Nice to see that you only need a 350 watt PSU with a Q core also and video card that you use. Yeah, my back-of-the-envelope calculations went something like CPU ~ 120W, GPU ~ 110W, other ~ 50W. I think the reason most people go for a bigger PSU than they need these days is because many cheap PSUs c...

I finally finished putting together my new rig. The components are a little more power-hungry than a typical silent PC, but I needed the extra cores and overclock for work (saves around 4hrs daily compared to my old 2.4 Northwood), and the video card is fun for occasional gaming. At any rate, I thin...

I just set up an X2 4400+ on a DFI nF4 UT Ultra-D board. The processor stock VID is just 1.30V, and it also will only accept settings down to 1.10V. I think the 1.10V is a constraint that the processor imposes (just like the FID locks on non-FX CPUs). At the very least, it is not just ASUS. I am not...

See how your temps do when you get rid of all the intake fans... your system isn't especially high-power so the combination of PSU and case exhaust fans may be enough to get by. Chipset fans are notoriously whiny. I have been running Zalman NB47J fanless heatsinks on 4 NForce4 boards w/o trouble, bu...

The pump in the Reserator is fine for cooling CPU+GPU+NB in my system. It is probably also fine for cooling hard disks, but given that the load temperature may level off at over 40C (depending on how much heat the other components produce) this temperature of water may not be useful for "cooling" ha...

Can the above happen to the GPU or CPU as well? The idea is that the HDD at 50C is "running hot" while a CPU at 50C is fine. So unless your system is producing too much heat overall for your cooling to handle, this is probably not a concern for the CPU/GPU. Maybe I don't understand the question. Wh...

On the topic of using the Reserator for HDD cooling... the Reserator works fine for me cooling CPU+GPU+NB... but when I had my HDDs in the loop, at max load, the water "cooling" was actually acting as a water heater, making my HDDs hotter. I think there were a few basic problems: 1) Load temps that ...

When I first got my Phantom, it made too much buzz for my liking. It has been running w/o problems for roughly half a year now, and the buzzing subsided quite a bit in the first few weeks. The buzz may still be there, but I can't hear it anymore. If yours is new, I suggest giving it some time. Other...

I think the idea is to have as much surface area as possible exposed to the open air. More heat pipes => more surface area. They probably could have used a heatsink instead, but I am guessing that the heatpipes that they are using are extremely cheap - possibly cheaper than using an aluminum heatsin...

afaik, hard disk drives are designed to dissipate most of the heat through the sides. Typically, the sides are in contact with the case (where they are screwed in) and can conduct some heat away like that. As a result, the sides may stay slightly cooler than the rest of the drive. The only spot I ca...

I'm using HydrX (the Swiftech stuff).

The nice thing about it is that it is green, so even if something was growing in my water I wouldn't know the difference.

You may be able to buy the HydrX bottles with a quantity discount. I think I got 5 bottles for ~$15.

I just put some duct tape over the hole to close the system. It is easy to remove again if you need to equalize pressure to unscrew the cap.

I am running a system similar to yours but with a beefier GPU, and the Phantom is working fine for me. You may be able to get away with that single 120mm exhaust fan, especially if you are not overclocking.

I have 4 systems running on MSI K8N Neo4 (non-Platinum) boards on some cheapo Sparkle 300W PSUs with only the 20-pin connector (as opposed to 24-pin). The PSUs are loud, but the systems are for a compute cluster that I administer remotely so I don't have to listen to them anyway. No stability proble...

As long as you have some sort of exhaust fan running, I don't think you'll have a problem running the Phantom 24/7 (provided that you don't get a dud unit). The way I tested my system was to cram a temperature probe from my fan controller into one of the internal heatsinks in the phantom. That helpe...

Yeah I have some serious concerns about that THG review. I could not find details of their test setup anywhere... I'm starting to wonder if they tested the units with the PSU just laying out on a bench on its own, and I still can't make any sense of their efficiency results. From personal experience...

These heat pipes will also work at reduced efficiency unless they are oriented in a "heat-travels-upwards" direction.

I was in touch with these guys a while ago. It isn't as flexible as you might imagine. You can bend it into place once, but bending it any more often than that (like if you need to add/remove hardware) is likely to break it. Also, at just 45W, you'd need 2-3 of them for high-powered components. Cost...

1. me too 2. me too 3. P4 2.4GHz @3.0GHz, ATI Radeon 9800... not exactly top of the line but I think they burn enough juice to make the point 4. monitor temperatures... if anything looks too hot either add more fans or run your existing fans faster. For this particular PSU, I suggest making sure tha...

No trouble yet with mine, but based on some experiments I wouldn't trust this PSU to run in a system with zero airflow. I've made sure in my setup that there is a slight intake airflow through the PSU. I've had the unit since a few weeks after the product became available to the general public. With...

I have 2 SP1614C 160GB drives in SmartDrive 2002C enclosures. They idle at 31-33C. I also noticed that the drive temps don't update very often, and couldn't find a workaround. Not only that, but I've found using an external probe that the drive temperature (measured on the side of the drive) is abou...

Definitely not too hot. Chipsets are specified to run without problems at even higher temperatures than CPUs. Typical CPU throttle is at 70C, but chipsets tend to be rated for operation up to the 90-100C range. I accidentally snapped the retainer on my overclocked 865PE chipset heatsink, and until I...

Mine had some hum when first installed, but it went away after a few days of use. There is still a very slight hum, but nothing I can distinguish without sticking my ear up within a few inches of the case. It seems like it will run very happily provided there is some fan somewhere in the system that...

Putz - that wasn't very nice! At least add a smiley or something when joking around... funny though

mai9 - The Temp3 value is probably just the result of not having that sensor in your system. You can configure SpeedFan not to display it.

When I first installed my Phantom, the hum was more noticeable. The hum faded over a the course of a few days (or I got deaf... who knows?). My computer sits on my desk just a few feet from my head. Currently I have to be well within one foot (probably just inches) from the case to hear the PSU buzz...

I'm having some success with the Black Knight. Pros: The fans are sweet and the case is cheap. Thinner steel is easier to mod, built-in fan control, nice drive bay door design which can also inhibit noise. Not many easy paths for sound to take out of the case. Cons: Thinner steel, front bezel a pain...

I should ask you too, did you consider the SilverStone ST30NF Fanless as well, and if so why did you go with the Phantom? My main reason is that the Phantom has much more amps available between its dual 12V rails. The 17A on the ST30NF is probably enough for either of our current configs but I may ...

I could do a Seasonic plus a case fan as you mention but if I use a rear exhaust that puts 3 fans in close proximity (CPU, PSU, rear exhaust) which seems counterproductive. I mention this because others have reported their Seasonics being too loud when they are solely responsible for exhaust. The C...

Based on what I've read, going with the Phantom + case exhaust fan could be just a pinch quieter, especially if the Seasonic had to spin up its fan to a higher level due to being the only exhaust. Still, it seems like a Phantom is a bit extreme for silencing compared to the noise that other componen...

I know it is no guarantee, but I picked up a pair of 160GB NIDEC SATA SpinPoints on NewEgg just a few weeks ago. Maybe just lucky