Search found 112 matches

by Dirge
Sun Nov 18, 2012 6:00 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Silencing a super-high-end video card?
Replies: 3
Views: 3461

Re: Silencing a super-high-end video card?

There is a difference in terminology between quieting and silencing something. I think you will find it near impossible to silence a 'super-high-end' video card, let alone a pair of them. Water cooling sounds like a good option in your case, though there will be some noise created by the reservoir p...
by Dirge
Tue Nov 13, 2012 3:53 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ferrite chokes on monitor cables....an informal poll
Replies: 6
Views: 5420

Re: ferrite chokes on monitor cables....an informal poll

I cannot answer your question directly, as I haven't purchased a monitor in some time, but you can buy clamp on style ferrite chokes such as the one linked below. However I am not sure if all chokes are made equal and what frequencies they address? Would anyone like to chirp in? http://www.mouser.co...
by Dirge
Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:22 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: SSD Data Integrity
Replies: 19
Views: 9717

Re: SSD Data Integrity

Right now it appears SSDs don't have much of an advantage of traditional magnetic storage in regards to reliability. Check out the following two links for further studies. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-reliability-failure-rate,2923.html http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/ssd-reliability-low...
by Dirge
Fri Feb 17, 2012 6:13 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Electronic Whining Noise Solutions Research Project
Replies: 19
Views: 919633

Re: Electronic Whining Noise Solutions Research Project

I want to say bravo to Mike for coming up with this project. I haven't had any whistling/whining electronics in some time (touch wood), and most of that was associated with CRTs. I do remember reading some where about whining SSDs and other cases of PSU coil whine being induced by SSDs. Needless to ...
by Dirge
Sat Oct 01, 2011 3:00 am
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: Low power Linux: wattOS
Replies: 8
Views: 18940

Re: Low power Linux: wattOS

Finally someone has published a review of wattOS and it doesn't look too good. According to the guys at Phoronix
WattOS R4 also doesn't appear to have any definitive power-savings advantages over Ubuntu 11.04, but in fact the average power consumption under the Natty Narwhal is slightly lower.
by Dirge
Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:59 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: HD is suspended but not 100% horizontally, is it harmful ?
Replies: 4
Views: 2954

Re: HD is suspended but not 100% horizontally, is it harmful

Personally I wouldn't be able to sleep easy knowing my drive was mounted like that.
by Dirge
Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:11 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: What is head parking problem?
Replies: 10
Views: 22182

Re: What is head parking problem?

Personally I wouldn't use a WD Caviar Green as my main system drive due to the 8 second head parking. I have heard they may be dropped from RAID arrays if the controller thinks the drive has become unresponsive. If you are using it for a data drive or as an external drive then you should be A OK. Th...
by Dirge
Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:08 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Anyone use the WD30EZRX?
Replies: 14
Views: 21615

Re: Anyone use the WD30EZRX?

To add some more information the WD30EZRX is Western Digitals current 3 TB Caviar Green.

WD30EZRX SATA 6 Gb/s, Capacity 3 TB

I found a Tech ARP review here
by Dirge
Sat Sep 03, 2011 1:52 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Most reliable 2TB drive...
Replies: 23
Views: 14095

Re: Most reliable 2TB drive...

You can check out the StorageReview HDD reliability survey here . It might give you a bit of an idea based on user submissions. Looks like you have to register to see. Is there anyway to look at the results without having to register? Generally how did WD do? Sorry for the late reply. Yes you can b...
by Dirge
Sat Aug 20, 2011 9:44 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Efficient power consumption optical disk drives?
Replies: 4
Views: 5893

Re: Efficient power consumption optical disk drives?

I too can only think of external USB drives as the power requirements of optical drives tend not to get published.
by Dirge
Sat Aug 20, 2011 9:42 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: JFYI: Intel 320-series SSD "8MB" power cycle issue solved...
Replies: 6
Views: 5466

Re: JFYI: Intel 320-series SSD "8MB" power cycle issue solve

Just because my post doesn't smack of fanboyism doest make two instances of firmware related data loss something to be wary of. And I will reiterate my first post "It is good to see Intel have fixed this one" in case quest_for_silence wants to call me ungenerous again.
by Dirge
Thu Aug 18, 2011 11:55 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: JFYI: Intel 320-series SSD "8MB" power cycle issue solved...
Replies: 6
Views: 5466

Re: JFYI: Intel 320-series SSD "8MB" power cycle issue solve

It is good to see Intel have fixed this one, but it seems they are starting to get a reputation for firmware bugs.
by Dirge
Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:25 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Big, Fast and Quiet. Anything still available?
Replies: 9
Views: 5695

Re: Big, Fast and Quiet. Anything still available?

Having searched the forum, it seems that the 1TB F3 might have a rather annoying whine, as well as reliability issues, so I'm in two minds now whether to just get a 500GB F3 instead (and maybe a secondary 500GB F2, or something else, for extra storage) :? No whine here from either of my Samsung F3 ...
by Dirge
Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:33 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Most reliable 2TB drive...
Replies: 23
Views: 14095

Re: Most reliable 2TB drive...

You can check out the StorageReview HDD reliability survey here.

It might give you a bit of an idea based on user submissions.
by Dirge
Mon Aug 01, 2011 11:25 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Recommendations for a good 16:10 aspect gaming monitor?
Replies: 33
Views: 17144

Re: Recommendations for a good 16:10 aspect gaming monitor?

Opps you are right, I obviously wasn't thinking straight when I posted that as an alternative.
by Dirge
Sun Jul 31, 2011 10:53 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Recommendations for a good 16:10 aspect gaming monitor?
Replies: 33
Views: 17144

Re: Recommendations for a good 16:10 aspect gaming monitor?

How about the recently released 24" Dell U2412M or the smaller U2311H.
by Dirge
Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:57 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Need feedback from Samsung F3 (HD103SJ) owners
Replies: 10
Views: 6828

Re: Need feedback from Samsung F3 (HD103SJ) owners

I have two of these drives in my system and cannot report any humming noises. So far they seem like a solid drive.
by Dirge
Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:32 pm
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: U. of Bath distributes DC to power library PCs
Replies: 4
Views: 13627

Re: U. of Bath distributes DC to power library PCs

I am all for new approaches to lowering the use of power in servers and large networks. Additionally saving all that heat in a server room would be super. Since using DC is more dangerous than AC I wonder if they can safely implement this in a home environment.
by Dirge
Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:18 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Problem with my 2TB Samsung HD204UI Spinpoint F4
Replies: 4
Views: 4257

Re: Problem with my 2TB Samsung HD204UI Spinpoint F4

I would start with Samsung's HDD diagnostic software to make sure you have a healthy drive.

Taken from the Smartmontools project wiki
Smartmontools wrote:According to Samsung Support, HD204UI drives manufactured December 2010 or later include the firmware patch
by Dirge
Sat May 07, 2011 12:13 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: consumer-grade SATA expansion under linux?
Replies: 18
Views: 8936

Re: consumer-grade SATA expansion under linux?

I am taking this information from ZFSGuru.com which is geared toward FreeBSD, but I know many controllers have issues under Linux. FakeRAID add-on PCI/PCI-express controllers These include chipsets like Silicon Image, Promise FastTrak and JMicron. These offer RAID support via Windows-only drivers. W...
by Dirge
Wed Apr 20, 2011 4:58 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which 2TB HDDs?
Replies: 12
Views: 7816

Re: Which 2TB HDDs?

EADS = 500GB platter with 512-byte sectors
EARS old = 500GB platter with 4K sectors
EARS new = 666GB platter with 4K sectors

There is also a new WD20EARX but the only difference I can see between it and the EARS is its SATA 6 Gb/s connection.
by Dirge
Wed Jan 19, 2011 8:14 pm
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: Converting old core2duo system to file server, saving power?
Replies: 10
Views: 20639

Re: Converting old core2duo system to file server, saving po

ASSEMblerEX wrote:turn off the onboard sound
Does disabling onboard sound in the BIOS really make a measurable difference?
by Dirge
Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:45 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PicoPSU 150-XT spare connector: is it for HDD power?
Replies: 2
Views: 1820

Re: PicoPSU 150-XT spare connector: is it for HDD power?

stupid question but do they not ship this thing with a manual or specification?

Edit: I found their manual online and no it doesn't seem to mention the extra header. But if you look at the specifications page Over Here, there is a picture you can enlarge labelling it as an Extra PATA/SDATA Header.
by Dirge
Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:41 pm
Forum: Site Feedback
Topic: View active topics
Replies: 2
Views: 5305

Re: View active topics

So how about it, does the site admin peruse this forum?
by Dirge
Wed Jan 19, 2011 8:49 am
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: Converting old core2duo system to file server, saving power?
Replies: 10
Views: 20639

Re: Converting old core2duo system to file server, saving po

It's difficult to slim down your system without making compromises in its performance. You have already identified replacing the video card as the single biggest reduction in power draw. How about removing the DVD drive and either putting it in an external enclosure or using a store bought external ...
by Dirge
Sat Jan 08, 2011 5:57 pm
Forum: Site Feedback
Topic: View active topics
Replies: 2
Views: 5305

View active topics

When I click on the link to View active topics I get a page with zero matches. The result is not affected whether I am logged in or not. It would be cool if this feature of the forum was working again. pretty please :)
by Dirge
Wed Jan 05, 2011 3:21 pm
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: Low power usage PC
Replies: 29
Views: 40914

Re: Low power usage PC

Ok it might be a couple of years off but here is some interesting news regarding ARM. Microsoft just made the announcement today that they will be supporting Windows on ARM. Linky Nvidia has also Announced a future ARM CPU for Desktop, Server, HPC. Linky As for ultra low power PCs for use as a serve...
by Dirge
Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:19 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config
Replies: 27
Views: 11094

Re: Looking for 2 2.5" silent drives to run in RAID0 config

Woody wrote:What's "bel", compared to decibel?
According to Wikipedia a decibel (dB) is one tenth of a bel (B), i.e. 1B = 10dB.

So 2.6 bel (B) is equivalent to 26 decibel (dB)
by Dirge
Mon Nov 01, 2010 9:06 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which HDDs models / vendors are most reliable in 2010?
Replies: 4
Views: 2785

Re: Which HDDs models / vendors are most reliable in 2010?

Hi you could try checking out StorageReview's reliability survey . I have entered a number of drives in there already. Hopefully the more data they collect the more reliable their survey will be. I also got burned by Western Digital and their mixing of different platters in the same model HDD. I bou...
by Dirge
Sat Sep 25, 2010 3:26 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Passive card for Civilization 5
Replies: 10
Views: 6021

Hi yes I tried with my original card but it is an old passively cooled GF 7300GT I have held onto. Unfortunately it had no chance.

I would like something that exceeds the minimum requirements as they are often set a bit low. I guess the resolution I would like to run at is 1920 x 1080.