Search found 77 matches

by Filias Cupio
Fri May 09, 2014 3:01 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: GTX 750Ti sips power
Replies: 153
Views: 164249

Re: GTX 750Ti sips power

The Accelero S1 is not compatible with GTX 750. Are there any passive heatsinks out there which are? (Maybe the next version of S1 will have mounting hardware for 750, but I'm just guessing at that. I asked Arctic Cooling about this by e-mail, all they did was send me a list of compatible coolers, n...
by Filias Cupio
Tue Feb 18, 2014 5:22 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: GTX 750Ti sips power
Replies: 153
Views: 164249

Re: GTX 750Ti sips power

This page has a list of manufacturers who will produce GTX 750 cards: http://nvidianews.nvidia.com/Releases/NVIDIA-Leads-Performance-Per-Watt-Revolution-With-Maxwell-Graphics-Architecture-ab5.aspx I went looking for the cards on the manufacturer's websites. I found: http://www.galaxytech.com/__EN_GB...
by Filias Cupio
Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:15 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Looking for advice on a new mid-range build
Replies: 6
Views: 3981

Re: Looking for advice on a new mid-range build

Interestingly, I've found that Tom's Hardware have a fanless(!) test build which is very similar to what I have in mind: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/silent-pc-gaming-performance,3435.html That is one big heatsink they use. I think I'll still plan for a fan, but try disconnecting it to see ho...
by Filias Cupio
Sat Feb 15, 2014 2:36 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Looking for advice on a new mid-range build
Replies: 6
Views: 3981

Re: Looking for advice on a new mid-range build

You don't mention the most important bit of information: - what's your monitor resolution? - how important is image quality? Do you want to max out the eye candy or will dial it back in order to go with a lesser gfx card? I have a single 1920x1080 monitor, and I'm happy to dial back the eye candy t...
by Filias Cupio
Fri Feb 14, 2014 11:28 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Looking for advice on a new mid-range build
Replies: 6
Views: 3981

Looking for advice on a new mid-range build

Elder Scrolls Online is coming soon, so that looks like a good excuse to replace my current ~4 year old PC. I'm looking to build something mid-range with gaming potential but very quiet. To give you the general idea, my current PC cost about $1600 new, of which probably $300 was attributable to sile...
by Filias Cupio
Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:42 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: DIAMOND-based heat transfer compound
Replies: 48
Views: 52541

How much of the thermal resistance between CPU and ambient air is typically accounted for by the TIM? If, for example it is 1%, then reducing this by a factor of three is only going to decrease your total thermal resistance by 0.7%, which is unlikely to be worth while. On the other hand, if it is (s...
by Filias Cupio
Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:53 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Anyone here seen the Gigabyte 9600GT Model GV-NX96T512HP yet
Replies: 13
Views: 10690

I've had two duds on the Gigabyte passive 9600GT. With two 120mm fans (system and power supply) it would overheat in about 20 minutes. (large case, little airflow impediment.) Adding a 90mm fan on the front didn't help - I had to shift the 90mm fan right next to it. Even so, it often crashed (possib...
by Filias Cupio
Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:45 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Passive 9600GT, will it be too hot?
Replies: 7
Views: 6214

I recently got the Gigabyte fanless 9600GT and it is hopeless - I had to buy a fan to point at it, and it kept malfunctioning and crashing even so. (Perhaps it had got damaged before I got the fan?) Before I got the internal fan, I could only game by opening the side of the computer and pointing a r...
by Filias Cupio
Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:24 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Updated VGA Card/Cooler Test Platform
Replies: 17
Views: 14680

I hadn't met those Slip Stream fans before. They look really good according to the manufacturer's site. How are they in reality? Do I want to go out and replace my Nexus?
by Filias Cupio
Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:30 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: New Nvidia open standard for PC hardware monitoring
Replies: 3
Views: 4427

Re: New Nvidia open standard for PC hardware monitoring

[quote="Ryan Norton"]For this to do much for me, though, it'd have to out-perform Speedfan, which having finally added support for monitoring VGA card sensors is now my one-stop shop.[/quote] SpeedFan still can't monitor your PSU or control its fan. If it catches on, SpeedFan will be modified to hoo...
by Filias Cupio
Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:52 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Nvidia's ESA: "Enthusiast System Architecture"
Replies: 0
Views: 2263

Nvidia's ESA: "Enthusiast System Architecture"

"The Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA) is the industry’s first open-standard PC monitoring and control protocol for real-time communication and control of system thermal, electrical, acoustic and operating characteristics." With this, it looks like SpeedFan-like software will be able to monitor...
by Filias Cupio
Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:22 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Time for a picoPSU-style sticky thread?
Replies: 6
Views: 6306

Here's more, from A-Tech Fabrication. There are a couple of variants of the 120W PicoPSU, and a couple of 200W PSU (are these just reselling another company's product?) They also have a couple of plates you can use to block the ATX PSU mounting hole. One has a fan, the other doesn't. http://atechfab...
by Filias Cupio
Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:49 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Time for a picoPSU-style sticky thread?
Replies: 6
Views: 6306

It looks like the m-cubed PSU's DC-DC boards are attached to a backplate that fits where a normal PSU would go
That would be really good in a SFF case which puts an ATX PSU directly over the CPU. Changing the PSU for one of these would give you space for a tower CPU heatsink.
by Filias Cupio
Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:45 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Time for a picoPSU-style sticky thread?
Replies: 6
Views: 6306

Time for a picoPSU-style sticky thread?

First came the picoPSU. Now there are bunch of similar PSUs - external power brick plus a small DC-DC board which goes inside the case. Perhaps it is time to have a sticky thread to keep track of them? (Even better would be a SPCR article.) Here are some: mini-box (http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/...
by Filias Cupio
Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:19 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: Nexus Psile: Its about time someone did this
Replies: 25
Views: 35653

The reason I'm keenly interested in the Psile is its PSU: it doesn't have one. Generally SFF cases either use an ATX PSU, which makes the case much larger than it needs to be, or uses some smaller PSU which is impossible or impractical to replace, if it is noisy. The Psile uses no PSU (if the m/b ha...
by Filias Cupio
Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:22 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: NEW! Corsair VX450W (reviewed by SPCR)
Replies: 94
Views: 85036

Welcome, stapper. See the sticky "How much will a 300w power supply run?" discussion in the PSU forum. Here's an example quote: "Regardless, this is a beautiful machine, and now we know that a 300W single-fan PSU can power a rig with an nVidia GeForce 8800GTS, Intel E6600 CPU, Seagate 7200.10 HDD, P...
by Filias Cupio
Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:24 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: NEW! Corsair VX450W (reviewed by SPCR)
Replies: 94
Views: 85036

Yay! Welcome back - SPCR has been slow since EPCR started.

A minor nitpick: above the graph on page 5, "extrapolated" should be "interpolated".

I'm still waiting for something like my old Silverstone 300W fanless PSU, except modular and 80+.
by Filias Cupio
Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:40 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Nexus NX-8060 - original & improved
Replies: 58
Views: 59144

I'd just like to add another vote to the "should have reviewed a different PSU in the series" movement. Any of the 8040, 8050, 8060 are sufficient to power any sane system, yet alone a quiet one. The 8040 is the cheapest, the 8050 is (according to Nexus) the quietest. Given these facts, no matter wh...
by Filias Cupio
Tue May 22, 2007 2:36 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: SPCR's Fan Roundup #4: 120mm Fans II
Replies: 49
Views: 52177

When I first came to SPCR, the only fans at the Quiet PC shop were Acoustifan. (http://www.quietpc.com/nz/casefans.html) This web page lists two Acoustifan product lines, the transparent 'C' series (tested by SPCR) and the opaque 'Dustproof' series. From the specs on this page, a silencer would be m...
by Filias Cupio
Sun May 06, 2007 1:45 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: A New Way of Testing Fan Airflow
Replies: 100
Views: 90975

Given that there is such a strong correlation between RPM and CFM, I suggest that SPCR run a large number of fan 'microreviews': decide a set of RPMs (perhaps 2000, 1500, 1000, 700, 500) and for each fan record the sound level in open air at each of those RPMs which it is capable of running at. With...
by Filias Cupio
Thu May 03, 2007 9:29 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: A New Way of Testing Fan Airflow
Replies: 100
Views: 90975

Thanks for that - I'd been feeling deprived by no new SPCR article for so long, but clearly you've been busy. Here's another view on the "no improvement with faster fans beyond a certain point" phenominon. The short version is that it is diminishing returns - if the heatsink fins are only a little w...
by Filias Cupio
Wed Apr 25, 2007 6:41 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Quiet Media PC made from Junk
Replies: 13
Views: 15562

3. A fan with a given output will completely change the air in a small compartment much more quickly than in a large one, especially one with lots of nooks and crannies. However, a large compartment will take longer to heat up. Independent of the compartment size, every second the circuitry is dump...
by Filias Cupio
Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:41 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Upcoming Reviews & Articles
Replies: 193
Views: 440604

I see Nexus has some exciting looking new stuff. What are the chances of a review of the following? NX-8040/8050/8060 PSU. 80+, 120mm fan, modular cables, 17.6 dBA in idle, 400/500/600W. Curiously, their noise graph shows the 500W model as quieter than the 400 at all loads. This looks very close to ...
by Filias Cupio
Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:52 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which SATA DVD drive?
Replies: 15
Views: 9984

I've now bought the Pioneer drive (DVR-212 ). It didn't work correctly (crashed to reboot) until after I'd upgraded its firmware and the drivers for my motherboard. It is quiter than my IDE combo drive (a LiteOn from a couple of years ago.) I couldn't really say how well it compares with anything el...
by Filias Cupio
Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:22 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Antec MX-1: Actively Cooled External HDD Enclosure
Replies: 98
Views: 103755

An air-cooled hard-drive enclosure anecdote. (Not really relevant.) I was part of a small team implementing a new source control system for a medium sized company (~100 developers.) Due to a miscommunication, about a week before go-live the hardware guys had to hurredly buy us a couple of disk drive...
by Filias Cupio
Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:46 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Enermax Galaxy: A KiloWatt power supply
Replies: 47
Views: 45878

Looking back at the most recent PSU reviews, I see: Enermax 1kW Lian-Li 600W Tagan 700W Antec 550W Ulltra X-pro 600W Corsair 520W and 620W Antec 430W (from a series which also included 380W, 500W supplies) Dark Power Pro 430W Seasonic M12 700W (from a series including 500W, 600W) Seasonic S12 550W, ...
by Filias Cupio
Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:53 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: Acer Veriton VT2800 anyone ?
Replies: 3
Views: 4626

The Register says Acer are producing a home version of the Veriton 1000, under the "Aspire" brand. TV tuner, CF card reader, Intel GMA3000 GPU (I have no idea how this rates.) 3 litre size, "whisper quiet" (they say.)

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/16 ... nces_l320/
by Filias Cupio
Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:45 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which SATA DVD drive?
Replies: 15
Views: 9984

Thanks, Mr Poopyhead. As it happens, I'm not expecting to record large numbers of DVDs, so cost of media isn't a big issue for me.

For the record, current prices ($NZ):
Pioneer DVR-212 $68
LG GSA-H30N $73
Asustek DRW-1814BLT $74
Plextor PX-760SA $288
by Filias Cupio
Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:40 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which SATA DVD drive?
Replies: 15
Views: 9984

Which SATA DVD drive?

Finally a decent selection of SATA DVD drives is available in New Zealand. The current options are: Pioneer DVR-212 LG GSA-H30N Asustek DRW-1814BLT Plextor PX-760SA (not really an option, as I can buy four of the other drives for the price of one of these.) Does anyone have experience of the noise o...
by Filias Cupio
Tue Jan 30, 2007 4:36 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Samsung SH-S183 DVD-burner
Replies: 12
Views: 8898

See also this recent forum thread:
viewtopic.php?t=36690

Summary: some Samsungs are excellent, some are lousy. There is one report of the same person buying two of the same drive (183A) and getting one loud, one quiet.