Search found 20 matches

by geckokarma
Tue May 30, 2006 8:26 am
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: Quiet living room music server mATX PC
Replies: 5
Views: 6524

Thanks for the comments eveyone. tay -- if I were deciding today, I'd probably go with FLAC. But IMO its only been recently that support for it (esp portable players, PDAs) has really reached a good, usable level. (My vague impression is that Monkey's audio isn't at that level yet.) Kraig -- no, its...
by geckokarma
Mon May 29, 2006 6:50 am
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: Quiet living room music server mATX PC
Replies: 5
Views: 6524

More detail on the HD suspension is now on page 7 of the suspension gallery thread.
by geckokarma
Mon May 29, 2006 5:50 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: HDD Elastic Suspension... Show your pics!
Replies: 447
Views: 1180093

I'm not sure if this is a new twist or not, since so many of the old photos are in the bit bucket. But its so simple I'd have no trouble believing its been done. I needed to suspend my drive for several reasons, prime amongst them that the EAR grommets weren't cutting it. So I visited my local Micha...
by geckokarma
Sun May 28, 2006 7:52 pm
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: Quiet living room music server mATX PC
Replies: 5
Views: 6524

Quiet living room music server mATX PC

Its been a mere year and a half since I started this thing (!), but I can finally say that at least the hardware is done. For now. Here it is up and running: http://static.flickr.com/77/155177344_952a8ffec1.jpg and here are the insides: http://static.flickr.com/53/155162677_f4ebb3daa5.jpg . What's t...
by geckokarma
Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:45 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Botched SFX PSU fan swap
Replies: 8
Views: 5529

Good thought, IsaacKuo. But its the back of a tiny vertical "riser" board (barely visible in the photo link in the OP). Parallel to the back of that riser is a thin sheet of plastic, I'm sure included as insulation against the board touching the rail. I did consider which side to solder to -- the ba...
by geckokarma
Mon Apr 10, 2006 2:34 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Botched SFX PSU fan swap
Replies: 8
Views: 5529

This just in: more stink. I soldered the tips of those pins to the back of the board, leaving some respectable-looking cones of solder. Neither of them touch any other metal as far as I can see. Feeling confident, I hooked everything up, powered on, the fan spun for ~1 sec, but then died: no boot . ...
by geckokarma
Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:08 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Help find mATX HTPC case
Replies: 27
Views: 13303

mrzed wrote:I think I'd rather build it
Now that is something reporting back to SPCR about!
by geckokarma
Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:23 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Help find mATX HTPC case
Replies: 27
Views: 13303

mrzed -- have you gotten a case yet? How about the tasty-looking Antec nsk2400, which seems to have distibution in Canada?
by geckokarma
Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:00 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Botched SFX PSU fan swap
Replies: 8
Views: 5529

Thanks for the tips. IsaacKuo, you had it right. I removed the pins and got it to boot. I'm tempted to run it at 5V... Still I'd like to get those pins soldered so I at least have the option of letting the PSU ramp it up (e.g. in summer)... m0002a, I like your wire splicing but when I did my hack jo...
by geckokarma
Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:25 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Antec MINUET 300
Replies: 8
Views: 5852

aidanjm2004 -- I considered the Minuet too. I didn't end up going with it but I guess for your purposes it could work. Any idea what size fan(s) the PSU has (no obvious answer on Antec's site)? If its 60mm, that's a concern, but maybe not a showstopper for you. There's a good chance you'd want to sw...
by geckokarma
Sun Apr 02, 2006 9:38 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Botched SFX PSU fan swap
Replies: 8
Views: 5529

Botched SFX PSU fan swap

Drat! You know that trade off between prudence and expedience? I have come out on the wrong end this time! :o I just picked up a Seasonic SS-250SVP . Naturally, with the stock fan, it was still too loud. So I went for the fan swap . Here's a photo of the guts of the Seasonic. Note that the fan heade...
by geckokarma
Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:42 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Spire SP205 -- a stealth rheostat?
Replies: 6
Views: 4439

A ha. Its interesting that its possible to make a switching circuit like a boost converter that I guess doesn't cause noise problems (clicking, throbbing, etc) with fans whereas PWM also uses switching and usually does. I'll take a stab at this... Its because with PWM, the current that the fan sees ...
by geckokarma
Thu Mar 16, 2006 6:07 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Spire SP205 -- a stealth rheostat?
Replies: 6
Views: 4439

Felger Carbon said "variable switching power supplies (in effect linear)". Out of newbie curiosity, does this mean * Switched-mode power supply * Linear regulator parts thereof, or something else entirely? And for bonus points, all else equal, which throws off more heat, a rheostat, a (typical) PWM,...
by geckokarma
Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:57 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Spire SP205 -- a stealth rheostat?
Replies: 6
Views: 4439

Thanks for the info Felger Carbon. There was next to zero info on them on the web, but of course these forums are the place to come.
by geckokarma
Tue Mar 14, 2006 8:07 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Spire SP205 -- a stealth rheostat?
Replies: 6
Views: 4439

Spire SP205 -- a stealth rheostat?

I've been checking out smiple fan controllers and came across this little number from Spire: http://www.spirecoolers.com/Acc.asp?ProdID=92 Anyone have any experience with it? Anyone know if its a rheostat (or should I say rheobus)? My gut is that its so small and so cheap that there's no way its dre...
by geckokarma
Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:17 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Help find mATX HTPC case
Replies: 27
Views: 13303

I gave a thumbs up to the Venus in an earlier post: http://www.forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=176478&highlight=&sid=714eb4242ed4483bf0d1c1fb09a47671 (Its been awhile but my hiatus is over!) A bit more detail for you: I've got a full-height wifi PCI card, a Samsung 160 GB 3.5" HD and above...
by geckokarma
Thu May 05, 2005 9:05 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Any MATX case interest? & Newbie case advice?
Replies: 74
Views: 47669

I have the Enermax CS 10068 and can recommend it. I'm building a music (not video) oriented AV box for the entertainment center. Some of its components: * Soyo P4RC350 mobo -- got it mainly for the S-Video out. Downside is that getting the proprietary ATI Linux drivers to work with the TV has been a...
by geckokarma
Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:21 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Undervoltable Motherboards: ADD to the list!!
Replies: 313
Views: 404167

Soyo P4RC350 - not undervoltable

http://www.soyo.com.tw/products/proddesc.php?id=295

I have one. The BIOS reports the Vcore, but its not settable.
by geckokarma
Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:15 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: No thermal sensors - adventurous or stupid?
Replies: 3
Views: 4684

Thanks for the responses. m0002a, I hear you on CPUBurn -- I was thinking of it only as the upper limit, betting that I can cool the CPU even under that condition and so would be in even safer territory under normal conditions. However, your (idle + 5 C) rule of thumb sounds reasonable and will be u...
by geckokarma
Mon Apr 25, 2005 8:28 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: No thermal sensors - adventurous or stupid?
Replies: 3
Views: 4684

No thermal sensors - adventurous or stupid?

Hey everyone -- I'm building a quiet Linux microATX system, mainly as a jukebox of our CDs... The components relevant to this thread: * Soyo P4RC350 mobo ( http://www.soyo.com.tw/products/proddesc.php?id=295 ) * Celeron 2.0 GHz Northwood * Thermalright XP90 + Nexus 90mm I chose that mobo for its onb...