I am thinking of building a new pc and I was wondering if it would be wise to use an old pc tower case to save some money. The white tower case was purchased from a privately owned computer store many years ago when the hottest thing out was the Intel Pentium 2 CPU. Currently, I have removed the old mobo and pentium II stuff and found the case very roomy and actually kinda big ( i think it is an antec or acer case, will verify soon).

The stuff im probably going to put in is as follows (i found someone on this board advising this semi-gaming rig):

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Socket AM2 (Orleans), 2.4GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 2000MHz HT, 90nm (ADA3800CWBOX)
Estimated cost: $90

Asus M2N4-SLI Socket AM2 nForce4 SLI MCP Chipset Dual-Channel DDR2 533/667/800 6-Channel Audio Gigabit Lan Dual PCI-Express Graphics Slots SLI Ready
Estimated cost: $105

Corsair DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz Value Select 1GB Kit (2X512MB) 240-pin Unbuffered
Estimated cost: $47

BFG GeForce 8500GT nVidia GeForce 8500GT Chipset (450Mhz) 256MB DDR2 (800Mhz) Dual Display PCI-Express Graphics Card
Estimated cost: $110

I might get the 6600gt or X800 as the video card for only 50 dollars, as its cheaper, wont drain that much power supply, and better of creating less heat in the case.

ideas or critiques on the tower or even the parts i might buy?

Are you in the US? Where are you coming up with these prices?

- you can get the X2 3800+ for $69 at newegg. Or get the X2 3600+ Brisbane for about $65 & overclock it.

- I'd go for a board based on the nForce5 Ultra or SLi chipset. $100 +/-

- DDR2-667 RAM? Why? You can get 2GB DDR2-800 gaming RAM from Outpost for $80.

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/52...

- You can get the XFX GeForce 8500 GT 256MB video card for $60 (after rebate)

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produ...

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

8500GT is one of NVidia failed card. Better off with 7600GT instead. Anyway for your choice of cards its better you go for x800 without the HDR ability. Because 6600GT struggle in HDR anyway and X800 is a much faster card.

As for your case, your case need to support ATX motherboard because you will be using SLI ready board. When you say its roomy and big i think there will be no problem. But make sure that the back panel can be detachable to make room for the new mobo to fit in.

Anyway supply us with a model number/type so that we can verify it more easily. Another thing, check using PSU calculator and see whether your PSU is up to the task.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/...

Dip Electronic Eng
Dip Computing & IT
BSc Software Eng

Core2 Duo 6420
Gigabyte 965P-S3
2x1GB DDR667
7900GS 256DDR3 OC
Seagate 160/250GB SATA3
SB Audigy4
19" 5ms 4:3 Dell LCD

Until power supply calculators include amperage recommendations, they're only marginally useful

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

yeah i do live in the US. thanks for the opinions on the system, i guess the post i got it from was more outdated then i thought. i was suprised i could prob buiild this thing even cheaper now.

for the ram i think ill just 1 gig for now because i could always upgrade for more and ddr2 ram prices always seem to be dropping. ill install windows xp as the OS and most likely play older FPS games like counter strike source. the newer games i might experiment with but counter strike is my bread and butter.

the video cards are tempting, but i stray away from rebate deals and hassles if i can

Say what you like, but I cannot for the life of me understand why someone would buy over new components and cram them into a case which you can find in a dump, or which someone threw out on the street. It could work, but you would need to make sure the motherboard fits there, and you would have to buy at least a 350W Power supply for your 7600GT, which would cost around $40? (assuming you get a good one, and not a generic one that could burn up your system) Well, think about it. Is it really worth it to use an old case? Are you really that tight on money that you can't cough up another $35 for a new case? No one will understand what you are doing.
Now think about what ive just told you.

AMD Athlon XP 2800+
512MB DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB AGP 8X Video Card
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2
60 GB Western Digital ATA HDD
Windows XP

"for the ram i think ill just 1 gig for now because i could always upgrade for more"

I think that's a big mistake on your part. If you insist on 1GB instead of 2GB, get DDR2-800 or you'll be making 2 mistakes. And if you get 1GB (single stick) instead of 2 x 512MB, you'll be making your 3rd mistake.

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

ram advice very heartly taken jam, thanks.

i will spend good money for a good power supply however i think otherwise for the case. I am actually really tight on money and i just want something up and running for my spare time. i dont need to spend 40 dollars on a flashy LED looking case with alien lights with 30 somewhat loud fans with water cooling technology draining my electricity bill. my reasoning is that im not cosmetically materialistic and if the board fits with adequate air flow --- and it runs well, ill be happy

I wouldn't risk using an old P2 case, even if it's ATX. I believe (but don't know for sure), that something about the motherboard mounting design changed back in 2001 when Intel released the ATX 12v spec along with its Pentium 4. Of course, all motherboards since the P4 (including boards for Athlon XPs, 64s, and 64-X2s) follow the ATX 12v spec.

I don't remember what the difference was, but I believe that the difference is big enough to cause a short circuit if you mount a newer board in an older ATX case without modification.

Again, I may be thinking about something completely different here.
Dual core, 2M cache, S939 Opteron 185 @ 3.2GHz
2GB PC3200
640M 8800GTS at 650/2000
500GB Seagate
X-Fi Xtreme Music
Vista Home Premium 64-bit

"I don't remember what the difference was, but I believe that the difference is big enough to cause a short circuit if you mount a newer board in an older ATX case without modification."

Hmmm...Never see that one coming. I dont think there will be a problem. I'm using old case for my Core2 and P4, seems to have no problem at all. But PSU is another thing. Keantharo must look for a good PSU first and do not opt to use his/her old PSU.

Dip Electronic Eng
Dip Computing & IT
BSc Software Eng

Core2 Duo 6420
Gigabyte 965P-S3
2x1GB DDR667
7900GS 256DDR3 OC
Seagate 160/250GB SATA3
SB Audigy4
19" 5ms 4:3 Dell LCD

At the very least, getting a cheap-o $25-30 case with a power supply included is better than using a case from 1997.

But I don't care frankly, if you don't take my advice. It's your money not mine.
Im very happy with my $130 Sonata II Piano Black case!

Intel Pentium 4-3.2GHz
768MB DDR Corsair Value RAM
320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA2 HDD
ATI Radeon 9800XT 256MB AGP Video Card
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
22" Viewsonic Black