case swap – Tech Leopard

Gaming PC: Antec Case Swap

19 Apr 201316 Dec 2012 by Drea

After a hectic few months, I’ve finally made the time to sit down and get post prepared. In October, after growing tired of the shear size of my gaming PC and the dangerous urge for a change, I ended up making an unexpected decision. I’ve loved my Antec 1200 case to bits, I’d still like it to go to a good home where it’ll hopefully get a proper kitting out & make someone very happy, but after having it since July 2008, I seriously felt the need for a change. Granted a huge part of this urge for change is feeling the beating call of a new-build on the horizon, but I don’t want to give in to this too soon.

My gaming PC is over 4 years old, it’d hardware’s dated and needing an upgrade, but when I do cave in and upgrade, I want to do it right and have the budget for it. A part of me is just so satisfied squishing every last bit of power out of a dated system and Starfury still meets all of my needs without struggling noticeably. After taking all of this into consideration, I decided to swap out my Antec 1200 case … for an Antec 300!

Antec 1200 PC Case — Antec 1200 just before being emptied.

Tech Pickups: Oct 2012

10 Nov 201215 Oct 2012 by Drea

After a long debate over what to do when it comes to my gaming PC, I’ve held back on frequent urges to blow a load of cash on upgrading the entire thing. It’s 4yrs old, it’s running an old socket 775, DDR2 motherboard in an Antec 1200 full tower case. Let me begin by saying I’ve LOVED the Antec 1200 case to bits, you’ve no idea the geekjoy I’ve experienced over the years tinkering with hardware in it, but alas its time has come. The case is fantastic, but I’ve reached the point where I’m fed up with the entire thing roaring like an aircraft carrier even with the fans on their lowest setting. It never used to bother me that much, but after building the gorgeously, sleek & silent ANBU earlier this year, I’ve come to appreciate the quiet you can achieve with PCs!

Since the hardware’s pushing dated, I’m still adamant I’ll get another year out of it, but I WILL be looking at a full, new gaming build next year. For now, I’ve done a bit of a tidy and stuck a lot of old tech, games, etc up for sale to garner some spare cash for future upgrades and just in time for Christmas. Currently, a new Antec 1200 case still gets around £120! Granted, mine is several years old, but I’ve taken very good care of it and at this point in time I’m feeling the need for a change. This won’t be an upgrade, it’ll be an interim case to fit my needs initially and see me through until the new build next year.

Tonight, to this end, I’ve ordered the following goodies:

RamblingEpic’s PC Woes

21 Nov 201203 Jul 2012 by Drea

A while ago now RamblingEpic‘s PC started making what can only be described as God-awful noise! It took us a while to narrow down what was causing the issue as it’d come and go, but eventually we noticed that his PSU had split up the side. His graphics card heatsink was also full of dust and the case was an old, kinda crappy one with no fans. It’s been something he’d made do with for a long time until this happened recently.

He’s a no frills kinda guy, so when I’d finally talked him into letting me replace the case and ESPECIALLY the split PSU currently being held together with electrical tape, he had a few requirements. I’d hoped initially for the Antec 300 or something like it, but he preferred no LEDs, no fancy bits in general, just ‘plain & simple’. After recently having a very good experience building with BitFenix using their Shinobi case, I started looking at their budget cases. RamblingEpic set his seal of approval on the Merc Alpha case and away we went!

The job of swapping cases and replacing the old power supply unit took around 2hrs total, mostly due to having to rewire and cable-tidy everything I could. The old PSU was a 400W so we’ve replaced it with a Corsair 430W Builder Series, the same one I used in my server build last month. Altogether, this little mini-project consisted of the following:

Components

RamblingEpic Case & PSU Swap — Case/PSU Swap Components

BitFenix Merc Alpha Case
BitFenix Spectre 120mm Fan – Black
BitFenix Prebraided Molex to 3pin x3 fan adapter cable – Black
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ’80 Plus’ Power Supply