Search found 128 matches

by Chang
Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:51 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Passive card for Civilization 5
Replies: 10
Views: 6021

Re: Passive card for Civilization 5

Like any game, it depends a lot on your resolution, how much eye candy you want, and what FPS you're willing to put up with. I played through the demo a bit with the integrated HD4200 at 1920x1200. IIRC, it was very choppy at medium settings and very playable with most everything (aside for the reso...
by Chang
Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:58 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Reduce HDD idle noise?
Replies: 11
Views: 4832

BTW is Stretch Magic a universal product or only available in certain countries/specialty stores? That looks like a reasonable alternative to clothing elastic to me, since that can wear out over time. I would like to avoid having to go the bungee cords route, as that looks like more screws, nuts an...
by Chang
Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:24 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: New: Scythe Setsugen GPU cooler
Replies: 30
Views: 20088

Keep in mind that the heatsink design means that the current "flipped" fan orientation blows the hot air away from the GPU. Reversing the fan means that you will be pulling the hot air through the fins and directing it back towards the heat source.
by Chang
Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:54 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon HD 4670: A perfect balance?
Replies: 498
Views: 390541

For those interested, Newegg has the passive Sapphire card (Sapphire 100255U Radeon HD 4670 512MB) now.
by Chang
Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:41 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon HD 4670: A perfect balance?
Replies: 498
Views: 390541

It depends on what you're hoping to get out of the card. My cheatsheet tells me that the PowerColor has fan speed adjustment, the HIS does not. The HIS has decent PowerPlay settings though. No mention of the PowerColor's PowerPlay settings or whether they're editable by RBE. Two members have reporte...
by Chang
Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:45 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Low power card capable of 1920x1200?
Replies: 15
Views: 5630

In order for DVI to get the requested resolution you need a dual DVI cable, and a dual DVI capable vga card. Not quite true. You can also use reduced blanking and get that resolution over DVI. I've also used an ATI IGP three years older than OP's to get 1920x1200 over DVI. Perfect image for desktop...
by Chang
Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:11 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon HD 4670: A perfect balance?
Replies: 498
Views: 390541

Damn, the thing is loud. Under load it's actually okay, but it's idle that's killing me. Manual fan speed control = fail. When you say fail, do you mean that manual fan speed control doesn't work or that it doesn't get it quiet enough for your system? I hope it's the latter as the Sapphire card is ...
by Chang
Mon Nov 10, 2008 8:15 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Hmm... new cooler? Haven't seen this before...
Replies: 5
Views: 3521

Positives: Relatively inexpensive. Potentially "quiet" at lower settings. Negatives: Dual slot cooler + controller blocks three PCI slots. Manual control. Potentially "noisy" at upper settings. My verdict: Okay for some specific applications, but there are probably better solutions for the majority ...
by Chang
Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:23 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon HD 4670: A perfect balance?
Replies: 498
Views: 390541

Chang, even though you can adjust the fan speed with 2 wires you will still have no idea what is is spinning at so you will have to set it by best guess and sound vs cooling. Not the best setup... but not really that big a deal. Actually if you think about it, knowing the actual fan RPM is pretty m...
by Chang
Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:11 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon HD 4670: A perfect balance?
Replies: 498
Views: 390541

I think the issue is the fans on the 4670s have only two wires for the power. Three wires are required for fan control speed. Yes and no. Three wires are required to get feedback on how fast the fan is actually spinning (or if it's spinning at all). However you can run PWM or voltage changes over t...
by Chang
Mon Aug 06, 2007 11:06 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Scythe Mini Ninja spotted
Replies: 106
Views: 95046

also available here: http://www.aerocooler.com/shop.cart?action=ITEM&prod_id=FANSCMNJ1K 36.75 That's eBay; shipping will cost you a fortune. I'm confused. First off, how do you figure eBay in there? Second. shipping to NYC was priced at $11.70 for UPS Ground. Perhaps higher than some but totally in...
by Chang
Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:51 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Can I trust SMART readings?
Replies: 6
Views: 3889

Assuming they're the same make and model of drive, one easy check would be to swap their positions. Even if they're different, I suspect you'll see enough of a large swing to confirm that you could use some active cooling on the "hot" drive.
by Chang
Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:05 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Quiet 3x DVI output Video?
Replies: 2
Views: 3018

Another possibility would be to choose a mobo with onboard DVI (or HDMI). Pair it with a graphics card from the same family (ATI card+ATI mobo or NVIDIA card+NVIDIA mobo) and that should give you three DVI ports. It works well enough with my current 2-3 yo mobo in 2D use. A cheap PCI card would also...
by Chang
Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:45 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Best HD silent card
Replies: 8
Views: 5923

I actually meant crippled from a media use standpoint. There are a couple of registry keys that get set that severly downgrade the 2400 performance. They may be fixed in later driver releases, but who knows. For example, IIRC, there isn't MPEG2 hardware acceleration for the 2400 due to a lack of reg...
by Chang
Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:39 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Best HD silent card
Replies: 8
Views: 5923

Wouldn't HD2400 pro / XT fit perfectly for Media PC if you're not doing gaming. Its budget card but rather good choice for media center and most versions are passively cooled. The 2400 series is somewhat crippled. You'd be much better off going with a passively cooled 2600XT. Still well under £100.
by Chang
Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:49 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Sapphire HD 2600 XT Ultimate Edition with passive cooling
Replies: 4
Views: 4467

It'll be out when it's out. If you can't wait, Newegg has MSI's passively cooled 2600 XT.
by Chang
Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:30 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ATI HD 2600 and HD 2400
Replies: 79
Views: 65157

Of course no one should be expected to drop into standby while typing a Word document. But I was referring to your 24/7 usage. If you're concerned about a couple pence a day, what are you doing that requires your computer to be in idle sucking up power when you're asleep, at work, or out at a pub? D...
by Chang
Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:48 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: What is "safe" temp for HD's ?
Replies: 41
Views: 21698

the fact that there is a temperature limit at all should tell you that excessive heat impairs hard drive performance, probably because the heat affects the magnetic media in the hard disk and causes it to lose its magnetization, and thus your data; thus one would expect more risk of data loss and c...
by Chang
Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:32 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ATI HD 2600 and HD 2400
Replies: 79
Views: 65157

And I'm still confused by why anyone would choose a 7300 GT based on idle power consumption. Concerning cost, it doesn't work out to much for the card, about £13 per annum for 24/7 operation (in my case). That still buys a lot of Scottish ale though. (Brits have a habit of converting all savings i...
by Chang
Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:07 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Quiet low profile (<77mm) CPU heatsink?
Replies: 13
Views: 6462

You should be able to change the fan on the stock heatsink before it's mounted without much trouble provided you have the right sized fan. For heatsinks of that size, your best bet will probably be some sort of Zalman flower. I'm pretty sure that Thermalright XP120 wouldn't fit with a standard 25mm ...
by Chang
Sun Jul 15, 2007 9:19 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ATI HD 2600 and HD 2400
Replies: 79
Views: 65157

IIRC, the onboard GPU I was using was perfectly fine with 2D for my LCD (1920x1200) and CRT (1600x1200) at the same time. So multimonitoring at high resolutions is very doable. But I do more than just 2D so I went with a passive card. And I'm still confused by why anyone would choose a 7300 GT based...
by Chang
Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:34 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ATI HD 2600 and HD 2400
Replies: 79
Views: 65157

Funny. The onboard video on my mobo can support dual monitors. If I'm not mistaken the DFI 482 can too. Yes it's limited to DVI + VGA (or DVI + TV-Out), but it's still multimonitoring. I haven't looked, but I wouldn't be suprised if there were boards that had dual VGA or dual DVI. I suspect that "ma...
by Chang
Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:08 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ATI HD 2600 and HD 2400
Replies: 79
Views: 65157

I'm not in disagreement with the idea that the GPU is often underutilized in may peoples' day to day usage. If you're staying in 2D and not hitting DX9/10 or any sort of VMR, you'd probably be better off with some sort of onboard graphics. But I'm do disagree with the idea that idle power consumptio...
by Chang
Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:09 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ATI HD 2600 and HD 2400
Replies: 79
Views: 65157

It appears at idle, which is all one need consider for a desktop system, the 7300GT is a better choice than the 2400pro. This doesn't make sense. At idle, you have the least amount of heat generated and have fans running at the slowest speeds. The actual cooling required is negligible. It's hardly ...
by Chang
Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:13 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Fanless VGA Cards list -- a start!
Replies: 156
Views: 436765

Per the ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series handout, the following companies will be releasing passive 2400 Pro AGP cards: Diamond MM (2400PRO256A, 2400PRO512A), GeCube (RX24PG-A2D3), and Sapphire (Radeon HD 2400 PRO). Those are the only passive AGP cards listed on the PDF. For us PCIe users, the following ha...
by Chang
Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:58 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Symptoms from taking Nexium tabs
Replies: 17
Views: 8958

The CNQ issues are with my current A64 3200+ Venice system. I believe it's just in playback that I run into CNQ induced stuttering issues, but I don't think I've tested records to verify. In any case, it's just a matter of right clicking the taskbar icon to flip between power modes. If you want to u...
by Chang
Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:21 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Symptoms from taking Nexium tabs
Replies: 17
Views: 8958

You're right, I should have prefaced it as being for ATSC broadcasts. But I'm fairly sure you've got it even easier in some ways being in DVB-T country. I believe the SDTV carried there is handled the same was as our digital broadcasts with what I'm assuming to be lesser bandwidth from fewer lines o...
by Chang
Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:17 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Symptoms from taking Nexium tabs
Replies: 17
Views: 8958

Like I said, watching and capturing HDTV doesn't really much horsepower. The CPU in my old box was clocked at 1.6 Ghz and it was more than enough. I think I've heard of people using Radeon 9100's to view it. Again, since it's 2D, so long as your video card can display 1920x1080, you're golden. If yo...
by Chang
Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:20 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Symptoms from taking Nexium tabs
Replies: 17
Views: 8958

Ironically, capturing and playing HDTV is less intensive than SDTV. HDTV is broadcast already encoded as a MPEG-2 stream. All that needs to be done is writing the stream to your hard drive. Playback is just decoding the stream, and again, isn't all that intensive. If I remember correctly, I was able...
by Chang
Thu Feb 23, 2006 2:11 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Help find mATX HTPC case
Replies: 27
Views: 13303

I thought using Pricegrabber Canada would return Canadian shops. Ah well. Try this Google search.