Pre-AM2 Mid-Range Buyers' Guide, May 2006

Case and Power Supply

You can choose a case merely for functionality, or your case can make an aesthetic statement. If you don't like our case choice, you're more than welcome to choose something that you do like. The only comment we have is that we like cases that have 120 mm fans, as they tend to be a bit quieter overall. Of course, a high RPM 120mm fan certainly isn't going to be quiet, but you can usually get lower RPM 120mm fans that still move more air than a high RPM 80mm fan.

For the power supply, we're going with a separate PSU rather than a case with one included. For the midrange sector, quality takes precedence over price, and bundled power supplies usually are pretty mediocre in terms of quality. They might still be sufficient, especially for a system that's not loaded up with lots of extras, but they will be noisier and less robust. That said, I haven't had a power supply fail in over 18 months, and that includes a couple of junk power supplies that came with $40 cases. If you don't have one, picking up a power meter like the Kill-A-Watt device isn't a bad idea. Even a cheap 400W power supply will often be fine for a long time if your system never draws more than 200W.

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Case Recommendation: Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW
Price: $61 shipped (Retail)

The Cooler Master Centurion 5 is a decent mid-tower ATX case. You get more external 5.25" bays than you need (5), one external 3.5" bay, and 4 internal 3.5" bays. The case is relatively attractive, and it comes with a tool-less drive mounting mechanism for all the drive bays. It also includes a 120mm rear fan, and you can add an optional 80mm front fan. The case is also available with a side window if you want to spend an extra $10. Finally, the case has front USB, FireWire, headphone, and microphone jacks. It's easy to work with, relatively quiet, and well made.

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PSU Recommendation: Enermax Liberty ELT400AWT ATX12V 400W
Price: $86 shipped (Retail)

I'm a big fan of modular power supplies, ever since OCZ released their first ModStream product. (And incidentally, the 450W ModStream is still going strong after a couple years.) Enermax has now joined the crowd of modular power supply manufacturers with their new Liberty line. As with many of the quality power supplies on the market, you might find the 400W rating seems a little low. Realistically, it's difficult to reach anywhere near 400W without multiple ultra high-end graphics cards, multiple hard drives, and a partridge in a pear tree. Unlike generic brand power supplies, the Enermax Liberty should actually be able to sustain 400W of power output, and it's extremely quiet.

I've got a few other modular power supplies around - OCZ, Kingwin, and Sunbeam - and they all work well for my needs. Not surprisingly, they also cost about the same as the Enermax Liberty, and the higher wattage models cost even more. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for, and we would recommend sticking with power supplies that cost at least $60, unless you're trying to build a budget system. If you're looking at SLI/CrossFire as a potential upgrade, you might also want to bump the PSU up to a 500W or higher rating.