starkers....the last 2 principal builds I did simply ran with the onboard Audio.  I see little benefit with after market ones....

Afterall...mostly the 'computer music' limiter is MP3 itself [unless your dealing with high-end formats]...

Silk purse out of the proverbial...

Yes, I do have a few MP3s, usually at the 320 quality, but many of my music files are of the OGG format and are lossless.  Besides, I have a digital 5.1 speaker system that sounds so much better when connected to a dedicated sound card... the digital output is far superior to the on-board versions I have tried, and the Creative apps to enhance sound adds greater enjoyability to my listening experience. 

This new motherboard had on-board sound provided by Creative Labs, and there are software controls to enhance and make adjustments, but overall it is inferior to the add-in card.

So essentially, then, my sow's ear is akin to a pair of high-priced silk stockings.

There's a new digital recording format coming out....infinitely superior to CD .... will utilize Blue-ray as the disk format....

Still a square sound wave [I assume - as it's digital] so uber-purists will still sniff their noses.... them with the 400 kilo turntables and $50,000 valve amps......

Oh yeah, that sounds interesting... and I have a Bluray player hooked up to a 500w Pioneer 5.1 receiver that pumps out the nicest sounds.  It's older tech of the analogue variety but it still sweetly plays digital audio... picked it up for a song [pun intended] some years ago at a garage sale. 

I like my audio to be good, but I'm not that fanatical, besides 50 grand for such things always being well out of my league.

Just to refresh things prior to continuing further.....

Given that I have 5 hot-swappable drive bays built into the new case, it did not seem needed or even worthwhile to consider one of these front loading drive caddies at the time.  However, being a tidy and clutter free freak, it occurred to me that one would serve as the perfect solution to the clutter of multiple external drive cables

Now being several extended family members have multiple external drives and media players to watch home movies on their TVs, and I'm the one charged with all the editing, converting, transferring, etc, I've decided that I want a uniform system that eliminates external drive enclosures, cable clutter and multiple power packs, and this piece of equipment fits the bill precisely.

I've already sent out emails to all concerned that (a) they internal drives to replace their externals, or ( strip out their external drives from their current enclosures, and (c) purchase only internal drives in future, and (d) purchase hot swap HDD docking stations so they can still connect to their media players/TVs, and everybody has agreed it's a good idea.  I've already converted all my externals to internals and have been using the docking station/hot swap method for a while now and it is just so much better this way.... fewer cables and power packs to make a nuisance of themselves and I can still work with up to 7 or 8 drives at a time when the larger family group wants the latest edition of the starkers family follies.

Brilliant!!  Thanks, Paul, for planting the seed that eventually became this great solution.  Best of all, a couple of nephews [brothers] will pay for it, telling me to consider it payment for services rendered. 

Okay!

EDIT

Oh yeah, it takes up two 5.25 drive bays, so I will have to remove the DVD writer to accommodate when it arrives next week, but no worries there as I'll still have the Bluray combo drive to cover all my CD, DVD and Bluray disc needs.

These are the things I have....the lcd display is my level of 'bling'....whilst the case remains ....nondescript...

I saw those on the Vantec site while i was assessing the available doodads to best achieve the goal in mind, and while that particular model was an early consideration, given it's pleasing appearance, I came across the 3 bay one we eventually decided upon. It consumes one less 5.25 bay to achieve the desired 3 hot swap drives, which means I'll only have to sacrifice the one component rather than two.

Oh how I'm going to enjoy discarding/eliminating all those unsightly cables and power packs, and it should hopefully save some power into the bargain.  I will obviously keep all the USB3 cables because they will never go astray in a tight pinch, but I expect that I'll discard the majority of the power packs as it's doubtful I'd need them all with the new setup... if I can't simply hand them to somebody who wants/needs them I'll just pitch 'em in the bin for the garbos to squabble over.

I was just going through some pics of Thermaltake Level 10 cases and saw the one I originally wanted but couldn't get...

This one completely separates all the components to help reduce heat damage to 'cold' components.  Oh well, I am more than happy with the version I got.... tho if I get bored I could resort to doing something like this....

Or this.....

Or this....

Or this....

I quite like the Aztec themed one... yup, I could live with that... given I'm not into anything military.

Now here's a real sexy case mod of a Level 10 GT... really sleek and sexy.

I've tried in vain to resize the pic to provide a better view but no go... it gets lost somewhere in translation and isn't getting any bigger

Today I got thinking about maybe a new machine....

Looking at Lian Li cases......got sidetracked [as you do] ....found this....

....and thought  of this thread.

Gotta work out if I can afford it.... AND find the space for it.... on the proviso it's upgraded into for centuries to come....

It's around $1400 [case only].....

Now that is one sexy case, and one I'd like to see in a custom made [especially built for it] desk very, very near me sometime.

Dunno how they justify the "around $1400 [case only]", though.... like is it made of hard-to-come-by Alien alloys from planet XY-57 or something.

Yup, for an additional 8 grand to fill it with the ultimate of top-end components, I could see this case residing with me for years to come...

Now where's that rich uncle whose use-by date is almost due?

Pockets are now a little lighter...but...

Here's the specs of stuff on the way....

Thermaltake Level 10 Limited Edition Case

Corsair AX12001 1200watt PSU

ASUS Rampage Extreme X99 MoBo

i7 5960 3.0 Socket 2011

Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 4x8 32Gig Ram [still room to double up]

ASUS GTX980 GPU

Corsair 240Gig Neutron SSD x 2

WD Caviar Green 3TB HD. [already have a couple of 2TBs to add]

Should have a little get-up-and-go ...

I expect it'll have a bit more zing than my current i7-920.  I'll chuck Win 7 on it for now...until 10's released [cleverly bypassing 8]....

Nice specs there, very nice indeed... and you can't go very far wrong with Corsair and Asus.

I was going to go the Socket 2011 route when I was building mine, though with a Xeon CPU... cost and availability at the time, however, changed that and I went with a Socket 1150 instead.

You will notice a performance boost from the i7 920, for sure, and with that mobo you'll be able to take advantage of ultra quick boots via the BIOS settings.  I know that your machine is more in a constant state of on, but those ultra-fast boots are handy when you have to reboot after updates and software installations... it just gets you back to what you want/need to be doing that bit faster.

I notice that you're going with 2 240gb SSDs.  Is that one for the OS and the other for games and your flight sim, or will use use them in RAID0 and load it on the one partition?  Just asking because you may have been better going with a 512gb if it's the latter... price-wise, that is.   I went with a Samsung 512 for my build, but I am seriously considering pairing it with another a bit further down the track to accommodate my skins library in its entirety, various games and personal files, etc.

I could say that I'm a tad jealous about that case, but I'm not.... NO, I'm fechin' green with envy.  That's the style Level 10 case I wanted but couldn't get at the time, but in black... it was going to take months to get in and add another $250 - $300 to the cost, so I opted for the one in the OP.

Anyway, all the best with your build and I hope it goes smoothly for you.... will be interested to hear how it all went, what you think of the system when done.

Yep...one's for the OS and the other is for FSX [and maybe a few other games - if there's room left].  All the other junk - backups, etc 'should' fit with the 7TBs of platter HDs.

The only 'cannibalizing' will be to pinch a burner from the existing...and use the current peripherals...KB and mouse [though I have new spares of both - if they ever die].

Reading up on the MoBo and ASUS has its own version of the 2011v3 with extra pins enabled...above and beyond what Intel has released currently.

Last 2 builds have both been ASUS...kinda like their quality.

Plan is to run 5 HDs and leave the sixth bay for swapping in/out so the case should be 'ideal'.

Then I'll have to dabble in the realms of overclocking since that's what the MoBo is all about.  I 'shouldn't' ever run out of SATA options and USB options...it has squillions of both.

If FSX won't run maxed on this I'll scream...

I sort of figured one of the SSDs would be for your FSX and games, which is what I plan to do when I expand with another 512gb, to run games from it... possibly some of the larger programs, such as PSP and Office, etc.... thus saving space on the OS drive and possibly prolonging its life.

Yeah, the 2011 socket board I was looking as was an Asus. I too like their products and sort of wish now that I had held out for the extra cash/those components my supplier was finding difficult to source.  I was told there was a shortage of 2011 socket components around that time,  and could take some months to get, so was asked if 1150 socket parts would suffice... and well, the rest is history.  Thing is, should I want or need to upgrade, the next build won't cost anywhere near as much as the last.  I'd keep my current case/components and just replace the CPU/mobo with socket 2011 versions.... easy peasy.

Thanks for the warning.  If I hear this ungodly, hellish wailing emanating from the South I shan't worry...  I'll know what it is.