Search found 157 matches

by wsc
Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:52 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Quiet optical drives
Replies: 25
Views: 16532

Maybe some will, but the iHOS104-06 is definitely read only...
by wsc
Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:29 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Server Motherboard + Server Processor Suggestions
Replies: 3
Views: 2556

Personally I don't see the need for "server grade" hardware in a home server. I have a used Q9450, 4GB DDR2, and a random mATX motherboard and it has been running awesome serving up a 6TB samba share plus whatever other random Linux stuff I feel like tinkering with. In my experience I would say the ...
by wsc
Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:20 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Quiet optical drives
Replies: 25
Views: 16532

I have a Lite On iHOS104-06 Blu Ray reader and I was shocked, it is very quiet when ripping Blu Rays. However it's a reader only, no burning. I imagine any burner is going to be very loud. I never found a quiet CD or DVD burner.
by wsc
Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:50 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: HP Elite 8000 SFF
Replies: 1
Views: 4080

HP Elite 8000 SFF

On a whim, I snagged an HP 8000 Elite "USDT" (ultra small desktop) off ebay for about $350. This had the potential to be a really cool machine. It has a C2D chip, slim optical, notebook RAM, 2.5" HD, and an external brick power supply. Basically a laptop in a box... so it should be quiet, right? No ...
by wsc
Fri May 28, 2010 10:33 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: 2TB "Green" HDD: Samsung or Western Digital?
Replies: 19
Views: 12503

I've had several Samsung drives over the years, and no problems so far (knock on wood) so I decided to keep the trend going. I picked up one HD203WI at $120 and two more at $115 (current newegg promo). I can't really comment on the noise because they will be stashed away in my server in the closet.....
by wsc
Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:34 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: 1080p on Asus B204 & B206 (Atom N270 & HD3450)?
Replies: 4
Views: 5669

I doubt it would do 1080P. If you look on the specs page it says "MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) bit rate <15Mbps" and I know 1080P clips can hit over 40Mbps. Maybe a good alternative, since it sounds like you already have the content stored on another machine, is a media streamer like a Popcorn Hour A-100 or A...
by wsc
Mon Dec 29, 2008 7:45 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Mini PCI-E SSD's on a standard computer?
Replies: 8
Views: 6070

Personally I wouldn't go that route. Newegg has the OCZ 1SLD30G for $70. It's an MLC drive with the JMF602 control chip. 160/90 MB/s sequential speeds. It's been working great for me. It does slow down quite a bit during unzipping or other times of lots of small writes, but for $70, I'm not complain...
by wsc
Sat Dec 20, 2008 2:30 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: A cheap/silent HDD for normal desktop usage?
Replies: 13
Views: 6224

You could get a cheap SSD for speed, and a 5400 RPM drive for storage. I'm using an OCZ 1SLD30G and will probably go for a Samsung Ecogreen F2 when they're available.
by wsc
Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:50 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: OCZ Core series -- Affordable, high-performance SSDs
Replies: 128
Views: 70058

Well, what do you know... I just voided the warranty on my drive by popping it open. It uses a JMF602 controller, which is what the Core V2 uses. I don't know if I'm lucky or what, but I'm not experiencing stutters like many Core V2 owners have been. I'm running XP SP2 with stock settings, no tweaks...
by wsc
Mon Dec 15, 2008 3:16 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: OCZ Core series -- Affordable, high-performance SSDs
Replies: 128
Views: 70058

I picked up an OCZ 1SLD30G from Newegg for $70. It seems really fast to me. It does make a slight squealing noise during heavy IO, ie unzipping a huge file. Below is an image of the 1SLD30G compared to a Samsung HD321KJ, a 320GB mechanical disk. I haven't detected any freezing or hanging during heav...
by wsc
Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:22 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: In Win L613T
Replies: 3
Views: 2851

I did check out the NSK3480, but I instead went for the NSK1380. I think I can get by with just the single 120mm PSU fan ventilating the whole case... time will tell.
by wsc
Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:41 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: In Win L613T
Replies: 3
Views: 2851

In Win L613T

Anyone out there have this case ? It's just about the smallest mATX case I have seen that still has full height expansion slots. The proprietary PSU is probably loud and will require modding, but I'm okay with that. I'm wondering what bumps in the road I will encounter trying to use this case for a ...
by wsc
Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:51 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: E8400 is amazing!
Replies: 105
Views: 63481

Not to start a battle or anything, but I would completely disagree with the assertion that you are running passive. There is significant airflow across the CPU HS from something other than convection, ie, it is actively cooled. However that's not to say it isn't capable of running "truely" passively...
by wsc
Sat Nov 10, 2007 9:50 am
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: $90 zero-footprint PC
Replies: 5
Views: 5558

Those eBox systems are cool! I can think of a lot of uses for one.. hmm...
by wsc
Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:09 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Stability ... Windows "rot" or hardware problem?
Replies: 7
Views: 4859

Stability ... Windows "rot" or hardware problem?

It seems like every 3-4 months, my main rig (running XP) decides to hose a critical system file and I have to rescue it with Linux. The last time it was C:\Windows\System32\Config\System that just couldn't go on living. With every crash, it's a different file though. Could this be Windows rot? Drive...
by wsc
Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:14 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: 65W prebuilt PC
Replies: 6
Views: 7008

See this thread. I believe that is the motherboard inside the Dell you're referring to.
by wsc
Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:56 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Intel D201GLY: cheap, low power mini-ITX
Replies: 183
Views: 206491

It is DDR2 but I believe its regular DIMM and not SO-DIMM used in laptops...
by wsc
Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:52 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Intel D201GLY: cheap, low power mini-ITX
Replies: 183
Views: 206491

Intel D201GLY: cheap, low power mini-ITX

Intel's D201GLY is starting to show up around the web. The board is sold with a 1.33Ghz Celeron soldered on for only $77. The board seems pretty limited in capability, but for the price, there are plenty of interesting things to do with it. Supposedly the whole board consumes 27 watts... Does anyone...
by wsc
Thu May 31, 2007 4:15 pm
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: Attempted Cheap+Quiet+Small build. Lots of pics!
Replies: 17
Views: 13806

A very crafty machine... good work!
by wsc
Sun May 27, 2007 8:13 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Pentium M vs Core 2 Duo... will I notice the difference?
Replies: 6
Views: 3706

Mike, I'm using the system in my signature. It wasn't a bad rig when I built it 4 years ago, but it's getting pretty long in the tooth these days. The way I see things, the closest C2D equivalent to the SD11-G5 is a Commell LV-677 with the DC input option (about $350) plus a decent case ($90-$150). ...
by wsc
Sun May 27, 2007 5:38 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Pentium M vs Core 2 Duo... will I notice the difference?
Replies: 6
Views: 3706

Pentium M vs Core 2 Duo... will I notice the difference?

I built a system a few years ago after gleaning lots of great info from these forums. I think I want to build a new system. I basically want something like an SD11-G5 except Core 2 Duo instead of Pentium M. This system would need some flexibility.. some HTPC duties, plus light occasional gaming, and...
by wsc
Wed Aug 16, 2006 6:51 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Core 2 Duo, much lower power consumption with older chipsets
Replies: 33
Views: 21016

Wow.. thanks for the informative post.

Anyone have any luck tracking this board down in the states?
by wsc
Mon Jun 06, 2005 4:53 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: A64 Winchester/Venice cores test at less than half their TDP
Replies: 6
Views: 4426

The accuracy all hinges on whether or not the CPU gets all its power from the extra power connector, like they say. If this is the case, I would say their results are pretty realistic. They are very thorough and list exactly what equipment they used, so it would be possible to try the experiment if ...
by wsc
Thu Jun 02, 2005 1:07 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: Computex : Shuttle Pentium M
Replies: 49
Views: 28863

Wow... between Aopen and Shuttle... :shock: 8)
by wsc
Thu Jun 02, 2005 12:25 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: That Wall Street Journal article
Replies: 7
Views: 4701

Isaac your picture link is broken on the WSJ page :(
by wsc
Sun May 22, 2005 10:09 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PSU Maybe to big
Replies: 30
Views: 12915

fastturtle I would be very interested to read whatever material it is that has given you this impression about the 45% requirement. Perhaps several years ago the cheapest of the cheap-o PSUs needed a 45% load for stability, that would be much more believable. Modern high quality PSUs employ more adv...
by wsc
Sat May 21, 2005 5:24 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: is it possible to lower 7200rpm to say 4200rpm HD?
Replies: 4
Views: 2795

IMHO this would not be possible with just a single piece of windows software. At the very least the microprocessor(s) on the drive would need new or modified firmware. Not a trivial task by any stretch of the imagination. There are multitudes of less sadistic solutions for a silent drive... all IMHO...
by wsc
Fri May 20, 2005 5:46 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Duron 800 Mobile vs Pentium III? or Sempron 2400 instead?
Replies: 19
Views: 7243

Isaac I had another thought. You can snag 800 Mhz P3's on ebay in both socket and slot type for pretty cheap. I think at 800 Mhz they only put out something like 20W so you would have little problems with finding a quiet cooling solution. Given your priorities and budget constraints, that is exactly...
by wsc
Fri May 20, 2005 2:16 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: Bold Statement; Silent Operation Alienware Area-51 5300 ??
Replies: 4
Views: 4083

Alienware has always been overpriced, and frankly very gimmicky. I would put some serious thought in before you drop the money on it.
by wsc
Fri May 20, 2005 2:06 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Noisy Fortron
Replies: 6
Views: 3755

You have alot of options to explore without spending alot of cash. The 90 degree duct is better than piping the CPU exhaust through the PSU, you want to keep the PSU's air flow as cool as possible. You can also try moving the thermistor inside the PSU to keep the fan from ramping up. Additionally yo...