Are all Antec / Fractal trays the same then? so would a P180 mini be a better bet as it should have the same trays as the solo? Also do you know if the fractal core 3000 has the same trays as the define series - anything to save money!!

Cheers for the heads up

Looking for a case for a NAS setup, which at the mo will run on a micro atx board for budget reasons. I was all set to buy a Define Mini but reading around these forums people don't seem too impressed with the HDD trays from Fractal. Likewise I looked at a P180 mini, but I cant find any specific rev...

Hi The title says it all really, just after a small board for a NAS project. Honestly budget is as tight possible so I'm not worrying too much about CPU performance, or whether its an integrated CPU or not. Whatever people think is the cheapest. In my experience the cheapest I've found so far is ~£1...

Long answer: Yep I considered ITX, just worried about spiralling cost and also heat in such a confined space. Planning on getting something like a 6950/560Ti. Would also like to keep things flexible for the future - and maybe delay new motherboard til new intel release...in which case it'd just be r...

Hi Getting annoyed with slow PC & HDD noise so looking for something faster & quieter (again). The only things that are staying Seasonic X-650 (in a NZXT Vulcan atm, and it runs very happily upside down) 1x 2.5" SSD 4x 3.5" 2TB WD Green 1x 5.25" Bluray Ideally I want something small as possible but ...

Using a NZXT Vulcan, so its bottom mounted, but not in its own compartment. In terms of components/power draw i can't see it peaking above 250W - I only run a single fan in the whole PC at the mo - on CPU heatsink. Running a 5670 ultimate and a 125W phenom. 560W is listed as in stock, but i cant see...

Ok, for pretty much the exact same price i can get my hands on either the X-400, X-560 or X-650. Now the 400 appeals because the 650 seems fanless only up to around 100W load, but i'm worried about frying it as theres no emergency fan or anything is there? Also i know absolutely nothing about the 56...

Hi guys

I had a quick idea I was hoping to bounce off you folk! Would a 45W amd with a big heatsink be ok without any fans at all. I was thinking the convection current would be enough?

Any thoughts? Is this possible or am i just being stupid?

I know this isn't the rarest topic around - and the general answer is its stupid to go passive. BUT if one were feeling stupid, whats the best chance of not frying a heavily underclocked & undervolted i3 530? I was looking at a mcubed micro case - which is all but perfect apart from the fact I want ...

Fair play, I can concede when I'm wrong. I was always under the impression that voltage dictated the majority of the power consumption, with clock speed not having much of an effect but it would appear I'm wrong.

Cheers

Have you actually tried that, cos I think your theory is a little iffy, though i'm no expert - I generally just undervolt til I hit stability issues. Assuming that the 530 actually is at 73W You'd have to underclock down to (30/73) * 2.9 Ghz = 1.2 Ghz and somehow manage to drop the voltage down by m...

Well the plan for the build was a 150w picopsu, lowest power cpu i can find and a 5750 go green. (with motherboard and memory, ssd etc). 30W is the lowest i've found by a loooong way. Much better than 73W for the core i5.

I dont think you could undervolt it down to 30W?

E-ViS wrote:I'm trying to decide between the following (in order of price):

Intel i3-540 @ £100
Intel L3406 @ £155
Intel i5-750 @ £160
Intel X3440 @ £185

Just wondering where you got the prices as I'm looking to buy something along these lines and cant find the xeon anywhere

Ohh those things, yep I use those on all the fans I have installed. Thanks

Just as an update I'm prolly gonna purchase everything tomorrow so any last minute suggestions/corrections would be welcome. Thanks for the PSU advice - I'll maybe dig up a dead PSU and have a looksee.

EDIT: What are "silicone isolators" ?

Thanks for everyones help

Gigabyte comes in a solid £15-20 more expensive depending on specific board/retailer - also i'm not a huge fan of gigabyte. As for the extra fans - the current cpu fan is a nexus PWM, which is a LOT louder than the normal "real silent" fans. So 1 is to replace that, 1 is for the PSU replacement if ...

Yeah I've been looking around and seems I can do this all for <£100, including new thermal paste (i've run out), a couple of fans (one for psu, one to replace sligtly noisy cpu fan), and some thermal paste remover (hopefully it'll do a better job than my isopropyl). Cheapest motherboards with an ok...

OK I suppose the most number crunchy thing I do is x264 encoding, followed by a fair amount of file compression. Apart from that I (used) to run high end games before the noise started annoying me. Just for reference current PC is Q6600 - was slightly OC'd + UV'd to 2.8ghz @1.08v until motherboard s...

Just had a thought - I could grab a nice AM2+ board for £50, keep my memory and cooler and buy an AM3 phenom for £120-150. problem solved for £200. Its double the £100 for new 775 motherboard but I dont know if it'd be faster than my current Q6600 (especially if I overclocked with the nice new m...

I'm not fundamentally against waiting for sandy bridge, but whats driving the upgrade is my dying motherboard. (I think its dying anyway). But if i'm seeing no real gains in performance I dont really want to lay out much cash apart from to silence this thing. Only problem is I want a new motherboard...

Still weighing up 95w vs 130w debate within the i7. I'd ideally like the 920/930 as given UK prices at the mo it'd cost the same (even 6gb triple vs 4gb dual is similar price) and i'd end up with more mem, more bandwidth (and more heat i guess). Would 860 be notably easier to silence? As far as moth...

Hi I'm looking to upgrade PC to make it both faster and quieter and want to make the move to core i7. Apart from the obvious CPU, motherboard + mem I was hoping to avoid much to buy but I dont want the thing to be crazy loud. In fact my current PC runs too loud for my liking (main culprit is the PSU...

Ok my system Antec Solo Corsair TX750 Q6600 - slightly undervolted + slightly OC'd (does pass IBT fine though) Gigabyte N650 - CPU socket is ridiculously close to the top of the motherboard - far much closer than most others. Anyway I was running a Arctic Freezer 7 but that does ramp up a bit under ...

I accidently bought a cooler to big for my case (PSU sits too close to the top of the motherboard) so instead of venting outwards it either has to exhaust up and into the PSU fan or down and away from it. I was just wondering which was better? Obviously you don't want to blow more hot air into the P...

yes I'm aware of the limits of overclocking with 4 modules and i may remove 2 or switch out for 2x4gb. Depends how i'm feeling. As it stands at the mo I more just want to focus on how small I can go without sacrificing too much. I also considered a NSK3480 but I didnt know if thered be enough airflo...

Hi. Ok the main dilemma is Solo vs mini P180. The general goal is to quiet my existing PC and also improve performance as cheaply as possible, I've had it for a fair while and its in need of some TLC. At the mo: Coolermaster Stacker (think its 830 - its the massive one) Q6600 95W @ 9x300 ATX Horribl...

Ok so approaching it from a different angle, do you know of a small quiet case better than the nsk3480...cos i really dont like the aesthetics of it?

(hmm just realised i'm kinda hijacking my own thread)

Hi I was just wondering if (apart from Antec Solo) there were any other cases that had fancy HDD suspension or some other good mountings? Ideally I'm just after a nice small case to take 1 SSD + 1 Large quiet drive like a Ecogreen 1TB. Does that sound sensible? Motherboard size doesnt matter as I'm ...

Cheers for the quick replies!! Having looked around the solo looks like a fine idea. Anyone know if i'll have trouble with beefy GPU heatsinks in the solo? I can't really tell from pictures/reviews if they'll fit?

Hi first post here and i'm afraid its a bit of a ronseal question. I'm just after a nice cheap quiet micro-atx case, the aim is to transfer all the bits and bobs from my behemoth CM-830 (which, after living with it for nearly 2 years isn't actually a very good case IMHO). Obviously i'll buy a micro-...