I currently have some OEM optical drive that makes a loud whoosing sound like a hair dryer when it spins up. I'd like to take it back and replace it with something quieter.

Anyone have a recommendation? This is a non-Blueray drive for a gaming box.

The current build of the Dell XPS 420 is pretty attractive in price, components, and the really nice Adobe software suite they throw in. How noisy is it? Anyone have one at home? My choices are to build my own with a better videocard, lightscribe optical drive, slightly faster video and known quiet ...

Bad news. The system is not stable. I can play games for a few minutes before a crash-reboot or a lockup. Even if I go all the way to 2.85, it doesn't seem to matter. Turning down the memory clock seems to help, which of course is bad. So, the problem is not really fully solved. I'm concerned the me...

Seems that Neil had the best answer. Ultimately, the memory voltage needed to be increased to 2.8v. I may experiment and dial this down to 2.75 and see how it goes because this is .1 volts over Kingston's specification. This is all the steps I took: -Upgraded AOPEN BIOS driver to 1.07a, a beta versi...

It seems like a pretty subtle problem if both sticks of RAM work fine by themselves but not when both are plugged in. That leads me to believe that they are good and it is some other problem. I'm pretty sure I have also tried slots 1 and 3 but I can try them again. On my last system when I had a RAM...

My own personal thought is to contact your mobo maker about ram compatibility. There are a few companies out there that will recommend modules that have known good compatibility. Some manufacturers will even say which ones won't work with their mobos. Thats got to be worth a shot rather than buying...

Hello: I would definitely try boosting the RAM voltage at least to 2. 6[/] volts -- this is the standard for most RAM. And if that doesn't work, go up to 2.65v or 2.7 and see what happens. Also, you might have to try using different slots -- there may be issues with timing, and who knows how this m...

Hello, Once again I am in need of the collective wisdom of this forum. I've just read through the stickies and didn't really see the answer. I have a problem running two sticks of DDR 3200 RAM in my system. Of course I checked them both out by themselves and they work fine. But with both, I cannot e...

That Papst fan 4412FGL does not have a tachometer wire. So if you are using a fan controller that requires RPM, you will have a problem.

However, the PAPST 4412F/2GL has a tachometer and is otherwise the same.

Hope this information saves somebody a return. I got it wrong

I'm very satisfied with this case from Coolcases. Since I live about 20 minutes away from the guy I went there and picked it up. We had a nice chat while I was there and he was real interested to know what customers want in a case. He mentioned something about designing a case from scratch. Feel fre...

"SATA Power and DATA 18 in. Cable" from those Granite guys looks like it would be very secure on the drive side. Assuming they were very tight on the dimensions for the mobo side, this could be a good cable.

I'll second Wumpus on that one. The half dozen 92mm Zalman fans that I've gotten with their Flower heatsinks have all been awful. According to our SPCR reviewers, the Zalmau AlCu has "modest noise" and is listed second best. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article30-page1.html . I use one and I am ve...

Let me clarify that the problem is not so much that the cable stays "attached" but that the female cable end wobbles over the male drive / mobo end in such a way that the pins will not always be aligned. It is "connected" but there is far too much play back and forth to keep a good connection. When ...

The cable for my samsung drive holds on juuuust fine. Same with the connector for my mobo. Maybe you got a screwy batch of hard drives? If you read my complete message, which I admit is long because of the quote, there is discussion about changing the standard of the cabling. I figure if the standa...

The cable for my samsung drive holds on juuuust fine. Same with the connector for my mobo. Maybe you got a screwy batch of hard drives? If you read my complete message, which I admit is long because of the quote, there is discussion about changing the standard of the cabling. I figure if the standa...

So I have some SATA 120g samsungs. Plugged them in to my AOPEN mobo and notice that the cables sure do wiggle around a lot, more on the drive than on the mobo. That cannot be good for connectivity. Sure enough, I didnt figure it out before attempting a windows reinstall that go hosed so I had to sta...

If I run it all the way down, it is much quieter. In that case I suppose it is a keeper.

So the FSP350-60PN is my loudest component next to my optical drive. The optical drive however doesn't run all the time so it can be forgiven but is sure is loud. Its a NEC ND-2500A. Maybe I should replace it. I noticed the potentiometer knob on the psu and turned it way down. The noise also goes wa...

Not familiar with the AOpen SilentTek. Does it require RPM? If not, just recrimp or buy an adapter (SVC has a whole bunch). If it does, another option is FanControl's thingie for generating RPM output. I have no experience with that though. This is what I read from a SPCR review of SilentTek: "RPM ...

I mistakenly bought the 4412 FGL 4 pin fans from directron. What I really wanted was the F/2GL 3 pin ones for use with my AOpen mobo -embedded fan controller "SilentTek". Where can you get these in the U.S.? My searches are coming up blank.

Thanks.

I guess, from you mentioning directron, you live in the US? I'm not well up on US vendors (being from the UK) but the only place I have seen that sells the 3pin (including rpm sensor wire) 120mm FGL is this one based in the UK. http://www.wizarddesigns.co.uk/fans.htm Yes, I'm in the US. A quote fro...

Scooby, Thanks for your answers. Yes I have considered a fan controller. I would prefer avoiding the extra expense as you guessed. Also it seems the AOpen solution is a bit more sophisticated than what I've seen in fan controllers. I might be SOL here though unless I can find other good 120mm fans w...

So I got a little ahead of myself and bought 2 Papst 120mm 4412 FGL fans to go with an AOpen motherboard for AMD 64 3200. One of the things I was hoping to do with with the AOpen mobo was use its onboard fan controlling software. However, I learned too late that the Papst fans, while quite good, are...

I suppose this is a moot point now. My wish list at www.newegg.com dipped $200 and I had to buy it. Can't wait around to find someone to sell me the case cheaper so I just bought it from coolcases.com with the simple fan mods.

Mostly because it sells for $39 from directron if you can tolerate the gray / silver bezel. Looking for a little cost savings.

I'm looking to get a black compucase LX-6A19 in the U.S. Specifically, I want to get it with a black front bezel. Coolcases.com makes them like this but I'm starting to think I don't want to pay that much for the mods. What I have typically found is the white version, or the black version with a "si...

I would be really interested in the price difference, especially if it performs as well as the acousti stuff.

Suppose I eliminate the intake fan? I'm guessing that would eliminate a significant noise source. I think with the PSU and exhaust, there should be sufficient airflow. Note that the coolcase has an intake filter and no other large intake vents so it shouldn't be a total dust nightmare. Any other com...

Are the Seagate 7200.7s quieter? I was under the impression that there was some debate there.

The LX-6A19 looks like a nice case especially with the rear grille cut out and plastic fan holders removed. There is an online store that does those modifications for something like $15 dollars. Yeah, http://www.coolcases.com/ That's who I plan on using. Plus he has the all black parts that look be...