Could someone please explain to me about minitower, midtower and fulltower case to me?:) Also what kind of mobo does each support?(ie micro atx and atx)
I also want to know about external bay and internal bay?
Thanx for helping me expand my knowledge.;)

I believe an external bay cannot be accessed without removing the cover, such as getting to your hard drive.

An internal bay would be your floppy drive, cdrom drive, ect.

As far as the tower goes a full tower will give you 6+ external bays and 3-5 internal bays.
A midsize tower will give 5 external bays and 2-4 internals.
A minitower will accomadate 4 externals and 2-3 internals.
It may differ from brand to brand but it is close.
Another consideration in tower size is, room, how much will you need to be in there and how easy do you want it.
What type of mobo they support is up to you when you purchase them.

I believe the atx form factor boards are configured differently then the mini(micro). Placement of expansion cards and such. Someone else maybe able to add more.

Minitowers are small, some (maybe all) can hold a microATX board, but they will be crowded.

MidTowers may be the most common and can hold a microATX board with lots of room or a full ATX board a little tightly.

Full towers are bigger and hold ATX boards quite comfortably, but they take up more space.

Check here for examples of each:

http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactory.asp?catalog=7&DEPA=1

Internal bays are primarily 3.5 inch wide and designed to hold hard drives. They can only be accessed if the case is open, but since you don't usually need to mess with hard drives, this is not a problem. Most larger cases have more internal than external bays. A typical tower will have 3 5.25 inch external bays for things like CD and DVD drives. You can also install hard drives, tape drives, zip drives and so on if you wish. They may need an adapter if the drive is not in the 5.25 inch format. Many towers will have 2 3.5 inch bays. One of these is usually for a floppy drive and the other is often not used or conceals a hard drive. You can install a second floppy or anything else with a 3.5 inch format...

Budfred, remember how I was asking about ram awhile back and what was what? And I ended up emailing the guy who wrote PC upgrade and maintenance guide because there was a conflict in what he had written?

Well there is another conflict it is written as internal= floppy, cdrom.
Help me out here, or did you make an error? It makes more sense saying they are external.
I wont email him again bit it is a bit discouraging when you think you are reading gospel.

Sorry Deagle, I know it does not concern the thread but I did write it differently.

ZURKE,

I don't understand your question. External bays are ones that you can access from the outside, without opening the case. This means they will generally hold things like floppy, CD, DVD, Zip, tape or any other drive the requires outside access. They may also include places to plug in sound, USB, firewire or even keyboards/mouse. They sometimes have temp monitoring or other swithches. The main thing is that they can be reached from the outside, thus they are external....

Internal means they are inside the case and this generally means they hold hard drives.

Sorry if I wasn't entirely clear in that I didn't state the the 2 3.5 bays for the floppy and sometimes a concealed hard drive are external. Since they allow access from the outside, that is what they are....

Is this addressing your question?

Ok, clear this up for me. 3.5" is for hdd and 5.2" is for other drives (ie dvd, cd)? What about expansion slots? Am I correct in assuming that they're AGP and PCI slots?
One more thing, I'm gonna get the Antec Lanboy case with an Abit Nf-7s, will the mobo fit in the case? Newegg say the Lanboy is a minitower so will it be very crowded?:confused:
Thanx;)

Slots are different than bays. The bays are for drives and other things that go on the front, the slots are on the motherboard itself and are for installing things like PCI and AGP cards (as well as ISA and a couple of others). There are also slots for RAM, but those are not accessible from the outside.

Yes, 5.25 inch bays are generally for optical and other drives and 3.5 inch bays are generally for hard drives. However, you will probably use one 3.5 inch bay that is external for a floppy drive. You could also use a 5.25 inch bay for a hard drive if you want. Typically this happens most often when you use a hot swap hard drive that you can remove and take with you. Otherwise, those bays are generally external and have the kind of things in them that I mentioned earlier....

Your motherboard will probably fit in that case, but it will probably be a little tight, at least compared to a mid or full tower....

Yes, I have been at this screen to long budfred.:)

No I have not, he made another error.

I have to say Deagle, I have a full tower and it really is just super for access.

I'm on a budget so I don't think I can get a full tower. Could you or budfred or anyone recommend me a midtower with good psu and a good brand. Preferably-antec, lian-li and enermax.
One last question, if I buy a case with low power supply, will I be able to take it out and replace it with a better one?
Thanx;)

Well Deagle, when it comes to your case(tower), It is your preference.
you seem to know some of the brands already.
I am partial to chieftec cases.
Try finding one that suits your needs and price. There are many online retailers which may give you a good run down on all the cases they sell.
I have bought from a number of online retailers and have had no problems, but from what I keep hearing http://www.newegg.com/index.asp?DEPA=0 (newegg.com) is a good place to start.

As far as power supplies go, you need to consider what you will be doing with your NEW system. Power will play a big role. If you plan on playing a lot of games or do allot of video, have your drive bays full of rom's etc. I would go no less than 400 watts power supply.
If on the other hand you plan on just surfing the web then 300 watts power supply should be great.


As far as replacements for your power supply, yes you should be able to remove and replace at will.

If you look here:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=7&manufactory=1516&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

right after the LanBoy, that case is about the same price and looks pretty good. On the other hand, the LanBoy is probably ok and it is certainly cooler looking - with the window, aluminum, and blue light. It has a slightly better power supply (although any Antec is probably ok). I think you would probably be ak sticking with the LanBoy, just make sure you have good airflow through the case and you should be fine.

As Zurke said, it is easy to replace a power supply, but an Antec TrueBlue is about as good as they get. 350 watts on that one is better than 450 watts on some....

How do you keep good airflow to the case? I won't be doing a lot of gaming. I read somewhere that people drill holes into the side of their case to make good airflow, is that good?
;)
Oh I forgot, does the hsf stock that come with and AMD 2500+ be sufficient enough or do I have to buy a new hsf?:p

It looks like that case is set up for a fan in front and a fan in back which is usually enough. If you want to get fancy, you could put in a blowhole, which is a fan on top, but you have to know what you are doing or you could mess up your case.

The heatsink that comes with the CPU is probably ok, but you may want to lap it and use Arctic Silver to get it to cool better. If you want to make sure you have really good cooling, there are copper core heatsinks available that would be better.

BTW, that case is designed for someone who goes to LAN parties and does a lot of gaming, it even comes with a strap to make it easier to carry... If you are not into gaming, there may be other cases that would would work as well or better for less money...