A week or so my PSU and mobo died after (presumably) I overloaded the power with four HDDs and a bunch of fans plus various other bits.

Can anyone suggest a case/psu combo that will run this many HDDs? I am totally clueless when it comes to cases etc, although I guess the more you spend the better quality. What is a reasonable price> I would like the psu to support 3 sata drives (although I can piggy back them I spose)and one ide HDD. Minimum.

I have been advised 600w-700w psu. Really what I want to know is, what case would people recommend? The less I spend the better and I was kinda hoping for something under $200, although that may be unrealistic given the requirements of power supply etc.

http://www.computeralliance.com.au/parts.aspx?qryPart=7307

Antec Nine Hundred is good. Heaps of room and heaps of fans and it doesn't take up much space. Not sure which PSU is the best but I'd go something like 700 just to know you have heaps of power to spare.

last edited by Reverend Evil™ at 11:43:40 25/Feb/08

I don't think you need a PSU > 500W (f*** even > 400W) for running 4 hard drives. The key is to get a *GOOD* quality lower rated one instead of a no brand high power one.

I recommend the CoolerMaster line of PSUs.

I got a 650W CoolerMaster from Umart about a year back for about $120. They're a good brand, and 650W should keep you going for a while.

you will probably find 450 is plenty... http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

A good case is the coolermaster RC-690. It's cheap but has the quality of an awesome case. It has awesome rubber hdd holders, great cooling, padding for the PSU and heaps of fan slots for optional excessive cooling.

Chassis:
Antec 900
Gigabyte Aurora

PSU:
Coolermaster
Zalman
Tagan
Corsair

Get something over 500w.


Just for interests sake I run 4 x HDDs, 1 x DVDRW, 8800GTS and 6 x 120mm fans off a Tagan 580w.

my psu is 1.21giggawatts and it's enough to power me way into the future.

thanks doods.
will check the specs.

ACBel Bitches. Find one. Try one, never need to buy one again.

I will source them for you if you're keen on trying them, and I swear to you, you will not be unhappy with the product.

They have a 1 in 1000 failure rate, all PSU's are ran under moderate load for 11 hours before leaving the factory. They manufacture switching power supplies for IBM servers, ASUS Servers and HP desktop machines.
Every ACBel power supply is true rated.

it is one of the most OVERLOOKED power supply unit in Australia. I don't even work for the distributors of this unit anymore, but I swear by these things.

Post up a price list Moo

I'll find out from the old boss tomorrow how much she's doing :)

will post up models and pricing tomorrow :)