Search found 272 matches

by Arvo
Thu Dec 01, 2011 9:27 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Samsung Spinpoint F1 Errors ?
Replies: 2
Views: 2137

Re: Samsung Spinpoint F1 Errors ?

If this attribute raw value 159 doesn't increase anymore, then cable replacing did help and you have nothing to worry about. Other attributes look normal.
by Arvo
Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:38 am
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Windows XP crash: uTorrent and PeerBlock
Replies: 4
Views: 3937

Install/run whocrashed and tell, what does its analyzis say. Otherwise (from error code) I'd say that it can be RAM problem - but whocrashed does show more messages and possible driver names.
by Arvo
Tue Oct 20, 2009 8:11 am
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Repairing XP install
Replies: 12
Views: 4457

Seems to me that partition table, MBR (master boot record) or at least file system is corrupted. It could be just some missing or corrupted driver, but drivers do not become corrupted without reason - usually bad RAM or bad sectors on HDD are underlying problem. I would attach such HDD to another (w...
by Arvo
Sat Oct 17, 2009 8:29 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Surge Suppression without line conditioning?
Replies: 7
Views: 2757

I can be misleaded by terminology (not an english speaker), but IMHO most surge suppressors are not line conditioners.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory ... uppressors
by Arvo
Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:01 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Samsung HD reliability vs. WD, Seagate
Replies: 22
Views: 11851

My personal take is that reliability issues aren't really brand-specific, they're model specific. I agree 101%. I've got 3 Samsungs in my rig, HD321KJ, HD250HJ, SP1614N - all working flawless (and many friends and co-workers use same or similar Samsung HDDs with success). But take for example F1 64...
by Arvo
Wed Oct 07, 2009 7:47 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: benefit of a second drive?
Replies: 18
Views: 8743

Yes, it would. Even if your PC has lot of RAM, it makes difference. Of course you should divide your disk access evenly between drives. Using two drives I usually have windows swap drive and archive folders on second HDD; currently I've 3 HDDs, one dedicated to video recording/processing or download...
by Arvo
Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:46 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: ASUS ION AT3N7A-1 motherboard cannot use more than 768MB RAM
Replies: 24
Views: 15500

That problem seems have some connection with various physical devices address space mapping. I found one solution, probably no help, but may give some ideas:

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id= ... uage=en-us
by Arvo
Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:42 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Are LED backlight monitors always quiet?
Replies: 9
Views: 5901

With a LED backlight, current control is easier to implement for dimming. Yes, but unfortunately LED emission spectra depends on current and thereby PWM is used. (Same for CCFL - their current can't be regulated in wide range, they'll change their characteristics or become unstable.) Even for regul...
by Arvo
Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:29 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: RAM for Q9550
Replies: 21
Views: 10103

I don't think he can notice (or even benchmark) DDR2-800 and DDR3-1333 speed difference. Of course psychological factor - I paid a lot more, thereby it is faster of course - may alter things somewhat :) You need to buy at least two fast HDDs (one for system/images and another for Photoshop scratch (...
by Arvo
Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:19 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Noisy RAID 0 - Moved to Samsung HD502HI
Replies: 33
Views: 19204

If you can read russian, then you may see that 2.5" drives are not so slow nowadays:

http://www.fcenter.ru/online.shtml?arti ... /hdd/26041

If you can't read russian than there are nice graphs with drive speeds presented anyway :)
by Arvo
Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:49 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: System dead? Your opinion please!
Replies: 18
Views: 6921

* I know that this sounds silly, but have you tried another monitor? * Does your motherboard have speaker connected? If yes, does it emit any beeps while booting? * You said HDD spins up. Does it start seeking (like while normal startup)? * I hope I did understand correctly - yuo have tried booting ...
by Arvo
Fri Dec 26, 2008 12:12 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: What's everyone's favorite 1TB drive?
Replies: 37
Views: 18283

Reading NewEgg reviews, there are no 1TB disks to buy safely - too much problems with all of these. WD disks are better, Seagate ones worst.
by Arvo
Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:55 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Nexus and their cases make me cry
Replies: 22
Views: 14354

I've used Breeze (with limited success) and built systems on Caterpillar (with limited success). Because both systems included low-power graphic solutions (Radeon 7000 in Breeze and Intel IGP in Caterpillar), then cooling of graphic card was not a problem. Nexus Breeze "patented" airflow pattern is ...
by Arvo
Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:33 am
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Has Windows Vista 64bit hit the mainstream?
Replies: 33
Views: 11854

I've seen mostly two kind of problems using Vista64: * missing drivers for legacy/exotic hardware * impossible to run 16bit software (yes, there's some :)) Otherwise in our tiny company all new machines are deployed with 64bit Vista (although we don't use any software, benefitting from 64bit, we can...
by Arvo
Sun Nov 16, 2008 9:26 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Intake fans...next to useless?
Replies: 29
Views: 22197

1) 1 fan in, 1 out 2) 2 in, 1 out 3) 1 in, 2 out The correct answer is that all three set ups move as much air through the case. Why? A fan is constructed to move X cfm and it will do this. Not less, not more. So airflow is restricted by the bottleneck, the direction with the lowest number of fans....
by Arvo
Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:47 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Quiet / Noisy Monitor Survey
Replies: 272
Views: 506767

Samsung Syncmaster 943T Little humming audible at 30cm (1ft) or closer, tonality depends on brightness, probably harmonics of backlight modulation. At 40% brigtness noise is more audible than at 8% (my usual settings, esp the latest). No high-pitch whine. LG L2000CP-SF No audible noise, but is loca...
by Arvo
Fri Nov 07, 2008 8:26 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: FYI Samsung HD642JJ may have same problems as 1TB model...
Replies: 2
Views: 2869

Samsung has lot of good drives, but their F1 ones seem problematic, at least bigger ones. Like you, my co-worker bought HD642JJ. Its performance was miserable (about 60-80MB/s throughput), drive died on second day. He returned this drive to shop, he was told that almost all HD642JJ drives were retur...
by Arvo
Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:14 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: 12v line problem
Replies: 28
Views: 10497

Based on the lack of voltage drop at the brick under load, it is implied that the brick is somewhat stable, correct? Not exactly - without oscilloscope you cannot see short fluctuations. I can easily shorten the brick wire. My only issue with using a screw terminal, is that I can't easily disconnec...
by Arvo
Mon Nov 03, 2008 9:44 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: 12v line problem
Replies: 28
Views: 10497

Brick output (at cable connector) stays nicely within limits (5%, from 11.4V to 12.6V). Your DYI parts an Pico add just about 0.25V drop at full load, what shifts output voltage off the limits. Seems that motherboard and other components are designed without any reserve too. Thin connector leads sho...
by Arvo
Sun Nov 02, 2008 1:27 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: 12v line problem
Replies: 28
Views: 10497

On the first image is connector where you measured 11.91V? Then the biggest problem seems brick cable itself (like you already suspected in very first post). Soldering may be terrible :), but looks electrically safe.
by Arvo
Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:43 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: PC crashed: what could be the cause?
Replies: 14
Views: 7197

One more hint - check all motherboard capacitories visually. If any of these are leaking or bulged, then you probabaly have find the culprit.
by Arvo
Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:35 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Zener Diode Fan Control
Replies: 10
Views: 8462

@crankyhobo IMHO temperature coefficient indicates how "threshold" voltage (eg 5.6V) depends on temperature. If temperature coefficient is [near] zero then zener diode stabilizes 5.6V at wide range of operating temperatures - crucial for voltage stabilizers. What about heat dissipation then you can'...
by Arvo
Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:10 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: 12v line problem
Replies: 28
Views: 10497

If I understand correctly (wiring is brick-connection-pico-mobo), then the largest voltage drop (about 0.4-0.5V) occurs in long cable from brick to your connection? If you increase power up to 180W (1.5x), then drop would be about 0.6-0.8V (corresponds to your other mesurements nicely). Can you take...
by Arvo
Sun Oct 26, 2008 4:27 am
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Why don't people write descriptive subject lines? (Rant)
Replies: 31
Views: 10434

Subjects like "HELP" do not count as mystery to me. What about text limit, then it is always possible write two-three words short description about your problem or intention. I'm moderating one local technical forum. Our forum rules prohibit uninformative subject lines, like "Help!" or "Problem with...
by Arvo
Sat Oct 25, 2008 2:56 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Word on Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB?
Replies: 4
Views: 5171

Just FYI - according to newegg user comments these drives may not be very reliable. Well, similar problems seem arise with many of bigger (640GB+) drives - IMHO manufacturers are not quite ready to produce such drives (or 300GB+ platters) yet.
by Arvo
Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:58 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Zener Diode Fan Control
Replies: 10
Views: 8462

Re: Zener Diode Fan Control

low voltage zeners produce no heat Ahem, little nitpicking required :) Of course zeners produce heat, in this circuit exactly like an ordinary resistor (or some diodes in serial). Heat output (power) can be calculated as P=U*I, where U is voltage drop and I is current. For 5V and 80mA we get 5V*0.0...
by Arvo
Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:11 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: 12v line problem
Replies: 28
Views: 10497

As for the CPU voltage, that never budges, it's always reported as constant. I'm undervolting, this chip doesn't need much in the way of vcore. You cannot know about short voltage changes on CPU socket. It is quite possible that feeding CPU power converter with lovered voltage makes CPU Vcore a bit...
by Arvo
Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:54 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: 12v line problem
Replies: 28
Views: 10497

No-load voltage measurements are no indication. Voltage drops under heavy load (=big current), not while idling. 0.4 ohm is way too much (and must be wrong OR I can't exactly imagine your circuitry or both :)). When your system consumes say 120W, then DC current is 10 amps, on 0.4 ohm resistance vol...
by Arvo
Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:13 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: 12v line problem
Replies: 28
Views: 10497

Sorry, I was under impression that your system is always stable and you are only worried about voltage dropping below standards. -- You need to measure brick output voltages with DMM at brick side, this way you can see, where voltage drops - before power cable (brick output stabilization is weak) or...
by Arvo
Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:57 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: RAID card
Replies: 13
Views: 4755

What kind of disk access you need? If mostly sequential reads of big blocks, then any RAID (esp RAID0) will improve performance. If mostly sequential writes of big blocks, then RAID0 is way to go. If mostly random seeks and reads of short blocks, then no RAID on ordinary 7k2RPM drives can beat Veloc...