... you should have no issues. The mobo screw mounts that come with case have different screw holes for different configurations. Just match up the holes on your mobo and screw the mounts in.

[BrettB]

thx for the info! I just wanted to be sure...