Search found 77 matches

by Blappo
Thu Aug 02, 2012 5:45 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: 3770K IHS removal and results
Replies: 66
Views: 144771

Re: 3770K IHS removal and results

Very nice experiment. Thank you for taking the time to document and share your results. As for why Intel is using "inferior" heat spreaders, I would imaging it would be a combination of: Price Longevity Ease of application If the TIM is not applied evenly or loses effectiveness causing overheating X...
by Blappo
Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:36 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: AMD A8-3850 Quad Core Desktop APU (updated July 10)
Replies: 43
Views: 31443

Re: AMD A8-3850 Quad Core Desktop APU

Presumably they wanted to keep the same speeds for every platform. For those who don't know, the GPU is heavily bottlenecked by memory bandwidth so gaming benchmarks scale almost perfectly with memory speed. I agree that all systems should be tested equally when possible and makes it possible to co...
by Blappo
Sat Jul 02, 2011 10:33 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: AMD A8-3850 Quad Core Desktop APU (updated July 10)
Replies: 43
Views: 31443

Re: AMD A8-3850 Quad Core Desktop APU

Why was the memory only tested @ 1333Mhz. This platform is heavily dependent on memory bandwidth. I was hoping to see if the increased bandwidth affected the power consumption.

I'm also curious if other mobo's would offer better power consumption (I thought Gigabyte mobo's are not very efficient).
by Blappo
Wed Mar 02, 2011 4:39 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Are slim DVD/Blu-Ray drives quite or reliable?
Replies: 8
Views: 4329

Re: Are slim DVD/Blu-Ray drives quite or reliable?

I actually saw that Sony on Newegg. I thought it was just overpriced and didn't realize it was a slot loader :oops: The price is horrible though. For the price of the Antec ISK 300-65 ($60) plus that drive ($55) I could get the Apex MI-100 ($40), a standard DVD drive ($22) and a PicoPSU ($42). I gue...
by Blappo
Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:48 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Are slim DVD/Blu-Ray drives quite or reliable?
Replies: 8
Views: 4329

Re: Are slim DVD/Blu-Ray drives quite or reliable?

@ntavlas I'm not worried about dust; I'm worried about a 2 year old and 4 year old:) They have stepped on the tray of our DVD player (which managed to survive). Good to hear you have had success with slim optical drives though. @deruberhanyok I didn't realize that slot-loading slim optical drives ex...
by Blappo
Thu Feb 24, 2011 7:37 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Are slim DVD/Blu-Ray drives quite or reliable?
Replies: 8
Views: 4329

Re: Are slim DVD/Blu-Ray drives quite or reliable?

We mainly use our DVD player to watch children's movies, although we do occasionally watch movies from our own library and rent movies (yes we are stuck in the past). Our DVD player constantly locks up if a disc is badly scratched (i.e. a children's rental). Once I have a HTPC, I will rip our movies...
by Blappo
Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:12 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Are slim DVD/Blu-Ray drives quite or reliable?
Replies: 8
Views: 4329

Are slim DVD/Blu-Ray drives quite or reliable?

I am planning on building an HTPC with an AMD E-350 mobo in an Antec ISK300-65 case. Unfortunately it takes a slim optical drive. My only experiences with them are in some older laptops where they were very noisy. I'm also worried about reliability since I have 2 young boys who like playing with ele...
by Blappo
Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:59 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Asus E35M1-M Pro: AMD Fusion Motherboard
Replies: 84
Views: 59389

Re: Asus E35M1-M Pro: AMD Fusion Motherboard

The idle power consumption maybe held back by the implementation of the mobo. Extra controllers for USB3, etc would consume some power and at these levels 0.5W can add up fast. I am really curious about the $109 ASRock board for an HTPC.

@BillyBuerger - Keep us up-to-date about your experiences.
by Blappo
Thu Feb 17, 2011 12:10 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Mini-ITX HTPC/Server: Hardware
Replies: 35
Views: 12839

Re: Mini-ITX HTPC/Server: Hardware

HFat wrote:
Blappo wrote:...
The OP had selected the mITX board originally. Look at the model number carefully.
:oops: That's what I get for skimming the thread. Move along.
by Blappo
Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:05 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Mini-ITX HTPC/Server: Hardware
Replies: 35
Views: 12839

Re: Mini-ITX HTPC/Server: Hardware

I am very curious how your build will go since I am considering something similar. Just a few notes: - Zacate does not have a dual channel memory controller. Just buy a single stick of RAM. It will use less power and you can easily upgrade in the future. - The Apex MI-008 is a ITX case and your sele...
by Blappo
Fri Dec 17, 2010 12:44 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Consumer SSD Battle
Replies: 58
Views: 30255

Re: Consumer SSD Battle

@dhanson865 The 64GB version of SSDNow V100 Drive (SV100S2/64GZ) is constantly on sale @ NCIX.com (a Canadian online store) http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=56783&vpn=SV100S2/64GZ&manufacture=Kingston&promoid=1261 for $99 CDN. I'm also curious if it is a good value at this price. Where have yo...
by Blappo
Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:30 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: BFG GS-550 anyone?
Replies: 4
Views: 4428

How does the acoustics of the BFG GS-550 compare to your Seasonic Super Tornado 300W? I have a Tornado powering an old Athlon 3200. The PSU is very quiet, however, if I unplug it from the wall (or use the hard power switch) then my mobo will fail to post (hangs during the detection of the hardware a...
by Blappo
Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:23 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: ATI Radeon HD 5450 & HD 5570 Graphics Cards
Replies: 24
Views: 20474

Anandtech has a follow-up blog that notes the 5570 with an updated driver has enough power for all of the 5xxx series video processing. The 5450 has enough power for deinterlacing at 1920x1080 (although not enough for other post-processing effects).
http://anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=669
by Blappo
Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:52 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Asus P7H55D-M EVO LGA1156 microATX Motherboard
Replies: 26
Views: 17617

@swivelguy2 Anandtech mentions that they will look into OC a Lynnfield on a H55. Hopefully, they will cover the other differences as well. http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3732&p=11 So far the only differences that I see are: - H55 cannot support multiple GPUs with a Clarksdale (in theory ...
by Blappo
Fri Jan 15, 2010 10:09 am
Forum: Deals, Vendors and Classifieds
Topic: 30GB OCZ Vertex SSD @ Newegg for $105
Replies: 2
Views: 2024

The MIR is now $30. So the 30GB is $95 after MIR with free shipping.
by Blappo
Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:33 am
Forum: Consumer Advocacy
Topic: where to buy hi efficiency power supplies in CANADA?
Replies: 2
Views: 11670

- NCIX.com
- DirectCanada.com
- CanadaComputers.com

I was excited when newegg first came to Canada but their prices are meh, and their shipping prices were awful.

Hopefully some other Canadians can give a few more suggestions.
by Blappo
Fri Apr 15, 2005 8:13 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: nForce 3 / 4 NB Temperatures
Replies: 12
Views: 6636

1. DFI NF4 Ultra-D, stock cooler (I have a NB47J, but there is no point installing it until I quiet down my video card). Stock video card HSF, no front fan. 2. Ambient temp near 19ºC, 44ºC idle and 47ºC load with the fan at approx 4500RPM. After playing with the fan controller in the BIOS, 46ºC idle...
by Blappo
Fri Apr 15, 2005 5:15 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: XP90-C review
Replies: 7
Views: 3726

The fans used were a 120mm Panaflo L1A (69CFM @ 30 dBA) and a 92mm Panaflo M1A (48CFM @ 30 dBA). Although they didn't say how they connected the fan. The mobo could have been altering the voltages, so this may be a useless comparision for performance.
by Blappo
Fri Apr 15, 2005 5:11 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: XP90-C review
Replies: 7
Views: 3726

I'm I missing something? Shouldn't the XP-120 beat the XP-90 by more than 0.2ºC? Given that the 120mm fan pushes 21CFM more than the 92mm fan (according to the Panaflo's specs).
by Blappo
Wed Mar 23, 2005 11:58 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Leadtek 6600GT PCI-e: cooling options?
Replies: 12
Views: 6669

i've had to sacrifice performance by using the second PCIe slot, which is only x1 or x2 (not x16)
Enable SLI on the mobo (by flipping the pcb). This will work with only 1 card, and it will run at x8. I tried it out on my DFI mobo and x8 gave about 97% of the performance of x16.
by Blappo
Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:41 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Silent PSU problem - in need of help/advice...
Replies: 8
Views: 4519

I might be way off, but one of the newer PSU specs have dropped the -5V rail. The specs for your PSU says: Amperage to -5Volt max. 0.3A (optional) It could be that your mobo requires the -5V rail, and its not available on your PSU. This might not be it since you tried the PSU out with an older mobo....
by Blappo
Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:46 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Recommended nForce4 Motherboard with undervolting
Replies: 3
Views: 2353

The DFI Lanparty UT Ultra-D doesn't have the built in wireless, but it can do all the rest (I'll check about the available voltages tonight). If you are worried about the HSF on the chipset, it can be replaced with a passive heatsink (by bending, cutting the heatsink). Or if you place the video card...
by Blappo
Thu Feb 24, 2005 12:41 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Thermal paste experience
Replies: 17
Views: 7444

While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proxim...
by Blappo
Wed Feb 23, 2005 6:32 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: New A64 system
Replies: 6
Views: 4390

A passively cooled 6600GT is a great idea (I wish I knew about it 2 weeks ago). I have the MSI 6600GT and it's louder than DFI's HSF for the nForce4 and the stock AMD cooler.

It's not horribly loud (and much quieter than my old PC), but I will still be replacing in with a NV6 or a Zalman cooler.
by Blappo
Thu Feb 17, 2005 1:34 pm
Forum: User Reviews
Topic: Field Report: MSI NX6600GT TD128 w/Zalman ZM-80D-HP
Replies: 17
Views: 22641

The MSI seems like a popular card (I just got one too). It is by far the noisiest thing in my PC, although I haven't closed it up yet. I'm still debating between this and the NV Silencer 6. This won't help to coole a passively cooled nForce4, although it would be the quieter solution. Nice review by...
by Blappo
Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:37 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Antec SLK3000B - filter
Replies: 9
Views: 4781

I've left my filter in. Although I don't know how much good it is doing considering there is a large gap at the bottom of the bezel with no filter. :roll:
by Blappo
Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:17 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Has CnQ played out its role on Winchestercore CPU:s?
Replies: 11
Views: 4285

power drop due to voltage drop: 1.1^2 / 1.4^2 = 38% power drop due to speed reduction: 1.0 / 1.8 = 44% In total the power drop is 82%. Unfortunately you can't add the "power drops". Flip around your first calculations 1.4V -> 1.1V = 62% of original usage 1.8 Ghz -> 1.0 Ghz = 56% of original power u...
by Blappo
Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:00 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Should I try to quiet current case or just get a better one?
Replies: 7
Views: 4645

Try identifying what is making the noise in your current PC. The WD HDDs in my PC are making a high pitch whine. I've moved them into a Antec SLK3000B case and they are just as loud (still waiting for rest of components to arrive). Using quieter components in the first place is a better way of quiet...
by Blappo
Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:23 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Heat dissipation of nForce3/4 chipsets - any clues?
Replies: 7
Views: 5124

I just recieved my DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D. I'm planning on swapping the stock HSF for the chipset with the NB47J. I'll let you know how it goes. Unfortunately I will have to wait for the rest of my components. (The damn Seasonic PSU is on backorder).
by Blappo
Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:45 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: XP-M vs A64 - cpu speed per wat calculation completed
Replies: 30
Views: 14229

Is the die size of the PIII near the same of the 90nm A64? If not, I don't think that it is a valid assumption that a Winchester using 20W can be passively cooled. Although I have no experience with this.