The AMD CPU's have lower idle power draw, are cheaper etc. For lots of encoding or heavy gaming C2D are more efficient. I'm very happy with my X2 3800. I think it would be a better choice given your stated intentions.

Time for a 2.5" drive methinks. :wink: Yup, I was leaning that way. Living on a side street of Victoria in a single family house with double pane windows has it's advantages, but drowning out noise from already quiet PC's is not one of them. Some days, the cat purring at 3 metres is the loudest thi...

I would be curious to see how the Scythe FDB fans would compare, the bearings would not have the same potential issues as the sleeve bearings on all of the ones tested. They are also starting to become widely available, and are reasonably priced. I also wonder if the benchmark point of a constant 15...

Sadly, my 250 WD drive purchased in January is not suitable for a quiet PC. The idle noise is the loudest thing in my NSK2400 based HTPC, clearly audible from 8-10 feet away. When I can justify it, I'll be getting another drive to replace it and using this one for disconnected backup, but I have no ...

I concur with the noisy biker thing.

But my least favorite noise of all has to be the one coming from the television when my wife is watching something like "The 20 most stylish celebrities" on some Hollywood trash TV show.

I'd prefer the Zalman. With that setup, high case temps are not likely to be an issue.

Looking at some of the recent crop of densely finned heatsinks like this one, I can't help but wonder if low-flow performance would be improved by surgically removing every 2nd or 3rd fin. Either way, I'm still looking for an aftermarket HS for my 2400 based HTPC, this isn't it. No hurry, because ev...

Hey, knock yourself out. My C-based skills are fairly rudimentary at this point, but I can poke around enough to modify existing simple code. I'm more of a general purpose GIS geek than a programmer, but the task does seem simple enough. If you come up with anything let me know. I was also pointed t...

That's wat I was thinking too. My programming skills are probably almost up to the task, and it seems like it's mostly just basic file handling, but I am not familiar enough with the tools I would need to get started. Most of the programming I do is VB based and specific to GIS software.

You likely can't do it all. No PSU fan, no case fan, no CPU fan - WILL overheat. But, a slow case fan may allow you to use a passive heatsink - many would work, it's a matter of finding one for the right price. Or just a nice slow 5v nexus or similar 80mm fan on the CPU will not likely be audible. B...

I know there are a lot of media PC users here - so perhaps someone may know a utility that will work for me: Just getting my HTPC up and running, and no surprise, I am finding that the audio aspect is more value to me than the video. I am ripping all my CD's to FLAC, and having one source for all th...

My recently upgraded system with

nForce 6150 (NF-M2 nView) mATX board
3800+ dual core AM2
2*512Mb RAM
NSK2400

Drew about 55W from the wall on idle, this with the CPU slightly overclocked and volted, and no real effort done yet to reduce consumption.

I just picked up the BFG 7900gs from NCIX in the weekly sale. I'm not a power gamer, but so far I am running Oblivion at 1360*768 with mid level details and it is smooth. It would be great leaps above the 9800pro. The best thing for me is, at idle, it is inaudible. There is a start-up burst, then it...

Seasonic doesn't really brand itself that way, but there are likely PSU's made by SS with those "features" - though not any with 14cm fan that I can think of.

I second the idea of replacing the case. Given the cost of a high quality PSU, it would probably be the most cost effective option. You would probably have great success with one of the budget favorites from around here, such as the Antec 3700BQE. 5 case fans is usually a red flag to me. The baselin...

Yeah, that's the strange thing. The drive is at the terminal end of its own cable. I always run that way for installs.

Something's still not quite right, but as long as it works.

The problem has been cleared up, if not understood thanks to a post on the AT forums. Setting the drive jumpers to single device master (no jumper) cleared everything up. Not sure why, and it was strange that it misbehaved with two drives, but got worse with the WD. So if anyone knows what the likel...

Finally geting ready to make the move to dual core. The system will be running an HTPC in an NSK2400 (for now) case. Duties will be PVR, Music, and light gaming. Sticking with integrated graphics for now. CPU will be 3800+ X2EE. My questions are: Board: I want stable, cool, adjustable, undervolting ...

Hardware: Biostar M7NCG (nForce2 -400 mATX) Barton XP2500+ Mobile WD 250Gb 2*512 DDR400 9600xt 128Mb First sign of trouble: In an earlier install of windows, ~ every third boot attempt would hang at "Verifying DMI Pool" New bigger sign of trouble: Takes up to 60 seconds to reach first BIOS boot (del...

To my recollection, the last time SPCR offered detailed case modding instructions as part of (actually an addendum to, IIRC) a review was for the SLK3700AMB. There may have been others more recently. This case is much different. It is way more expensive, and it has competitors that are superior out ...

I glued a generic (but large) electronics heatsink onto my 8500le back in the day. Used the thermal paste in the middle/glue on the corners method. Worked fine for 3 years. I'd say it's only for the adventurous, but I had no problem. Today's GPU's might be more of a challenge though (heat/area has g...

It reminds me of my recent experience shopping for a fridge, another appliance where I valued silence and efficiency above most other criteria. I think an improvement would be not just providing a star rating, but an actual number based on assumed hours of idle/active use (kW/Hr/Yr). That way, peopl...

Was the PSU submitted for review by Mushkin? It's hard to imagine the company not realising that it would not meet the standards of SPCR.

If I had to choose, I would use the thinner one, but if you can manage it, a pleated filter will certainly work better (albeit with more restriction). Much depends on the dust challenge you face and how often you want to clean out your computer. Personally, I like the idea of pleated filters, but ha...

It doesn't look promising to me. More a standard case, with a bit of flash to make it look better. The rear fan opening is only 80mm, which is the biggest problem. Damping should be the last and final attempt to make a quiet PC, after all other methods have been tried. Far better to get quiet compon...

Re: the noise, you should really just read the review. You'll get a far more objective take than any of us could give. IIRC, the article summarized that it was easily the equal of the best tower cases for quiet potential. Re: the monitor. I would have no hesitation doing it to mine. It could probabl...

1. In general, you can't assume that different fan sizes will behave similarly. That said, Nexus has made a name in fans by picking the best, so they are always a safe bet. This is why they have become the new reference fans around here. There are cheaper alternatives, but if you want no hassles qui...

Seeing a case in the real world is a lot different than standing with a tape measure and imagining it (which I did). If I had built a cube the same size as the case, I might have had a better idea. I knew it would be bigger than I wanted, but after spending probably 20 hours researching cases online...

I just got home with my new NSK2400, and before I start whining, I'll just say that I purchased this case because it was the best option for my needs, and like the review here states, it's a very good value. I've been waiting a long time to put together my HTPC. Main problem being the case, and bein...

I just got my NSK case today. If you are going to build one, study this design. It's very straightforward and clever. The way the 120mm fans are incorporated is what sold me. Can you buy an mATX motherboard tray? Seems like that would be the trickiest part to duplicate. I started designing the case...