Search found 26 matches

by TalkinHorse
Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:44 pm
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: wooden case with optimal airflow (my first silent PC)
Replies: 25
Views: 24776

Re: wooden case with optimal airflow (my first silent PC)

Very impressive rig, and an interesting video! It's worth watching because you've done things very differently from most of what we see, so this is food for thought, even if few people are ambitious enough to follow this path. Presumably the big fans are rotating quite slowly for maximum silence. Yo...
by TalkinHorse
Sat Aug 11, 2012 8:13 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Your opinion on US gun laws under Obama.
Replies: 400
Views: 215374

Re: Your opinion on US gun laws under Obama.

...In a decent and respectful society you only need to be armed with an opinion, a free voice and a vote - there are no need for guns within a single populous of sensible people... The Founders gave us the 2nd Amendment because they understood that we are not that society, nor has such a society ev...
by TalkinHorse
Sat Aug 11, 2012 6:35 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Your opinion on US gun laws under Obama.
Replies: 400
Views: 215374

Re: Your opinion on US gun laws under Obama.

...If you think a handgun would actually stop the government from doing something to you, you need to look twice at the size of your weapons and the size of theirs. If the federal government wanted to say, round up American citizens of Japanese ancestry and put them in camps, they could. Oh, wait, ...
by TalkinHorse
Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:34 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: New WD red series NAS drives.
Replies: 19
Views: 15190

Re: New WD red series NAS drives.

Hmmm. Seem to claim slightly better specs over Green. Tom's Hardware notes the Red line uses 1 TB platters; higher density than Green. Warranty is 3 years instead of 2. Presumably a casual user wouldn't notice the difference. If the reviews are okay and I were choosing between the two, I guess Red w...
by TalkinHorse
Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:35 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Article: A quiet air-cooled Radeon HD 7970
Replies: 4
Views: 3645

Article: A quiet air-cooled Radeon HD 7970

FWIW...An article on installing a monster heatsink. The good news is that it’s possible to cool AMD’s flagship Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition to less than 75 degrees Celsius under full load, maintaining a quiet 32 dB(A) at the same time. The bad news? It'll cost you five expansion slots and more than $1...
by TalkinHorse
Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:58 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Can the Seasonic X-400 Fanless (SS-400FL) handle my system?
Replies: 19
Views: 9147

Re: Can the Seasonic X-400 Fanless (SS-400FL) handle my syst

I'm pretty sure my model is supposed to create a real sine wave. How can I tell? It's described as a "1500VA / 1000W Pure sine wave UPS", but the spec only says that the "On battery waveform" is a sine wave. This model, with a "pure sine wave", is as good as it gets. The waveform will be a sine wav...
by TalkinHorse
Thu Jun 14, 2012 2:17 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Sapphire previews fanless 7770
Replies: 1
Views: 3241

Sapphire previews fanless 7770

Sapphire was first with a fanless, 7750, reviewed here: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Sapphire_HD7750_Ultimate Seems that a similar fanless 7770 will be along soon: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Fanless-AMD-Radeon-HD-7770-1GHz-Graphics-Card-from-Sapphire-274286.shtml http://www.eteknix.com/news/sap...
by TalkinHorse
Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:46 am
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: My Virtually-Silent Ivy Bridge PC
Replies: 5
Views: 7758

Re: My Virtually-Silent Ivy Bridge PC

...If I was more patient, I would have waited for a fanless [7770] card to be available. Sounds like Sapphire is coming out with one soon... Oh, really? A moment's Googling and... http://news.softpedia.com/news/Fanless-AMD-Radeon-HD-7770-1GHz-Graphics-Card-from-Sapphire-274286.shtml http://www.etek...
by TalkinHorse
Thu Jun 07, 2012 5:11 pm
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: My Virtually-Silent Ivy Bridge PC
Replies: 5
Views: 7758

Re: My Virtually-Silent Ivy Bridge PC

Hello from over in Monrovia! What board and CPU did you use? Pics are always nice also! :) Hi, Ralf, I was too lazy to take pics, and I hadn't listed individual components because there wasn't much difference between options with respect to the factors I was weighing. But for the record... Mobo=Int...
by TalkinHorse
Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:36 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Upcoming Reviews & Articles
Replies: 193
Views: 440665

Re: Upcoming Reviews & Articles

PowerColor has just released a passive 7750 card. Would be interesting to see a contrast to the Sapphire Ultimate (already reviewed), which was previously the only passive 7750. http://www.powercolor.com/Global/products_features.asp?id=413 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131...
by TalkinHorse
Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:35 pm
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: My Virtually-Silent Ivy Bridge PC
Replies: 5
Views: 7758

My Virtually-Silent Ivy Bridge PC

My goal was to build a solid modern PC, fast but not ultra-fast or exotic, with a video card that wouldn't choke if I threw a game at it. With Silent PC Review as my guide, how silent could I get? With newer components delivering more PC power for less energy, wattage could be minimized. Fewer watts...
by TalkinHorse
Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:05 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Sapphire HD 7750 Ultimate Edition
Replies: 31
Views: 27742

Re: Sapphire HD 7750 Ultimate Edition

Checking the PowerColor Radeon 7xxx line... http://www.powercolor.com/us/products_layer_2.asp?ByBus=PCI-E&ByClass=ByProducts&VGASeries=RADEON%20HD7000%20Series&IsView=0&Series=RADEON%20HD7700 ...and I see a "Go Green" fanless 7750: http://www.powercolor.com/us/products_features.asp?id=413 Any reason...
by TalkinHorse
Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:25 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Sapphire HD 7750 Ultimate Edition
Replies: 31
Views: 27742

Re: Sapphire HD 7750 Ultimate Edition

Will be curious about the quiet options for the 7770.
by TalkinHorse
Sat Dec 24, 2011 5:28 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Seagate Barracuda 3TB: 1TB Platter Behemoth
Replies: 20
Views: 20766

Re: Seagate Barracuda 3TB: 1TB Platter Behemoth

I had four of these drives in use and they seem very noisy to me. In fact when I shutdown the computer they make this troubling whining noise. In use they sound a little like popcorn popper. Hmmm. Hard to reconcile that with SPCR statement that "The Barracuda 3TB was easily the quietest high capaci...
by TalkinHorse
Wed Dec 21, 2011 2:57 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Seagate Barracuda 3TB: 1TB Platter Behemoth
Replies: 20
Views: 20766

Re: Seagate Barracuda 3TB: 1TB Platter Behemoth

I'd had it in my mind that a drive with more than 3 platters would be statistically less reliable. Is that the case for modern drives? Would then this likely be a more reliable 3TB drive? That's assuming the very high platter density isn't itself unreliable. (I'm not rushing out to buy any drives th...
by TalkinHorse
Thu Oct 20, 2011 11:07 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Life Sucks
Replies: 92
Views: 76206

Re: Life Sucks

The OP's logic is straightforward enough, if you accept the implicit premise of materialism. That is, if life is purely an artifact of matter and energy and physical laws, then it's a pointless and tragic. What does it matter what we do, when it will all be taken away shortly, leaving neither physic...
by TalkinHorse
Thu Jul 22, 2010 10:11 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: HIS HD 5550 & 5570 "Silence" Graphics Cards
Replies: 16
Views: 10916

Instead of these not well cooled cards, many silencers pay more attentions to PowerColor's Green Series in recent months. Shall we have a chance to verify them? :wink: http://www.powercolor.com/Global/products_features.asp?id=214 http://www.powercolor.com/Global/products_features.asp?id=236 http://...
by TalkinHorse
Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:08 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Is Texas going back to the cavemen era?
Replies: 118
Views: 46228

Bunk

Here in California, I've watched the public schools deteriorate over my lifetime as proven, functional programs have been replaced by stylish failures designed by fools. For example, the "Whole Language" and "English as a Second Language" programs (replacing phonics and simple immersion) produced a ...
by TalkinHorse
Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:11 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Fanless GT 240!
Replies: 9
Views: 8365

That fanless ZOTAC ZT-20404-20L card looks quite interesting. I see the NewEgg listing currently has 2 reviews, both positive. I'd be interested in seeing a bit more feedback, or a "real" review. Would like some reassurance that the cooling solution is adequate.
by TalkinHorse
Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:22 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Western Digital says can't use Caviar drives in RAID!?
Replies: 0
Views: 2009

Western Digital says can't use Caviar drives in RAID!?

Many modern mobos natively support RAID. I'm using RAID1 (mirror) for data security. I installed a pair of WD10EADS drives (Western Digital green 1TB) in RAID1 on my new PC. This has been working fine for a few months. I'm happy with these cool and quiet drives. Recently I read a tech note that WD t...
by TalkinHorse
Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:14 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: WD10EARS ?
Replies: 31
Views: 67403

The WD10EADS has 333 megabyte platters, 3 of them. (Or at least they used to...have they changed to a 2-platter design?) If the WD10EARS has 500 megabyte platters, then it would have 2...which might make it weigh less or have lower power needs -- which don't seem to be the case. But the specs don't ...
by TalkinHorse
Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:01 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: New Solo build; component advice needed.
Replies: 19
Views: 6811

This Noctua page comparing their 120mm fans is interesting: http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=which_fan&lng=en A Noctua fan costs about $20. That's certainly cheap enough if it's a better fan. But I'm not in a position to proclaim it the best; I'm just noting it gets good buzz. Note that Noctua als...
by TalkinHorse
Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:06 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: New Solo build; component advice needed.
Replies: 19
Views: 6811

For video, the Radeon 4350 should be considered, since it's new, cheap, and fanless. It's the latest technology, and is presumably plenty fast for your intended use. It can also run the new games, but not at the high settings. Probably good enough for a non-gamer. The Radeon 4550 and 4650 can also b...
by TalkinHorse
Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:34 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: PowerColor SCS HD4650: A Fanless Budget Graphics Card
Replies: 20
Views: 15369

TalkinHorse - I inspected the CCC menus for an Asus 3650 Magic running the Catalyst 8.12 drivers. There was no Powerplay tab visible. However, with the system idling, near the bottom of the Overdrive menu, a GPU frequency of 110 MHz was shown. Thanks for pointing out this detail! Yes, I'm looking a...
by TalkinHorse
Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:11 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: PowerColor SCS HD4650: A Fanless Budget Graphics Card
Replies: 20
Views: 15369

I installed my card with the Catalyst 9.1 driver in Windows XP and could not find the expected Powerplay tab in the Catalyst Control Center. I've got a 4350 with Catalyst 9.1 under WinXP, and I also see no PowerPlay tab. Why not? I was curious about the idle draw on the various cards; I figure they...