A New Computer Case

I ordered the latest version of the same kind of computer case as I got for my file server and for Madre’s box. It is the Silverstone Sugo SU03F, and it had arrived yesterday afternoon.

I opened up my main box and removed everything: Motherboard (Asus P5E-VM HDMI, Intel Core 2 Duo, 8 GB RAM), video card (nVIDIA), network card, USB3 card, hard drive (Seagate 2 TB), and optical drive (Plextor). All of these went into the new box, which also got a new 500W power supply.

If those two sentences make the process seem quick, in reality it was not. It took three hours

  1. to unpack the new case,
  2. to disassemble the new case,
  3. to open the old box and take out the components,
  4. to install the hard drive and optical drive,
  5. to install the motherboard,
  6. to plug the drives into the motherboard’s SATA ports,
  7. to plug in the case’s various wires to the motherboard,
  8. to plug in the video and other adapter cards,
  9. to take the new power supply and figure out which of its plugs goes into what drive or motherboard port,
  10. to plug the two big front fans into the motherboard’s fan ports,
  11. to screw the power supply onto the case,
  12. to screw the sides back onto the case,
  13. to plug the new computer into its peripherals,
  14. to plug the new computer into the mains and turn it on.

With all these steps to do, it is a miracle that the new box would work at all. But it does, and — with the big fans in the case and power supply running — it is remarkably cool. But I have not run it for hours yet, so the big test is still to come.

Then, of course, comes the final step: Clean up. This includes putting the now-empty old box back together and store it somewhere, clearing all those leftover screws and wires, and doing something about the packing boxes.

One of the unusual features of the new box are the USB3 ports and the big thick cable that feeds them. My USB3 card has a port just for that cable. I had always wondered what that black port on the USB3 adapter was for. Now I know. USB3 is supposed to supply power to the device that plugs into it; that is the reason for its Molex port, feeding its power straight from the power supply. Now, instead of two USB3 ports, I have four!