With Windows XP, you will need to make a floppy with the controller drivers before you can set the drive as ACHI and have it recognized by Windows XP You can install the drivers with a floppy (using the F6 key during installation) OR you can slipstream the drivers directly onto the WinXP CD. I use ...

Relevent specs: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P (w/ ICH9R SATA controller) Intel E8400 WD3200AAKS (2-platter model) SATA II HDD (system drive) WD6400AAKS SATA II HDD I'm just about to install WinXP on a new "silent" build, but I have one question first. In the BIOS, should I set the SATA controller to AHCI mo...

Will there be a firmware update for the 320GB version to fix the slow access times? I placed an order for one 640GB drive hopefully it's as quiet as the 320GB one. Is it possible for a firmware update to "fix" the access time? I thought it was more or less a fixed number? Please let us know how you...

Here are a few results I found so far... From this thread : Transfer Rate: (Read) Min: 48.5 MB/s Max: 118.2 MB/s Avg: 89.2 MB/s Access Time: 12.8ms Burst Rate: 139.1 MB/s CPU Usage: 1.2% From another thread (in German) , with more benchmarks and a review. Could someone possibly provide an English tr...

The WD6400AAKS is now in stock at newegg. Great price and free shipping. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218 Just curious if anyone has run benchmarks on this yet? I'm waiting to see how the access time compares to the new WD3200AAKS. Incidentally, I'm putting together a ...

Bluefront, I'm thinking about building a similar HDD enclosure based on your design. How much does it cut down on idle and seek noise? Would it be as effective as a commercial enclosure, like the Scythe Quiet Drive?

Bluefront, you're right, once the HDD cage reaches equilibrium, the surface area is all that matters. :oops: As for welding/soldering copper and aluminum.. it's a moot point for me since I don't have the necessary tools or skills to make a proper DIY drive bay. I also doubt it would help much with s...

I see from your profile that you're a machinist so you would obviously know more on this subject than I do.. but isn't soldering and welding of aluminum pretty common? If so, I think I'd rather get thicker aluminum for my drive cage. Although copper has about 60% better thermal conductivity than alu...

What is the thickness of the copper you used? Could I use aluminum instead? I realize that copper has slightly better thermal conductivity, but it's also about 5x the cost of aluminum.

Nice job with that setup! I like how the orientation of the fans makes use of heat rising. Unfortunately I'm too much of a noob to pull this off. Plus it wouldn't work with my computer desk setup. The copper HD cage looks very interesting though. Can you buy one of those, or did you make it yourself...

I'm in the process of building a DAW and I'm at the stage where I need to decide how I'm going to minimize both of my HDD's noise & vibration. Suspension seems to be a popular choice here, but like most methods I've read, it doesn't take into account the effect it has on the temperature of the drive...

After more research, I think my fan setup will be: 80mm Nexus intake Ultima-90 w/ 92mm Nexus Noctua NF-S12-800 exhaust Sunbeam Rheobus to control all 3 fans Can someone verify that this is an acceptible configuration for running an E8400 at 3.0, and possibly overclocking to 3.6? I'm also considering...

Sorry, another question. Can I use Speedfan to adjust the speed of my intake, exhaust, and CPU fans? Does anyone know if Speedfan supports my board (Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P)? Or would a controller panel, like this one , work better? I'm thinking of using a Scythe "Ninja Mini" heatsink with a Nexus 80 ...

Just to clarify before going ahead. With a good heatsink, can you go without a fan on the E8400? Also, is an intake fan absolutely necessary? My case's front 80mm fan is rather noisy and I'd like to remove it. I've summarized the possible fan configurations, in order of noise level (loudest first): ...

Thanks bonestonne! So you think I could use the SCMNJ-1000 w/o a fan? What exhaust fan would you recommend? As for the PSU, I chose the 520HX over the 450VX after reading the SPCR reviews for both. The 450 is only marginally quieter and has a much sharper noise curve. Plus there was a good rebate de...

I just got all the components for my first DAW build and have a few questions about CPU cooling. Is the E8400's stock fan OK for my needs? Should I get something like this instead? Do I even need to use a CPU fan at all? Can I just use a heatsink? Is the 120mm PSU fan alone adequate? Keep in mind th...

Hi, I decided to get the DS3P along with the E8400. I'll let you know how it all works out, although I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks, I'm leaning toward the Gigabyte board but still need to do some research. As far as multipliers, if you wanted to run DDR2 RAM at 800MHz without OC'ing an E8400 @ 3.0GHz, wouldn't you have set the mulitplier to 9 and the divisor to 5:6? This is all fairly new to me, so I may be completely wr...

Hi, this is my first post here and my first build. I've done a lot of research, but I'm still having trouble choosing a motherboard. I'm hoping someone here can guide me in the right direction. I've narrowed it down to the following 3 boards. These seem to be the most reliable mid-range boards that ...