fwiw on the topic of using a 5400 RPM drive for games I'd say go for it if you want the lower power/noise. The areal density is so high on modern hard drives that even the 5400 RPM drives beat the snot out of the 7200 RPM drives from a few years ago. That's the reason I started looking at them, esp...

as for the hard drive... short stroking one of the 2TB drives would help make sure you get the same performance across the partition, but my concern with running games off of it would be that greater areal density actually hurts random reads/writes. This is my concern. But maybe it shouldn't be? Th...

Random read, windows launch, application launch are all as good as any. Plus much better software. It even tells you how close to being used up the drive is. And it uses the older, more reliable 32mm memory. Which drive are you talking about here? A 1T Caviar Black is my favorite for working data. ...

I'm trying to make some decisions about storage for an April build. For reference, the build will use an i5-2500K with 16GB of RAM and a GTX-560 Ti. The primary usage will be moderate (non-FPS) gaming, software development, some low-performance VM usage (for testing the software), and general person...

POWER SUPPLY: 1. Corsair AX750 OR 2. Corsair AX850 The Corsair AX-Series is just the re-badged Seasonic X-Series. The AX750 is the same as the Seasonic X750 . Currently its about $5 cheaper than the X750, with a rebate. However, sometimes you can find the X750 cheaper. However, for that, you might ...

ces wrote:

figment wrote:I've changed the preferred fans to Scythe Kama Flows and Kama Flexes.

What is the difference?

I had been considering Scythe S-Flexes for 3 pin fans and Slipstream PWMs or Akasa Apache's as PWM fans.

I've updated the original post: The 2500K is now my primary choice for CPU. I don't know what it would take for me to choose the 2600K, but its very unlikely. I've changed the preferences on the App Drive to put Caviar Blue/Black drives and the Samsung Spinpoint F4EG as the preferred choices. The F4...

Don't bank on [the ASUS GTX 560 Ti being] really quiet, as its cooler should be rather agressive (59°C after 24hrs of FurMark, someone said on NewEgg): OTOH I don't think there will be anything really quieter at that performance level (moreover the Direct CU-II with the similar 6950 it has proven t...

CPU: Everything I've seen shows synthetic benchmarks and video encoding benefiting from hyperthreading. I don't think it will make a difference for you. Save the $100 for something else (your case maybe?) This seems to be the consensus... and yet the 2600K is still popular. Such is the world. CASE:...

CPU: its not worth the money IMO, for coding my #1 goal is high GHZ, and 2500k is supposed to be a lot easier to overclock than the 2600k, so I went with it. visual studio doesn't compile using threads unless you are compiling multiple projects at the same time (which I never do) so having a 20 cor...

I'm preparing to start sale-watching for a build in late April. Now with revisions! (I wish the forum had strikethrough... Discarded options in grey) CPU: i7-2600K / i5-2500K Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 Pro / ASUS P8P67 LE / ASUS P8P67 EVO Video: ASUS GTX-560 Ti 1GB PSU: Seasonic SS-560KM / Seasonic X65...

Intriguing. That is a lot of wire mesh, though. I'm interested in cases with better air flow than the P183, but when I see 75% of the top of the case is open wire mesh, I can't help but imagine most/all of the sound from my case pouring into the room. Seems silly to even ask if there's any dampening...

Not to sound overly noobish, but could you be more specific on how you'd replace 200mm fans with 140mm (or even 120mm) fans? Zip ties? Adapter plates? Foam? I've looked at the Define XL, and it seemed nice, but a little too big. Of course, its only about the size of the Corsair 650D, so perhaps I sh...

Yes but just think of your kitty as helping to silence the fan noise coming from out the top of the case. It's funny, but at the same time, they do cut down on noise while I'm gaming. I suppose if I had an FT02 or Raven and they laid across it, they'd move as soon as it got toasty. Still... not the...

Pretty sure that little bit about heat pipes needing the proper orientation is a myth. From what I've heard, its partially valid in that some very early types of heatpipes were affected by orientation, but none of the heatpipes on the market now (or even within the last 3-5 years) have that issue. ...

Worthy competitor might be the Corsair Obsidian 650D : it will hit the shelves in April, MSRP $199, 0.8 inches larger than the P183 V3. Holy crap. Is there anything about that case that isn't great? I suppose we don't know acoustic performance yet, but how bad could it be? In my mind, this sort of ...

In April I hope to begin a new gaming/development build. I'm looking for a good case to house an i7-2600K and mid-high graphics card (with luck: GTX-570) for about six years of life (3 years as gaming/development, 3 years as Linux server/development). It will be one of two boxes which sit in my livi...

There do seem to be some issues with the Marvell chip, but nothing major. Mostly screwing up quasi-software RAID functionality, and I think it doesn't support trim (Intel's SATA controller w/ MS' driver should, though). If you go normal with ATX, cards with mature chips will be available, later on....

The S models have always carried a price premium over regular models. It's not that bad now, actually. Before, you'd have to shell out an extra $50~$100 for one of the S models. As for why there's a price premium, simple, they're binned to make sure they don't exceed the advertised TDP at full load...

It's too early to do price comparisons so I won't make a specific CPU choice but I'd ask that you keep an open mind for socket AM3+ and the "Zambezi" 4 core, 6 core, or 8 core processors. Good point. Yeah, I'll give Bulldozer a chance. At the moment, if I were forced to put down money, I'd guess th...

CPU: just get an unlocked one and be done with it. I was originally planning to avoid the K's because they are going to be the most popular cpu for the high-end enthusiast and that tends to make them harder to find and more expensive to buy. Since I won't feel sad if I can't overclock, it didn't se...

First: I understand that its far too early to make specific decisions. However, I've found that I've had the most success (technologically and monetarily) if I have a good head start on system decisions before I actually need to make them. To that end: I'm currently planning to build a Gaming/Develo...

Civ 4 is not particularly taxing on video cards (anymore).

I used to run it on a 6600GT (1280 x 1024, medium settings). Upgrading to a 8600, let me run at high settings with antialiasing. Any moderate powered graphics card these days can push Civ4 at the very highest settings.

It doesn't really seem to matter. I have a build similar to Ben's and I went fan up. The idea was that it would suck in less dust if the fan was on the top. My PSU (Modu82+ 525W) currently runs its fan at the minimum speed (about 420rpm) and the hard drive in the front never breaks 40C. However, I k...

Sorry for the slow response... maybe this is still useful: In order to achieve the lower limit of 6V on the Sys/Aux fans, is it necessary to 'optimize', or can the lower limit simply be entered as a value in uGuru? Yes, you need to do the "optimize" thing. The BIOS screen only allows selection down ...

I would have said the same thing, if not for... And for the mobo, which one would be good for raiding, cause i would like the p35 models, but i need one that will allow raiding. Play it safe and get RE (Raid Edition) of the Green Powers. I'm not sure, if they have REs of the 640 model. If they do, ...

The 640 AAKS is the faster, higher-performance drive, but it is slightly noiser (but still really quiet) and uses more electricity. The 500 GP is a little slower, though for most use, you'd probably never even notice (due to the larger cache). It also uses less electricity and is almost silent. Eith...

I tried a couple different methods using one of the plates I pulled from the 5.25" bays on my P182. It wasn't really that I didn't believe that website, but rather that I'd never tried before and wanted to see for myself. Sure enough, I have to agree with their conclusions. Two longish, thin lines o...

there was another interesting article about using foam to block off parts of the case where air is not needed, like under psu, the corner gap between the top and exhaust fan, and the side of the case where the power and led cables come through. Heh. That would have been me. I have to admit it feels...

I wanted to get [the Modu82+] The problem with it in my opinion is that (correct me, if I'm wrong) the fan opening is placed on the top/bottom instead of in the back of the PSU, where I need it since I'm getting a P182. You're wrong, but if one has to be wrong, this is one of the better ways to do ...