Tom, An off-topic question: have you tried to run your oc-ed 2500+ through Prime95 torture test? I tried to oc my 2500+ this weekend, while I'm still waiting for some quiet parts to arrive. With CPU at 11 x 200 and stock voltage, the system boots and appears to be stable. However, Prime95 test fail...

Every Sonata I've seen does that. If you open up the lower part of the bezel to improve airflow it will greatly reduce this accumulation and lower your internal temps too. It will still accumulate dust there, just at a lower rate. Taking my lead from MikeC and others, I opened up the hole on the bot...

The Zalman northbridge coolers both go for less than 10 bucks Canadian so I wouldn't imagine they are a big deal.

Perhaps a bigger deal for home theater users will be the lack of SPDIF in on the NF7-S. The NF7-S has optical output only. The AN7-S, on the otherhand, has both.


-- Tom

edit: perhaps it has something to do with an irregular / unconditioned power source? Yes, it's possible. They were all tried in the same Antec Sonata with stock power supply. The Gigabyte also uses the same PSU, though. Elliot, I don't know which version he bought. It was a couple of months ago tha...

Not only does the Zalman passive heat sink work great, it doesn't even get warm. You o/c your 2500+ to 2.4 GHz and it doesn't even get warm?? :shock: That's impressive. I read somewhere in the forums that the 875 (and I guess that implies 865 as well) gets pretty hot when running at 200 MHz FSB spe...

I'm with Wumpus. That's what I did. Not only does the Zalman passive heat sink work great, it doesn't even get warm. If I were doing it again, I'd get the 32mm sink instead of the 47mm one. The 47mm one is fine but needless. As far as motherboards go, Abit NF7-S or Abit AN7-S would be my preferences.

Ralf Hutter wrote:
Motherboard Monitor can do this, as can the little stand alone app called "Dtemp".

In Linux, hddtemp does a nice job of this (and can integrate into gkrell with a display agent).

What voltage do you run your 120mm fan at, Ralf? I'm running the OEM Panaflo up in the 7~8 volt range and it's definitely audible there. If I had better airflow and could get away with running that fan slower, I might have a different opinion on Antec vs Panaflo. Here's something semi-interesting. W...

I've seen someone using shot glasses in one of the threads, but he did it mainly to raise the case and improve intake airflow. That's me. I like having my cases off the floor a couple of inches to improve the airflow into the base of the front bezel. It works extremely well but I think the aestheti...

Use them for cooling the room in summer :-) By the way, how do you determine the amount of airflow? :D Good question. My Sonata has airflow improvements and actually flows pretty good. So good, in fact, that it runs hot but stable with the 120mm fan turned off entirely and using only the L1A in the...

I have swapped the Antec case fan in one of my Sonatas for a Panaflo FBK-12G12LH. Others seem interested so here are my opinions: - Panaflo quieter than the Antec at voltages above 5v. At 12v, the Panaflo makes about one quarter the noise of the Antec and doesn't have the annoying buzz of the Antec,...

I love audio talk. Soon we'll be breaking in our fans and drive cables for optimal performance. I'm breaking in a new set of bezel LEDs as we speak. :lol: Perhaps a Bybee modded fan bus controller? :D I worked as a bench tech at a high end shop for a couple of years. It seems like most of the high e...

Half-breed? That's pretty harsh, Syphon. LOL! I would suggest that the similarities between the Sonata and 3700BQE vastly out number the differences. In fact, I think it would be fair to recommend the Sonata to those who like a high lustre finish and recommend the BQE to those who prefer a more cour...

I've been wondering about the DeskStars too. Thanks for the report.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the Sonata is that it looks so good that you will want to populate it with the best parts.

I used to try to live on the sweet spot of the value curve.

I'm no expert on TIVO modding but I have one and was under the impression the upgrade path was to a specific model of larger Maxtor. Has someone figured out how to get a working TIVO system with generic disks now?


-- Tom

"Any new Dell system will be much, much more quiet than a stock Sonata." ... in fact that last batch of GX260s I imaged for a client were unbearably loud, I actually broke out the ear plugs when I had a dozen imaging simaltaneously in the lab, but even a single stand alone machine is quite a bit lo...

Hey Cavicchi, A couple of days ago you were dumping on people who critiqued the Sonata for some of it's flaws. That was before you had even seen one or had any knowledge of the Sonata. Now you are dumping on the Sonata and how it was reviewed. The review on SPCR was accurate and insightful. The Sona...

My preferences (but I suspect my choices might differ depending on the case I was building):

IDE -> flat cables, folded, two face taped into position

Floppy -> round cable

I've just finished swapping all of my Maxtor drives for Seagates. If you care about noise, Segate is the way to go. The Spinpoints don't really exist yet, in my world. I asked several vendors but couldn't find any stock. Of course, that was about eight weeks ago. The Seagates are excellent. My Maxto...

Gread idea, Miker. I get a scary glow from my Rheobus so I have to make sure to close the doors on my Sonatas before I leave the office.

That's not always possible when I leave a CD burning.

When I came into this thread, I was expecting to see $50 worth of C4 plastic explosive. :D I think the real answer on how to make a quiet PC is: - read every byte at SilentPCReview.com - spend a bunch of money on a great new case and power supply - wonder why it isn't quiet - read a bunch more stuff...

Read the manual Aphonos has so gratiously linked for you. I believe the cable you speak of is for the bezel headlights.


Good luck,

Tom

One thing that ought to be mentione is how good the TP308S power is. With a Panaflo L1A swap, I would think the TP308S would be way up there with respect to both quality of power and silence. I couldn't be happier with mine. Don't take my word for it, break out the scope and give it a look see. :) -...

I have built three systems using Sonatas and they have all been about average for noise out of the box. Any new Dell system will be much, much more quiet than a stock Sonata. I find that hard to believe. Please share your experience, Cavicchi. I'm always interested in how people get on with their S...

I have built three systems using Sonatas and they have all been about average for noise out of the box. Any new Dell system will be much, much more quiet than a stock Sonata. Between the L1A PSU swap (and I bent the intake grill slats on the PSU to be parallel to the airflow) and undervolting the 12...

Someone with the initials I. G. just sent me an email and for an assortment of funny reasons, that email is now lost. The email had the subject "Panaflo 12V DC Fan FBK-12G12LH", so I suspect it has to do with this thread.

IG, please send the email again...


-- Tom

Care to divulge your supplier? I just bought 40 on eBay from RDR Electronics. It cost me $50 for the fans and $49 for shipping. I've got a few spares so I was going to offer one to Wumpus for testing but he seems disinterested. Also, the 38mm fan width seems to cause him to convulse with some sort ...

wumpus, Why 25mmx120mm? What about 38mmx120mm fans? Have you tried the Panaflo 12V DC Fan FBK-12G12LH (that's the OEM Panaflo that Ralf Hutter speaks of)? Would you like to? When I think about my quieting efforts, I tend to agree with you that current convention is to use massive heat sinks and wond...

I think you could safely assume that it will fit. A search on google using the text "abit nf7-s slk-900a" yields a lof of results including this one: http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=7917 "AMD 2500XP Barton @ 3200XP 512mb DDR3200 Abit NF7-S Rev. 2 SLK-900A" You can find a lof o...