What motherboard would you recommend for Antec h20 620 cooler ?

[Pob255]

Yes you're going to need to be slightly more exact, esp on "music"

I seem to remember you talked about fruity Loops before, for just basic use of that onboard sound is ok, however if you start looking at a more professional level and say using a midi controller or input device (plugging a keyboard or similar into the pc) then you're probably going to want to add a sound card.

Now a highly rated card for recording is the M-Audio M2496 http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_a...phile2496.html
the Asus Xonar essence STX is also good, however it's more about output than input, as with may other sound cards.

Speakers?

[melon]

Yes you're going to need to be slightly more exact, esp on "music"

I seem to remember you talked about fruity Loops before, for just basic use of that onboard sound is ok, however if you start looking at a more professional level and say using a midi controller or input device (plugging a keyboard or similar into the pc) then you're probably going to want to add a sound card.

Now a highly rated card for recording is the M-Audio M2496 http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_a...phile2496.html
the Asus Xonar essence STX is also good, however it's more about output than input, as with may other sound cards.

Speakers?

I saw one of these on amazon pretty cheap so going to nab it.

BTW what is the point in having window if

1) it takes away the ventilation holes
2) is on the left side where you never see it anyway ?


m

[Pob255]

Well

1 - no point, sort of, ok a bit vague there but you do need to look at the case as a whole.
e.g. I'm currently using a casecom 6788 case which have a very big vent on the side and currently I've got about 60% of it taped up.
The vent allows for 2x120mm fans to be mounted on the side but is actually slightly larger, however the top fan location is of absolutely no use to me because if I put a fan in there then my hyper212+ cpu cooler wouldn't fit, even if it did fit there's little point in blowing air down on to the top of a tower cooler, as they work from cross air flow.
However the main reason I taped up the vent was that it was actually disrupting the air flow and was letting in a lot of dust.
the top and rear fan are pulling air out of the case, this lowers pressure inside the case, which in turn pulls air in through any available vents.
Now air acts much like water in that it follows the path of least resistance (including both obstruction and distance) this meant that while the front of the case is a filtered mesh (so becoming a big air vent) the unfiltered side panel vent was the path of least resistance, (filter restriction+distance-straight line was more resistance than angled path-less distance-open vent)
The total upshot was that almost no air was getting pulled in through the filtered mesh front, even after I added a fan&filter to the lower mount on the side panel (to blow over graphics card) and a front fan to help control the intake.
After taping up all the side vent not covered by my filter&fan, the majority of the non-fan air is now forced to be pulled in through the filtered front.
This has actually improved both the dust situation and the air flow through the full space of the case.

2 - if the case is on your left/up against something then no you'll not see into you case, but I don't think many people sit there gazing into their case when using a pc anyway.

What windows are good for
1 - showing off the hard ware inside the case to other people
2 - looking in to check if fans are spinning and such without having to take the side panel off.
3 - overall aesthetics of the case.

If you live in london, pop into yoyotech they've got a store just off Tottencourt road (www.yoyotech.co.uk) they are not that good on prices but they've normally got a good range of cases on display, so you can see them in the flesh and get a better idea of what certain cases look like.
(it's been a while since I was last in there so I don't know what sort of stuff they'll currently have on display)

ps have you had a look at the Bitfenix Survivor? http://www.scan.co.uk/products/bitfe...handle-w-o-psu not massively expensive but not a budget chase ether.
Surface is actually rubberised (something that doesn't really show up well in photos but does to the eye and touch) there's a slightly cheaper CORE version, but that only comes with a front 200mm fan and lacks other little added extra features, the one I've linked to has 200mm top fan + 200mm front fan (I think it's got a 120mm rear fan aswell) and a few other little added features.

Another case I should of suggested is worth looking at (if I haven't) is the LanCool KA60 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lian-...g-case-w-o-psu
This is actually Lain-Li, they set up the LanCool brand to as a subsidiary to make normal lain-li cases in steel&plastic, to create cheaper versions of their aluminium cases.
This case was based on the PC-50 Armorsuit with an improved hard drive cage based on the cage from the PC-8.
Yes it's a little plane, it doesn't have a window or led fans, but it does have high quality, a fully toolless system (even the motherboard is mounted with special thumb screws) and comes with a full set of fans and is very quite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2MdUGxWEcU

note: there is a cheaper KA58 which lacks top fans, mounts are there but you'd need to buy extra fans and the special lian-li gromited fan screws.
There is also a more the expensive KA62 which has a window, LED fans and there's been a couple of special editions/colour combinations eg http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lianl...ed-led-w-o-psu
there's also been black outside red inside + red led fans