Thanks a lot. You've done me quite a favour, since it's actually pretty hard to find any information at all on current 5400rpm 2.5" drives, their performance (compared to 4200rpm drives) and especially their noise emission. So I'm glad you could give such valuable information on this topic. :) I gue...

Thanks sclawson for the info! If you're still around could you comment on the actual noise 8and performance) of the Toshiba MK4019GAX? I'd be interested in the 60GB Version too, but i guess that one would be hotter & louder... So any more info on the 40GB 5400rpm drive would be highly appreciated! :)

I'd always prefer vibration-free mounting of fans, but in case of the CPU Cooler it really shouldn't get noticeable until the (really slow moving)CPU Fan is the only thing around that could make noise... Anyways, this cooler has not been modded by this site - it's just a review of a product. You cou...

I'd say this depends on the country you're ordering from - e.g. here in germany I'd say bank transfers are pretty much common practice. There are many shops that are specialized or at least have silent-computing equipment over here, and so far none of them has given me any problems... so if there is...

Yeah this really isn't cheap, but considering that the SilentMaxx guys had to use VERY high quality components and that the whole heatpipe stuff isn't too cheap either you might as well call it a 'bargain' since other PSUs like the one from Engelking, which runs fanless for a while BUT has a fan tha...

Thanks for all the answers! But to clarify my request a bit: I know for sure where to get either, Plextor 48x, Yamaha F1, Samsung SD616 or Toshiba SD1712 (yeah, thats their 16x/48x Model - only 192kb cache though) right here in germany where I live, so thats no problem. More important to me is to ha...

Well I'm not in the UK and kustompcs.co.uk has this nice and friendly 'message' for me: Do NOT order unless you are a resident of UK Mainland. - We do NOT ship to other countries. - Any foreign orders placed will be cancelled and subject to a 5% administration charge. Is this unfriendly or what? 5% ...

A quiet CDRW to add to the list. Just picked this one up recently. It is mechanically very well damped. All the sounds of things like the door open/close, or misc clickings have a smooth, damped and muted quality. Very different from the clanging and grinding and clunking of the expensive Yamaha CR...

Samsung SD-616

This is another drive I consider buying. But i really would like to know if anyone here has some experience with Samsung SD-616 or Toshiba SDM 1712.

Which one is quieter, faster, loads up an inserted CD quicker and plays DVDs in 'silent mode'??

Any advice?

I' currently considering to get a Toshiba SDM 1712 to replace my loud Pioneer DVD A04S Slot-In, though I'll really miss the slot loading feature of this drive, that is already the best feature of this drive - during DVD playback it's pretty annoying. The speed of my current A04S is alright - no need...

I disagree. Sure I don't own a 'cuda IV 40GB, which *might* really be so quiet that such enclosures wouldn't reduce the noise too much, but My 'cuda V 80GB and other 'cuda IV 80GBs I've heard are definitely less audible if enclosed.

Yeah If you are really looking for the quietest to get you should look out for an Papst 8412N/2GL If you need a bit more airflow you could as well go for the slightly louder 8412N/2GML, which seems to be comparable to the Panaflo fan most people in the USA or Canada seem to think of as the best 'sil...

Are these definitely the quiet Panaflos everyone is talking about? It's called the Panaflo FBA08A12L, and i'm really unsure if this would be the correct one. IF it is the correct fan I seriously consider ordering *several* of them, maybe some for friends. I mean they'd have to ship them to germany, ...

Thanks for the info! Won't buy that LEY thing now, but I still have pretty high hopes for the Silencium Kit, so I'll appreciate any input on this device. My (one and only) SilentDrive does a decent job at silencing and 'cooling' my second drive an IBM 30Gig 7200rpm - I just don't want to put my main...

About the SilentDrive: I'd actually recommend it to enclose any non-main HDD. I didn't want to get one after the bad reviews and opinions it got on this site, but since others recommended it anyways I tried it because it's the cheapest sollution other than just decoupling. I enclosed an IBM 30GB 720...

I wouldn't say that 47°C are odd in any way. My HDD Temps are currently around 41°C, but its pretty cold in my room and the PC has just been on for an hour or two. Most of the time, when it's really warm in my room my main HDD (Seagate 'Cuda V 80GB) is around 47-49°C and my second disk an IBM 30Gig ...

Maybe these are interesting for you:
http://www.enmic.com/default.php?pg=news&nid=20

There are 2 new Arctic Cooling Cooler
Slim Silent Pro & Slim Silent Pro TC

Might not be the *optimal* choice for a dead silent system, but I guess these might be a real good deal for use in such size-limited areas.

Quick answer: Yes it has the necessary mounting holes. All 9500Pro that I'm aware of have these holes and use them to fit their reteil fans. I don't think there would be *any* 9500Pro without mounting holes. I'm gonna get one too at the end of the month or so... the one I'm looking for (read: the ch...

Oh yeah I forgot: These temps are from a board with a thermal sensor under the cpu - so it does not read the die temp right off the athlon xp, so don't directly compare my results with yours, but thats why I gave my current readings as well.

I had *no* stability issues when I had my XP1700+ under a Arctic Cooling Super Silent Pro within a really small case (PSU mounted right over the CPU Cooler) and the one time I checked the temperatures I got: Idle, case OPEN: 58°C full load, case open: 68°C full load for 6hours, case clased: 76°C I n...

Hmm.... I don't think that this is *really* interesting, because the site clearly states that a Dual-Fan PSU is absolutely necessary and that the heatsink has to be directly within the PSU's (hopefully decent) airflow. The site says that any Thoroughbred core CPU is *NOT* usable with this heatsink. ...

Deltatronic Silentium!-Kit

LEY FEK-I HDD Cooler/Decoupler

MR Computer Chieftech 360W Superleise

MR Computer Channel / Well 300 Watt plus Superleise

MR Computer SLK 800 TR

Zalman ZM-300 /w Papst N2GL

Blacknosie Noiseblocker XBlue3& EvolutionEQ

I've just never felt that the inconvenience of powering down outweighed the drawback of potential drive failure.... I see. For me there would be no risk of loosing important data since the HDD within the rack would just be kind of a 'better / simpler CD-R', so I'd be really interested if this hot s...

Aren't there some Mobile Racks ('Removable Frames') that actually do this? I knwo that some Mobile Racks are 'hot-swapable'. The product information says your motherboard has to 'support' this feature but my guess is all modern motherboards should do this. So, this devices actually have a power swit...

I think I got your point So since this LEY product does decouple the drives, cool them *and* reduce the high pitched noises they produce I think I'll have to try this at some point.

Well well, I really start to like living in germany + beeing interested in silent-computing :) Just saw another product of that kind from another small german manufacturer called LEY: http://alphix6.mpip-mainz.mpg.de/~scheller/pic_homepage/leyecd_image1.gif Here's the product page of this product: h...

hmm.... Motherboard Monitor


...not much more to say

Well well, i tried.

Their answer was pretty short but clear; They don't give out any samples atm.

So maybe once when I'll have some money again I'll give this unit a try. Should take some time though :/

Good point. I'll see what I can do.

Some more close-up pics of the unit:

http://www.de.tomshardware.com/praxis/0 ... um-04.html