Rebuild?

[LongRunner]

Having got this new system, it transpires that I was right about the Silverstone PS08 not being so great. The chassis is less solid than on my old AOpen case, and the plastic drive bay covers less flexible. The fan grilles are a bit more open, but not on par with a well-proportioned honeycomb (and in any case, I already broke away the used grille on my unit). I would far prefer a plain galvanised chassis and more solid construction, especially considering that painting the chassis can actually interfere with correct earthing. It's clear to me — with this one, they are indeed becoming too cheap for their own good. Definitely no Gold Award for it from me, nor a Silver for that matter — maybe just barely a Bronze (but with major reservations).

Between getting a more solid case but an OST-capped and low-PF PSU with it and doing what I did, though, I decided the PS08 was the lesser of the two evils as at least the case won't wear out and damage my PC when I least expect it to (I hang on to my hardware for ages, so electrolytic capacitors not from a reputable brand won't cut it with me).

Reversing the reduction in quality will require more stringent demands on the part of reviews, so get ready to do it.

I'll be right back after assembling and testing the new system…

[c_hegge]

Hmmm. Silverstone cases are usually pretty solid. Bear in mind, though, that the budget configuration is, well, a budget configuration. Using that case was about the only way to keep the first two configurations below $600 and $900 respectively, while not compromising on any of the other components (at least when using PC Case Gear as the retailer).

I think shovenose earlier suggested using the Fractal Core 1000, and it looks like PCCG might finally be about to stock it (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=27421). I'm not really sure how much more solid it is, though. The steel does look kind of thin in the pictures.

EDIT: Another case I saw recently was one of these - http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?mai ... s_id=25250. It might actually be OK for a budget PC. I wouldn't call it solid by any means (not compared to the In Win Z583 anyway), but it's a little better than the Antec VSK, and about as flimsy as I would go before seriously knocking points off for it in a review.

For now, I've changed the recommendation to the SOHO on the budget system, and the Silverstone TJ08E on the mid-range system. I've used the TJ08E in builds for others before. They're a little wider than some, but I quite them. They're mostly aluminum, and have plenty of cabling room behind the motherboard tray.

[LongRunner]

It's actually the mid-range configuration that I ultimately chose as my base setup. After turning it on, the other thing I noticed about the PS08 is that its blue LEDs (mounted behind the air filter) are way too bright to look at.

The PSU is therefore the G-360, and its "aesthetic" sleeving ultimately proved to be more frustrating (by increasing the stiffness of the cables) than anything else, so I simply cut it off (on the understanding that the warranty would go with it) and used cable ties (good thing I got a 100-pack of them) to keep the wires neatly bundled together. The fan in my unit is a Jamicon JF1225B1HR-R.

A few changes from the base configuration were made, though. I increased the RAM to 16GiB to hopefully avoid or at least delay having to expand it within the life of the system, and I have three shiny new 3TB WD Caviar Blacks. They actually look pretty good to me (with some real weight to them), unlike budget drives such as the Caviar Blue, but there's one strange thing about them: They don't have anywhere for the SATA latches to lock onto.

I also have a Blu-ray drive, in preparation for the future. It may even be better built than a $22 plain DVD unit, though I can't say for sure.

Also with it is a larger monitor than my existing one (which will continue to be used with the old PC). I'm pleased to say Dell actually used a sensible power LED (white, of reasonable brightness, and diffused), and the power and video cables can be routed through the center of the stand which I think is a really neat feature. And while I don't actually like the practice of bundling the power and interconnection cables with the devices (considering that a large proportion of them just go unused, leaving people like me with whole containers full of them and wasting tons of perfectly good PVC and copper; and also because their length is chosen by the device manufacturer, which may be excessively long or too short for you), the power cord that came with it is at least nice and long, so might just get me out of having to chain 2 cords (which of course adds an extra set of contacts to oxidise and develop resistance) someday. The deliberate exclusion of the bundled power cord from that Antec PSU in the past was actually a pretty good idea in my opinion, it's just that traditions are too damn overpowering (sorry for the pun) for people to accept the change, even if it actually is more sensible.

[LongRunner]

All good things must come to an end, including AAM. No support for it on these new drives.

But if it's any consolation, at least the front headphone jack on the PS08 does work.

[LongRunner]

My ST31000528AS isn't faring so well — now up to 24 reallocated and 1 pending/uncorrectable sectors. Today, I'll be doing "the big transfer", so I've brought another WD800JD-00LSA0 and the ST3120026A along. The latter has on it the 64-bit versions of a few applications that are presently only stored in 32-bit form on the D: drive.

[LongRunner]

…okay, the new system is "all set" now. The laser mouse works good, too.

[stinger608]

You made the comment that the Silverstone PS08 wasn't such a great enclosure. I personally have not had a Silverstone case, but they looked like they would be a mid grade, at best case. Of course with a premium price.

[LongRunner]

…the power cord that came with it is at least nice and long, so might just get me out of having to chain 2 cords…

…oh, of course (!). I already have a cord that long, even before I got the monitor. This one also has 1.0mm² conductors, versus 0.75mm² on the bundled cord.

Enough is enough. With probably >70 of these cords to go by, you'd think they'd have made it optional already.

[LongRunner]

I think my old PC has quit. It's gotten stuck in some weird state where it's powered on, but not outputting any video and only responding to holding down the power button to force a shutdown. Maybe the lead-free solder on the D945GTP has given up the ghost. The HDDs are still running with no apparent problems. Of course, this leaves me with no backup system for if this one goes down, so…

[LongRunner]

The 4-pin +12V connector in the old system seems to have gotten rather hot (it's discoloured somewhat). I don't know if that's what caused these symptoms, though. I've just set the system aside for now.