Search found 38 matches

by gmat
Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:06 am
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: What case for dual loop 140mm rads? (Black ICE GT Xtreme 280
Replies: 2
Views: 4452

Lian Li PC-A71F (the door adds silence compared to A70F). A 280 rad will fit in front on stock mounts. You'll have to cut the top but you can fit 280 there and have plenty of room left (i have a 360 there and still have room for a dual bay res in front). Plenty of room left for whatever you want to ...
by gmat
Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:16 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Quiet Lian Li Case
Replies: 9
Views: 10365

Also new Lian Li's HDD tray system doesn't look good, metal tray itself is enough to act as loudspeaker amplifying HDD noise. Have to wonder what they we're thinking of how they've trashed that at least mostly working soft mounting. I have the non sound-proofed version of the same case here at work...
by gmat
Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:31 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: laptop style keyboard recommendations and feedback
Replies: 31
Views: 29793

Using the Logitech Illuminated at home. It's just fantastic, and keystrokes are just perfect. Using a Cherry Stream at work, the keystrokes are shorter (much more laptop like) but it's about the same layout, just without the backlight and without the wrist rest. I am more comfortable on the logitech...
by gmat
Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:51 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: The quiet DVD drive ultimate thread
Replies: 24
Views: 20957

I had several Plextors and am still using a PX-716SA which i would be very annoyed to replace. Even at regular speeds it's rather quiet (does a "whoosh" at 16x, no humming), but the BIG difference comes from the PlexTools. I can activate the "silent mode" in which the drive speeds, access times, eve...
by gmat
Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:43 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Intel DG45FC: Loaded LGA775 Mini-ITX Board
Replies: 40
Views: 45161

Is there any way to run this thing totally fanless ? (maybe with a 5200.. ?) Then give it a SSD and it's a perfect stealth living room solution.
by gmat
Thu May 08, 2008 11:52 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000BLFS Previews
Replies: 89
Views: 47221

There are some excellent 3.5"->5.25" silent enclosures (like the SilentMaxx i'm using with my current 150Gb Raptor - totally muffles the motor and almost kills the seek noise). What about some nice 2.5"->5.25" enclosures that keep the drive quiet and cool ? I'd consider the Velociraptor only if i co...
by gmat
Thu May 08, 2008 11:26 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Attack of the Scythes
Replies: 72
Views: 66116

The Ultra Kaze makes no sense in a no restriction environment. Their real strength is their high static pressure, making them push a lot more air under high impedance. It has been proved though that they have no competition when placed on a watercooling radiator (from Martin on XS forums, so using p...
by gmat
Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:47 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Did heat kill your hardware?
Replies: 29
Views: 15750

Just killed a motherboard due to long term high temperatures over north bridge and south bridge. Actually the south bridge failed first, creating problems with most devices connected to the PC (mostly USB). This was a heatpipe cooled motherboard, and i was watercooling the CPU and GPU so just used t...
by gmat
Wed Dec 05, 2007 12:53 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: My quick Scythe "ULTRA KAZE" Review
Replies: 10
Views: 8955

If you can alter the fan speeds try lowering them down to around 800rpm where their noise characteristic totally disappears. I use two of those (same as yours) for my watercooling radiator and now i'm mostly annoyed by the chipset cooling (upside down mobo in a lian li V2K + asus heatpipe = not a go...
by gmat
Sun Nov 04, 2007 5:55 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Scythe "Ultra-Kaze" 1000RPM fan turns 2,013RPM!
Replies: 7
Views: 4465

They do some noise at 1000rpm indeed but it seems it's some kind of vibration, i'll have to decouple their mounting to see if that noise disappears. In any case at around 700rpm they are very quiet and still move enough air through my radiator.
by gmat
Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:26 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Scythe "Ultra-Kaze" 1000RPM fan turns 2,013RPM!
Replies: 7
Views: 4465

I have 2 of those currently running, reported at around 1022 and 992rpm by the motherboard (and the noise level seems low, i'll have to do a test without the hard disk to hear them).
Seems like you had a bad sample, bad luck.
by gmat
Sun Oct 28, 2007 5:12 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Report about Scythe S-FLEX 1200rpm
Replies: 13
Views: 7242

Bad sample, or wrong orientation for the bearing ?
My 1200rpm S-Flexes (i have two running at the moment) are very quiet (no bearing or motor noise).
by gmat
Tue Oct 23, 2007 5:49 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Plextor PX-810SA - recommended
Replies: 5
Views: 3732

Well why i mentioned the Plextor is because i've had drives from LG, Nec, Yamaha, Pioneer... and all are way more noisy in normal reading (data reading) than the Plextor which remains a lot quieter. Besides they all died after 1 or 2 years of heavy use, the Plextor is still alive and as quiet as bef...
by gmat
Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:45 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Plextor PX-810SA - recommended
Replies: 5
Views: 3732

I am still using a Plextor Ultraplex, which is still the most silent drive i have had compared to countless others from different brands... It was built like a tank, so no vibration ! I also have a 716SA for DVD duties, indeed it's not silent while burning or ripping DVD's, but when reading again at...
by gmat
Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:56 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: New Scythe 120mm fans - just announced
Replies: 60
Views: 45787

I picked up the 200RPM model in Akihabara last week. It's plugged into my CPU fan header and is temp controlled by the BIOS. At 1000-1200RPM it's below my ambient, but when it spins up...you HEAR it! I'm going to replace it with one of the new "Slip Stream" models being discussed here. Well i was a...
by gmat
Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:39 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: New Scythe 120mm fans - just announced
Replies: 60
Views: 45787

Anyone got a hold of the 38mm fans ? They'll take their sweet time to come to Europe as it seems...
by gmat
Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:31 am
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: audiophile tripe to be tested!
Replies: 31
Views: 15098

The cables wont make any difference other than psychological one. They induce quite a strong self-persuasion effect, or kind of placebo effect... Double blind tests have been properly done already, besides scientific measurements of dynamics, phase shift, etc DO exist, of course ! What's important i...
by gmat
Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:33 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: New Scythe 120mm fans - just announced
Replies: 60
Views: 45787

The Ultra Kaze 120x38mm 1000rpm looks a lot promising, especially for watercooling (static pressure from radiator is a big problem). I'm ordering two right now ! I'm curious to hear how they fare against the Papst 4412 F2GL (which honestly is still fan perfection incarnate), and against their own li...
by gmat
Fri Oct 19, 2007 3:44 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Zalman ZM-MFC2: 4 x Fan Controller + Power Meter
Replies: 12
Views: 14195

For the defense of that fan controller, many knob-equipped fan controllers use PWM and thus produce noise when setting the fans below maximum speed. It's very hard or even impossible to guess which controller uses PWM and which uses direct voltage regulation... Idea: it would be great if there was a...
by gmat
Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:03 pm
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: Quieter System, Air or Water[?]
Replies: 35
Views: 31606

and even when you bleed all the air bubbles you can, you still have some left, and they do make noise. No i dont have a link to how much noise bubbles make. But they are audible, and my air cooled rigs are not. So its louder than air alone. I strongly disagree here. You CAN bleed the bubbles out pr...
by gmat
Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:24 am
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: Quieter System, Air or Water[?]
Replies: 35
Views: 31606

Good pumps make zero noise if they have no air going through. We can reduce the number of fans of a watercooled system to 1 or 2: * Watercooling other hot motherboard components is possible, if needed (passive cooling works in most cases). Various solutions exist (chipset and mosfets waterblocks, or...
by gmat
Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:15 am
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: has anyone died from liquid cooling system?
Replies: 24
Views: 21682

Honestly, the above poster is right: there are so many more dangerous things in a house than a watercooled PC. If anything the watercooled PC is not much more dangerous than a aircooled one, the main danger still resides in the PSU capacitors, and the mains outlet. A properly assembled watercooling ...
by gmat
Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:45 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Article on PSU size & overkill; irresponsible journalism
Replies: 137
Views: 103586

I agree that my wording wasn't the best.. so here's a graph :) http://gmat.free.fr/pix/efficiency.png Try to have your most typical system uses into that "sweet spot" zone :) The problem with users of 700W (or more !!) PSU's is their system places them on the very left of the curve, so they waste a ...
by gmat
Sun Jul 08, 2007 6:33 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Fan Controller Options
Replies: 20
Views: 10604

That's too bad they didnt choose to show & adjust the voltage (and just display the rpm). Again a major shortcoming for one of these products...
by gmat
Sun Jul 08, 2007 5:39 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Article on PSU size & overkill; irresponsible journalism
Replies: 137
Views: 103586

Yes TDP only reflects the characteristics of the chip itself, not its surroundings. So CPU alone and GPU alone, not the whole motherboard and not the whole graphics card. How much current draws a northbridge chip ? What's drawn by a SCSI RAID card ? What are the power requirement of sound cards ? Wh...
by gmat
Mon Jul 02, 2007 3:47 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Article on PSU size & overkill; irresponsible journalism
Replies: 137
Views: 103586

mcoleg, exactly, although current generation of '80+' rated PSU's still show that "sweet spot" behavior, and still fall down on each side of this sweet spot - the efficiency curve still looks the same. So taking a 80+ rated PSU just to use it at 20% of its rated power load, is maybe not the best opt...
by gmat
Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:58 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Article on PSU size & overkill; irresponsible journalism
Replies: 137
Views: 103586

I don't know that this is strictly true. Do you think a PSU with an operating temperature of 20C would last longer than one with 30C? Meanwhile, I'm sure one with a operating temperature of 200C would do no worse than 150C (ie they'd both fail instantly). (...) I get your point, still the temperatu...
by gmat
Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:12 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Article on PSU size & overkill; irresponsible journalism
Replies: 137
Views: 103586

Since the lifespan of a PSU is directly correlated to its running temperature, it IS somewhat related to its power draw. Still the very fine tests run on this website showed that the maximum efficiency of a PSU was reached over 75% of the maximum rated power draw (and the efficiency curve being some...
by gmat
Fri Jan 03, 2003 12:51 pm
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: water cooling - Koolance case
Replies: 5
Views: 6598

Not good. First, about noise, the Koolance features *two* 120mm fans on top, that are running on 12V. Next, the performance of the watercooling system itself is poor, you can do better with a Swiftech or Alpha HSF. Finally the price tag is too high. Try DangerDen, D-Tek customs, Swiftech, BeCooling ...
by gmat
Wed Nov 06, 2002 1:26 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Invitation to write Quiet Watercooling Article!
Replies: 38
Views: 20343

" I'm hesistant however, as I have no previous experience with watercooling, but you have to learn somewhere -- somehow, right?" Yes :) It's the only way to learn about PC watercooling... Take the plunge :) (pun intended) " pumps would produce a lot of sound that would irritate me, a lot." Good pump...