I wouldn't worry about the processor support in Solaris any x86 compatible processor will do, although there could be some amd specific tweaks in the code ;) the Nvidia site has 3d graphics drivers for solaris but no specific chipset drivers. note that X.org will have 2d support for the 6600 anyway....

CA_Steve wrote:Now, there's an expensive way to fix this longstanding iTunes 100% cpu usage quirk...get a dual CPU for when I rip CDs

you know it makes sense

/nods you can have one cpu screaming along, and still happily compute away with the other cpu. Hell, sometimes I game while running two work units in BOINC (@idle priority) and I don't notice any difference. I will no longer have a rogue process hogging all the cpu, it can only hog a max of 50%, whi...

Just thought I'd report back... I've replaced my PSU with an seasonic S12-430 and I still can't distinguish the drive noise. I can hear seeks when there are lots of seeks close together e.g. a game loading or defragging, but in 'normal' (for instance bittorrenting or starting smaller programs) use i...

Interesting that suspending has been so effective for you, quikkie. From memory, an SL350SP might actually partially mask the sound that this particular drive is producing. With the chassis open, there is very, very little audible fan turbulence from a metre away and even when close, the loudest no...

Quikkie points at his sig (nforce4 ultra motherboard is now passively cooled)
I have pictures if you want them.

Must be some differences amongst batches or something - nothing new there, I suppose. ;) Did suspending your drive make much difference, quikkie? YES!! it was a night and day type difference. Hard mounted with the antec grommets: While playing BF2 I could hear the chatter of the disk as it loaded t...

I got some bead elastic - it was too thin really, so I made double loops for each corner of the drive i.e. 8 separate threads holding the weight of the drive. If you want clothing elastic, like MikeC says it's a stock item.

I have one wd25000ks and there is no detectable whine coming from it, I only hear it when it is in the middle of a defrag.

I have been searching for the same thing...it seems like all AMD boards with gigabit ethernet that support the dual core chips are SLI. I have been serisouly looking at the .65 micron intel chips, because the motherboards available for those CPU's are more in line with what I am looking for. uhh, e...

How much power do you think I need? If I can get away with the 330 or 380 I'll go for one of those for your power requirements you will be fine with a 330W. If you defrag all your disks, while burning a dvdr, watching a dvd and playing a game you might push 200W if that! My rig (see my sig) runs fi...

My personal experience of WD drives is positive, my suspended 2500KS is just audible when defragging the disk, otherwise I can't hear it. When hard mounted (with Antecs grommets) I could hear it seek over the noise of the ordinary nforce4 and ATi cooling at full speed. I haven't yet tried using AAM.

<minor nitpick>sata-2 doesn't exist as a standard</minor nitpick>. however if you meant sata running at 300MB/s then yes the pin out is exactly the same, the cables are the same and the controllers / disks are all backward compatible.

it should be possible to spin down a disk under linux using hdparm. As long as you don't mount the disk and use hdparm to spin down the disk it should stay idle.

As for the graphics card, AFAIK you can't turn it off. you should be able to control the fan on the gfx card and make it spin slower.

the mains adapter for my linksys wrt54g intermittently buzzes, but that's okay because it's not in my computing room or bedroom. The unit itself is silent.

onboard raid cards are not full hardware raid. if they were full hardware solutions then there would be no need for drivers, you would see the raid array as an 'ordinary' disks from the operating system. All the onboard raid solutions in consumer products to date (not counting the server products) n...

My rig stays quiet (as far as I am concerned) no matter how hard I push it. The heatsink you have is better than the one I have according to the reviews published here. Since the highest temp I have seen is 25C over ambient temp with the max fan speed of 1200rpm your rig should stay a lot cooler and...

my suspended 2500KS is only audible in my system when the disk is thrashing (like when it's defragging) but when it's loading a program it barely hear it. when it was hardmounted I heard it most of the time.

-Quikkie

Unfortunately I can't tell as my MB crashes with HDD sensing software and other temp monitoring is useless too :( I have the same mainboard - try the utils that come with the mainboard (superstep?) that will give temps and fan speeds. DTemp/speedfan and the atitool like functionality that comes wit...

I noticed that with the standard tricool fan on low (and no other case fans) it was sucking air in through the CAG holes. I've taped the holes shut (both CPU and GPU) and haven't noticed a difference in noise level - although it did motivate me to enhance the air flow through the case (I have no fro...

with two instances of cpuburn running I get a max of 25C above ambient (total of about 45C). idle is around 30C - although I never get to see that very often as I run climateprediction.net most of the time. All temps are at stock speeds, the fan on the HS is running at around 900-1200RPM idle-cpubur...

Aleksi wrote:Nice prices in the UK... You can get two from Silencio for the price of one from QuietPC.

tell me about it!!
we Brits don't call it "Rip off Britain" for nothing.

Sometimes it's cheaper for me to order stuff from the US and get it shipped to the UK.

-Quikkie

Check my sig for full details - my HSF has some airflow directed down at the mainboard components. The graphics card fan can be quietened (without compromising cooling) by using either atitool if you install the official ati drivers or the included tools that come with the unofficial omega driver pa...

I just don’t know how safe this is and/or if I’d run into any power loss over/at up to 1 meter. As long as the joints between the two ends are good and insulated (i.e. solder and tape each connection) it'll be safe. As for power loss: over a mile I'd start worrying about it, but over one metre you ...

I love my linksys NSLU2 NAS system. It's a mini linux system with a comprehensive web GUI, the NSLU2 itself has no moving parts and is very low power, so the system is only as loud as the USB disks you plug in. Yeah, sadly it uses USB disks so the performance isn't lightning - although you still get...

I too ordered from jab-tech as even with trans-atlantic shipping it was cheaper than DB (sorry Dot). Packaging was overkill (everything was bubble wrapped, in a box full of polystyrene filling) but that's a good thing!

-Quikkie

it's not difficult to remove a HSF, they aren't stuck to the CPU. And don't worry about cleaning the residue off the CPU - on an X2 the top of the CPU is a metal 'shield' over the actual CPU core.

Short of cleaning with a chisel it won't be damaged during cleaning.

-Quikkie

~El~Jefe~ wrote:fallout2 is better than bf2 anyways.

wash your mouth out!
I've played more BF2 than fallout2 (both for many hours) and play mostly to meet up with my cyber buddies, however BF2 is (in my not so humble opinion) way better than fallout 2.

-Quikkie

For BIOS updates for this mainboard go to http://www.foxconnchannel.com

-Quikkie

Check my sig ;) Antec 3800 is fine, the case comes with one tricool fan on the back. and a space for a fan on the front. The HDD cage is easily removable so suspending your HDDs is easy. I don't miss the cooling the side vents provide, with the tri-cool as exhaust those vents seemed to be intakes al...