Well let's see... I have the Alienware Full Tower case. Click here for the tower specs.
And as for my machine, I have the following:
2 optical drives, one for burning and one dual layer
256MB ATI FireGL v7100
10-in-1 media card reader
x1 400 GB 7200 RPM Hitachi with 8 MB cache
Alienware X2 Motherboard
2 GB Memory
2x Intel Xeon 3.4ghz processors
Sound Audigy 2
So what will I be changing?
I'm replacing the processors with 2 AMD Opteron Dual Core models, adding an optical drive (for a total of three, including a lightscribe drive), increasing the memory to 4 GB, obviously getting a new motherboard, upgrading the video card, and replacing the single harddrive with 4 raptors, 2 for RAID 1, and 2 for RAID 0. In addition, I'll be using these heatsinks for the processors and using this waterkit. Obviously, a new motherboard will be in order.
I'm wondering... would it be easier to merely replace all the parts, or start from scratch? Another question is if all the extra parts, like the water-cooling, will fit in the Alienware full-tower chassis. The obvious advantage of upgrading is that I won't need to buy a new case, memory, or power supply. But what other advantage is there?
And as for my machine, I have the following:
2 optical drives, one for burning and one dual layer
256MB ATI FireGL v7100
10-in-1 media card reader
x1 400 GB 7200 RPM Hitachi with 8 MB cache
Alienware X2 Motherboard
2 GB Memory
2x Intel Xeon 3.4ghz processors
Sound Audigy 2
So what will I be changing?
I'm replacing the processors with 2 AMD Opteron Dual Core models, adding an optical drive (for a total of three, including a lightscribe drive), increasing the memory to 4 GB, obviously getting a new motherboard, upgrading the video card, and replacing the single harddrive with 4 raptors, 2 for RAID 1, and 2 for RAID 0. In addition, I'll be using these heatsinks for the processors and using this waterkit. Obviously, a new motherboard will be in order.
I'm wondering... would it be easier to merely replace all the parts, or start from scratch? Another question is if all the extra parts, like the water-cooling, will fit in the Alienware full-tower chassis. The obvious advantage of upgrading is that I won't need to buy a new case, memory, or power supply. But what other advantage is there?