Search found 161 matches

by echn111
Wed Apr 04, 2012 11:43 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Finally a Super Quiet High-end Video Card?
Replies: 20
Views: 22662

Re: Finally a Super Quiet High-end Video Card?

All of them can use similar fan tweaking software as they're largely the same internally. Tools like MSI afterburner will not only work with MSI cards, but also Asus, Sapphire, XFX etc. Undervolting might be a different situation. Without watercooling this is normally very useful for quiet computing...
by echn111
Fri Mar 30, 2012 3:04 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Finally a Super Quiet High-end Video Card?
Replies: 20
Views: 22662

Re: Finally a Super Quiet High-end Video Card?

I ended up getting the Sapphire HD7850 over the XFX model based on this comparison . The review is for the 7870 but there were enough similarities with the 7850 to get me to favour the Sapphire. I'm reasonably pleased with this card's out of box performance. "the cooler design and fan profile used b...
by echn111
Tue Dec 20, 2011 11:46 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: radeon power management in Windows (how to adjust)
Replies: 2
Views: 2188

Re: radeon power management in Windows (how to adjust)

Well having 2 monitors turns on mid-power state for both nVidia and Radeon cards. Same for adobe flash/youtube, unless you manually disable hardware acceleration. These are just examples, and I'm sure there are plenty more, but point is this "minimum threshold" seems to be triggered pretty frequentl...
by echn111
Tue Dec 20, 2011 10:01 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: radeon power management in Windows (how to adjust)
Replies: 2
Views: 2188

radeon power management in Windows (how to adjust)

Anyone know how to adjust the thresholds and power profiles when a radeon card (i.e. HD 6870) moves from low to mid to high power? It's rather annoying when running a youtube video causes the card to move into mid power mode. Used to be able to do this years ago with rivatuner or by messing around t...
by echn111
Sun Dec 04, 2011 1:04 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: The Quietest 560Ti
Replies: 10
Views: 7317

Re: The Quietest 560Ti

Palit and Gainward about the same. I'm not very keen on getting a thrid party fan, I rather buy the best available card with the best cooling solution. That's a contradiction and makes about as much sense as saying you want to " buy the best Intel CPU with the best cooling solution ". You want the s...
by echn111
Sun Nov 20, 2011 7:11 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: The Quietest 560Ti
Replies: 10
Views: 7317

Re: The Quietest 560Ti

No such thing as a quiet 560ti from a manufacturer. You'll have to like the previous poster said and go with a 3rd party cooling solution. You might as well get the cheapest, noisiest 560ti you can find then replace the heatsink. If you've got the space a thermalright shaman (or similar) with a slow...
by echn111
Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:57 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Seasonic PSU short cable kit?
Replies: 2
Views: 4386

Seasonic PSU short cable kit?

I've ordered a Seasonic X-Series SS-460FL for my ITX build, however the modular cables are too long at 60cm. Think the connectors are similar to other Seasonic modular PSU's. Where can I get shorter replacement cables for Seasonic modular PSU's? Thanks.
by echn111
Fri Oct 29, 2010 5:17 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: AMD fan control at Techreport
Replies: 15
Views: 18246

Re: AMD fan control at Techreport

> It's bad PR and marketing if it doesn't take. Sure poor PR and marketing play "some" part in the failure of the market to pick up new innovations, but a big reason is the market. Technology 'enthusiasts' are rather conservative (because they tend to know-it-all) unless there's a bit of hand-holdin...
by echn111
Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:18 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: AMD fan control at Techreport
Replies: 15
Views: 18246

Re: AMD fan control at Techreport

It's good that AMD has done this but not sure about the market. Most people tend to dismiss advanced fan controller features as too complicated. You start to talk about programmable automated systems with features like logarithmic algorithms, thresholds, overheat protection, step functions (etc.) an...
by echn111
Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:21 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Are there still bios undervolt motherboards?
Replies: 10
Views: 6252

> My MSI platinum 2 doesn't. That's surprising. MSI's platinium series are for overclockers, meaning they will allow you to adjust the voltage. It's often in the "advanced chipset options" (or similar) in the BIOS and called something like "CPU voltage" (or vcore or similar). And if you can increase...
by echn111
Sun Jun 20, 2010 5:14 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Thermalright HR-02 !!!
Replies: 52
Views: 46467

Looking forward to this one. Haven't yet found a suitable upgrade to my HR-01 currently running semi-passive (i.e no active fan, but ducted to the rear case fan) on my mildly overclocked i7 920 (@3.6Ghz). But this might be the one. Not too worried about the weight as the Thermalright mounting is exc...
by echn111
Sun Jun 20, 2010 2:41 am
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: Ideas for reducing radiator+fan noise
Replies: 7
Views: 9285

Consider pulling the air through and see if it makes any difference. It will change the characteristics of the airflow through the radiator and fans, although whether that will replace the current tonal noise with something more or less annoying I don't know - but it will be different. At the very m...
by echn111
Sun Jun 20, 2010 2:15 am
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: Nearly Silent System - Better with WC?
Replies: 44
Views: 31864

Air is very competitive for quiet systems if you're not folding or running power hungry overclocked kit. If you have the time and money is not an issue, watercooling and air are equivalent. Otherwise, air is more cost effective. Just keep your case fans running under 750rpm and your internal fans, s...
by echn111
Wed May 26, 2010 1:58 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ThermalRight T-Rad2, worse than stock cooler.
Replies: 7
Views: 3529

Well I have the T-Rad2 on my ATI 5870 but using a single 120mm fan running at a much slower 750rpm. Temps idle at less than 38c and then goes up and stabilizes at 88c under prolonged extreme load (i.e furmark). That's pretty average but because I'm deliberately undervolting the single fan to keep no...
by echn111
Sat May 15, 2010 8:35 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: looking for passive heatsink for e7400
Replies: 3
Views: 2738

The HR-01. But it will not work well in open air so do not do that. But you still need "some" airflow in your case in the form of case fans otherwise your other components will run into difficulties. Passive CPU cooling will work "inside" a case because that will have some airflow. I'm running an i7...
by echn111
Sat May 15, 2010 8:21 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon HD5870 Vapor-X
Replies: 49
Views: 33296

Can a T-Rad 2 with a S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) cool a HD 5850 inside a P183 at 30 °C or more of ambient temperature? The HD 5850 has a TDP of 151W. The P183 would have another S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) in its front blowing air toward the power connectors of HD 5850. A VRM-R4 would be used. Yes if you ...
by echn111
Sat May 15, 2010 8:17 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon HD5870 Vapor-X
Replies: 49
Views: 33296

I don't know about everyone else but I found the 5870 Vapor-X noise unacceptable. Yes it's more quiet compared to the reference cooler or the GTX480, but it's a lot louder than SPCR standards. I ended up replacing the cooling with a T-Rad2 with a Nexus 120mm fan running at 750rpm (on idle as well as...
by echn111
Sat May 15, 2010 8:08 pm
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: 360 rad enough to cool OCed i7 920, 2 GTX 480s and MB?
Replies: 29
Views: 22875

Definately get the Thermochill PA's if you're in the UK. I would also get a T-balancer with temp sensors as it allows you to automatically control the noise of the fans. It makes a big difference to have 7 fans running at 475rpm (very quiet) under normal usage, but ramping up to 1850rpm (loud) when ...
by echn111
Sat May 15, 2010 7:37 pm
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: water- / aircooled?
Replies: 6
Views: 6706

Air for the kit you've proposed, and assuming a mild/moderate overclock (no overvolting). For example, you can run your 5850 with a T-Rad2 with a 120mm fan @ 750 rpm and a decent passive air cooler relying on case airflow or a slow fan and you'll find it more quiet than a comparable watercooled syst...
by echn111
Fri May 07, 2010 6:10 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Passive HD 5xxx options in the UK
Replies: 18
Views: 9904

You could consider attaching a 3rd party cooler with a slow running fan. I am running an ATI 5870, a much more powerful card than you're considering, with a Thermalright T-Rad² and a 700rpm 120mm fan. It is quite quiet and idle power usage is also quite good. I'm fairly confident that my active coo...
by echn111
Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:05 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: SPCR's 2010 CPU Heatsink Test Platform
Replies: 123
Views: 117118

I recall the previous best in class low airflow cooler for noise oriented enthusiasts, was the Thermalright HR-01 Plus, as reported by SPCR. I don't mind not including in the recommendations if it was merely 3rd or worse. Not sure what you're referring to. The HR01 is still at the top of our recomm...
by echn111
Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:42 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: SPCR's 2010 CPU Heatsink Test Platform
Replies: 123
Views: 117118

I recall the previous best in class low airflow cooler for noise oriented enthusiasts, was the Thermalright HR-01 Plus, as reported by SPCR. I don't mind not including in the recommendations if it was merely 3rd or worse. But it was the #1 low airflow cooler, clearly beating the Thermalright Ultra-1...
by echn111
Mon Apr 19, 2010 1:55 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: HIS HD Radeon 5870 iCooler V Turbo
Replies: 16
Views: 13968

No argument there, but that's because it's a different topic. The point was that furmark is an artifical benchmarking tool and does not reflect actual real world power consumption. The second point was that if you choose to use an artifical benchmark to reflect power usage rather than real usage, si...
by echn111
Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:42 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: HIS HD Radeon 5870 iCooler V Turbo
Replies: 16
Views: 13968

Earlier (I think) MikeC has stated, that reviews start by a filtering step, where non-quiet products are sweeped out of the review pipe by a quick test. I'd love to see a Sapphire Vapor-X 5870 (or 5850) review, EVEN though you have already reviewed a Powercolor 5850 and now this HIS 5870. But these...
by echn111
Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:30 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: HIS HD Radeon 5870 iCooler V Turbo
Replies: 16
Views: 13968

Good review, but the power levels for furmark might be a bit misleading. Artifical benchmarks need to be taken into context. If you measure the FPS for furmark, you might see that the 5870 is generating more graphical computing power than the other cards, for this benchmark anyway. Hence, even with ...
by echn111
Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:08 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Is sound damping very useful to reduce noise (Sileo 500)?
Replies: 4
Views: 3925

Accoustic absorbant material / dampening does help to reduce PC noise. BTW: I'm not particularily aware of the differences between the two terms and use them interchangably. And all my dampening material is expected to be reasonably accoustic absorbant material anyway; it's not like I'm going to use...
by echn111
Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:18 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Good airflow or "soundproof" case ?
Replies: 18
Views: 8942

Hi, I'm struggling to see any noise (reduction) oriented features in the CM Sileo 500. Follow my sig if you want to see a case design that actully does reduce noise. But to answer your question directly, the best route to low noise if to use as many/large fans as possible in a low air resitance cas...
by echn111
Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:38 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: SCYTHE KAZE MARU 140MM
Replies: 25
Views: 23068

I wouldn't rely on the specs on the manufacturer's site. These fans seem to push more air at lower RPM's than comparable 120mm fans, so the Kaze Maur works for me. Then again, of course it should: it's a 140mm fan. Just make sure you have a fan controller to get the best noise/rpm/cfm ratio. When I ...
by echn111
Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:12 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Is Lian Li PC-B10 silent?
Replies: 24
Views: 26566

That hard foam, the type of foam that makes a noise if you hit your case with it right? If so, doubt it. You need something softer.
by echn111
Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:09 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Describe your ideal mATX mini tower
Replies: 52
Views: 25389

Small as possible, the looks of Hi-Fi equipment, slot loading DVD drive, picoPSU :mrgreen: +1 for the hi-fi look. I don't want it to look like a computer, but a proper piece of professional looking hi-fi equipment. In fact if it's made of cheaper but high quality plastic or fiberglass, I'm ok with ...