Search found 120 matches

by Le_Gritche
Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:24 am
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: Happy Earth Day!
Replies: 2
Views: 4352

Bluefront wrote:Go hug a tree.....or maybe Al Gore. :P
1. Take your bike
2. Go on top of the nearby hill
3. Close eyes
4. Release breaks
5. ...
6. Hug a tree
7. Kiss the ground
8. Happy Earth Day !

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2007/03/27/
by Le_Gritche
Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:17 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: hard disk life if lying in dormant state...
Replies: 30
Views: 19324

This 2-3 month makes no sense indeed. I have an old computer (10 years old), it has been sitting in a country house for 4 years now. It get used only during summer, and then sit there dormant during 9 month, waiting for the next summer in a cold and wet (humid?) house. The computer boots fine and al...
by Le_Gritche
Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:27 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Video card annoyance...
Replies: 5
Views: 3619

Well, an aftermarket cooler will set me back about $40AU. An entirely new video card is only $96AU, and it would be nice to be able to sqeeze a few extra fps out! If I can be assured a new video card wont have any stability issues, I will definately go down that path. And what about strapping a fan...
by Le_Gritche
Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:12 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Samsung S166 Series of ultra silent HDDs announced
Replies: 5
Views: 4960

Samsung S166 Series of ultra silent HDDs announced

Just as SPCR's article of recommended HDDs has been updated today, Samsung has announced in a press release "its new SpinPoint S166 Series of ultra silent and high-speed hard disk drives." Of particular interest to SPCR's readers, they claim : Benchmarking tests on sound power have shown that compet...
by Le_Gritche
Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:18 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Antec MX-1: Actively Cooled External HDD Enclosure
Replies: 98
Views: 103755

Re: POSTSCRIPT — April 2, 2007: IS LOW HDD TEMPERATURE DES

As far as I'm concerned the failures below 30c were just noise in the data or in other words bad data to begin with. Care to explain a bit why failures below 30°C would be noise, but those over 50°C wouldn't, or even why you choose 30°C but not 33°C, 37.2°C, 10*Pi°C or any treshold equally ar...
by Le_Gritche
Fri Mar 16, 2007 5:54 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Building a quiet desktop, non-gaming PC
Replies: 13
Views: 5647

I can vouch for the VX-922, I think it is a fantastic monitor. No ghosting, high quality construction. I don't know much about graphic design, but the 922 is awesome for games! Judging from reviews, the colours are badly adjusted (from this old review , in French, but just take into account that lo...
by Le_Gritche
Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:54 am
Forum: Newcomers Briefing Room
Topic: Determining ambient noise w/o expensive sound equipment.
Replies: 6
Views: 5335

I don't quite see how this would get me the ambient sound lvl in my house. Is it possible to then take the # of volts for the given fan and look up how loud it is? Does silent mean the fan is at or below ambient dba for the room? Exactly, you will use the fan as a gauge, because you can find in SPC...
by Le_Gritche
Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:28 am
Forum: Newcomers Briefing Room
Topic: crt high pitch buzzing noise
Replies: 8
Views: 11317

This is part of the reason people (at least in Michigan) don't recycle unless it's funded by the state. It's either to difficult to get someone to take materials, or too expensive. Well, in Europe we have got a directive for these e-wastes : WEEE directive . Judging from wikipedia, the US has a "Na...
by Le_Gritche
Fri Mar 16, 2007 5:55 am
Forum: Newcomers Briefing Room
Topic: crt high pitch buzzing noise
Replies: 8
Views: 11317

Re: crt high pitch buzzing noise

That is the noise of my CRT monitor. Google informed me that perhaps melting silicone over the coils (?!) will help dampen the sound. Either that or putting it in a wooden carpeted box with a glass front. Does anyone else have any suggestions, or thoughts on the two I listed? Is it possible that my...
by Le_Gritche
Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:11 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Building a quiet desktop, non-gaming PC
Replies: 13
Views: 5647

I will second angelkiller in most advices : 130$ seems too much for a mobo as you don't plan to overclock your CPU. Except if you need the bell and whistle (firewire, many USB ports...). As for the GPU, that's the same thing as you are not a gamer. As far as I know graphic design doesn't need GPU po...
by Le_Gritche
Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:31 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Google study: effect of temperature on server hdds
Replies: 37
Views: 29269

Re: Google study: effect of temperature on server hdds

There is a Google study available about "Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population". They monitored failures and SMART data of hundred thousands of disks for 5 years. One (surprising?) result is, that temperature only affects the discs which are 3+ years old. When younger, failure rate for 40...
by Le_Gritche
Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:03 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: 2.1 speaker recommendations
Replies: 24
Views: 11742

I'll second the recommendation for the X230. I bought a set of these from NewEgg for about $30, and they sound great! The subwoofer is almost a little too powerful. ;) These speakers definitely hit the sweet spot; they sound every bit as good as pricier speakers in the $100+ range. Exactly my thoug...
by Le_Gritche
Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:46 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PSU failure rates
Replies: 9
Views: 5924

Doesn't surprise me that Antec has highest return rate, most are probably NeoHEs. I was expecting the same but in fact it's quite the contrary : For Antec the entire power supply range has very high failure rates: 21.6%, 18.1% and 17.3% for the Antec SmartPower 2.0 500, 350 and 400 Watts. Not a sin...
by Le_Gritche
Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:41 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PSU failure rates
Replies: 9
Views: 5924

Re: PSU failure rates

Stats based on returned items starting from April 2006. And those rates are probably return rates, not failure rates as stated by the article translated from French to English. They come from the number of sold items shipped back to the e-shop. So customers unhappy about a perfectly working unit are...
by Le_Gritche
Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:01 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Undervolting AMD X2 4200+ AM2 @ LR
Replies: 6
Views: 4568

[F]bernZ wrote:Isn't it common knowledge that you can undervolt from the BIOS?
That's only common knowledge after you learn it for the first time.

Besides, with Cool'n'Quiet and SpeedStep it's not so much necessary as it was, hence not so much common and discussed.
by Le_Gritche
Sat Dec 16, 2006 1:22 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: most energy efficient CPU out there?
Replies: 30
Views: 15963

interesting. i think i will go for AM2 SFF system. Does anyone have a mATX mobo to recommend? Power efficient, gb lan, integrated graphics, sata 3Gb/s. SPCR's recommended motherboards topic lists only two AM2 mATX mobo, with integrated graphics, those are the Asus M2NPV-VM and Abit NF-M2 nView. LAN...
by Le_Gritche
Sat Dec 16, 2006 12:21 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: most energy efficient CPU out there?
Replies: 30
Views: 15963

Not so fast...what is the relationship between the "sleep state" and idle? AFAIK idle and sleep are two very different states. My fault sorry, "sleep state" were my words and indeed can be confusing as they generally refer to the OS state, and not the processor state. According to Intel website the...
by Le_Gritche
Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:27 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: most energy efficient CPU out there?
Replies: 30
Views: 15963

Since it is 24/7 you need low idle power consumption. This rules out desktop Core 2 Duo. That piece of shared knowledge will have to change, as Intel is introducing in December Core 2 Duo E6300, E6400, E6600 and E6700 with a revised "Extended HALT", meaning a lower sleep state, at 12W instead of th...
by Le_Gritche
Mon Dec 04, 2006 6:14 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Power consumption : Geforce 7100 vs 7300 for HTPC
Replies: 8
Views: 7243

Re: Power consumption : Geforce 7100 vs 7300 for HTPC

The 7300LE/TC and 7100GS cost about the same and have the same video features. I have 2 questions: 1. Which one uses least power? 2. Any other things to watch out for HTPC purposes? According to the Wikipedia article called comparaison Nvidia GPU <insert here general warning about Wikipedia>, the m...
by Le_Gritche
Tue Nov 28, 2006 3:21 am
Forum: Newcomers Briefing Room
Topic: First quiet build
Replies: 1
Views: 3948

Re: First quiet build

I have seen systems at load taking 40-50 watts using core duos and according to x-bit labs a 7600gs only takes 28 watts max. Can someone confirm the wattage of a 7600gs? In their testing they just took a 7600GT and underclocked it to the frequency of a 7600GS (because they have the same core). 28W ...
by Le_Gritche
Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:31 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ASUS EN7600GS in Small Case?
Replies: 2
Views: 3382

Re: ASUS EN7600GS in Small Case?

I just ordered this, but after reading anandtechs review, it seems fairly hot. Since I am using a small form factor (SG01) case, should I get something that runs cooler? I dont need that great of performance really...just something better than the onboard graphics really. What is your onboard graph...
by Le_Gritche
Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:53 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Recommended Motherboards: From a Silence Perspective 1.1
Replies: 163
Views: 249583

Re: A8n5x

I have an Asus A8n5x and i've just fitted a Zalman ZM-NB47J passive heatsink to the board. Works like a charm Nortbridge temp is steady at 32 degree (idle) 34 degree (load). I guess that is the temp reported by the onboard motherboard sensor. Problem is that sensor is generally not reporting the te...
by Le_Gritche
Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:14 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Making a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter ??
Replies: 5
Views: 4278

Re: Making a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter ??

lf someone could point me in the right direction please http://pinouts.ru/HD/Ata44Internal_pinout.shtml I found that website looking for a way to connect a laptop CD-ROM drive on a regular desktop computer through IDE (The project being a DIY and cheap PC in the very same box that the mainboard cam...
by Le_Gritche
Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:22 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Fastest Boot drive?
Replies: 51
Views: 26710

Can somebody recommend a program that displays everything that the RAM is used for, and not only what the task manager lists? You can use two things that I know of : Windows Service Manager and the Task Manager in console mode (to get additional options). Service Manager : open the "Start" menu, ch...
by Le_Gritche
Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:35 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Advice with possible air intakes on chest-PC
Replies: 6
Views: 3760

Re: Advice with possible air intakes on chest-PC

Problem is that I really don't want to open any visible sides for intakes. Also I really like to have some sort of filtering in intake. In my current setup I have half of a car fresh air filter in my intake duct. Maybe you could put both the intake and the exhaust on the same side of the wooden che...
by Le_Gritche
Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:15 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: 0.13µm AthlonXP 866MHz vs 0.18µm Pentium III 866MHz
Replies: 16
Views: 10259

Mine is an ARGA stepping sadly. I couldn't find more than a handful of those in OC database online, not enough to make for a meaningful statistical sample. ARGA were produced before AXIA but not too early, so it might still be alright. My goal was to switch between 10*100 at 1.55V and 10*133 at sto...
by Le_Gritche
Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:06 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: desktop Nvidia 6150 power efficency
Replies: 32
Views: 22543

Re: desktop Nvidia 6150 power efficency

Why don't you want to use a laptop ? They have lower power consumption by design, and anyway you will have to fill your desktop with laptop parts to reach your power consumption goal, so any complaint about low capacity hard-drive or expensive components is null. Besides, you also have to add the LC...
by Le_Gritche
Thu Aug 24, 2006 3:22 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Noise level of Seasonics at higher loads?
Replies: 7
Views: 3877

Have you seen much reviews of these new Seasonics? (which happen to be available in Europe) Ah it wasn't clear that you were talking about the new ones that aren't out in the US yet. It sounded like you were asking about Seasonics in general. It would be expected that they will be comparable to the...
by Le_Gritche
Wed Aug 23, 2006 2:27 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Potentiometers Control
Replies: 5
Views: 3362

doubt i'll find them. Yes, I guess there is a reason why all these kind of racks are using rotational pot. Besides, if your rotational pot has to be able to tweak all fans, it means all circuits will go through it. You will need a good rated pot and to cool it (we are talking about 10 or 15W dissip...
by Le_Gritche
Wed Aug 23, 2006 5:49 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Potentiometers Control
Replies: 5
Views: 3362

Ok, so the current i'm using in these fans is like .9 A (Deltas :D). I'm going to try to use some slide pots, and the only ones i can find are like 1kohm at the smallest value. I'll continue to look around and see if i can find anything, but it'll be hard. With such a powerful fan (between 8W and 1...