Search found 94 matches

by KnightRT
Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:07 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Favorite mid-ATX case under $150? PSU under $100?
Replies: 5
Views: 3585

Re: Favorite mid-ATX case under $150? PSU under $100?

I've gone ahead and ordered the R4. For reasons of expansion, the case design seems preferable to the Solo II. Perhaps a grommet hole can be custom-drilled. I've heard too many conflicting reports about the PCP&C Silencer III series, so I'm falling back on the Seasonic. I think if I were building th...
by KnightRT
Sun Sep 09, 2012 10:24 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Favorite mid-ATX case under $150? PSU under $100?
Replies: 5
Views: 3585

Re: Favorite mid-ATX case under $150? PSU under $100?

Clutter. It makes cable management a pain because the unused power supply leads hang down unless you can find a place to cram them. The bottom of the PSU ends up very close to larger CPU heatsinks. With the first Solo/P150, there was no way to remove the power supply without removing that first. The...
by KnightRT
Sun Sep 09, 2012 6:38 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Favorite mid-ATX case under $150? PSU under $100?
Replies: 5
Views: 3585

Re: Favorite mid-ATX case under $150? PSU under $100?

I was musing about that, but couldn't mentally picture the best way to do it. I also wondered about running the drive on an edge. Thanks though, I'll keep that in mind.
by KnightRT
Sun Sep 09, 2012 2:26 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Favorite mid-ATX case under $150? PSU under $100?
Replies: 5
Views: 3585

Favorite mid-ATX case under $150? PSU under $100?

I'm attempting to build a silent (or very quiet) system with the following parts: Intel 3770 2 x 1TB WD 7200 RPM drives AMD FirePro V4900 Rosewill Capstone-450W 'Gold' PSU The first attempt involved these components: Stock Intel HSF NZXT Source 210 Elite The HSF is next to silent at idle, but audibl...
by KnightRT
Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:01 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: I need a silent large drive (excluding WD)
Replies: 17
Views: 7861

9 of the top 10 highest-rated 3.5" drives on Newegg are from WD. If you're not satisfied with them, you might as well transcribe your data to stone tablets because you won't be satisfied with anything. I've personally had 7 WD10EACS/EADS drives in 24/7 operation, three of them for over six months. N...
by KnightRT
Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:12 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: WD Caviar WD10EADS: 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM?
Replies: 10
Views: 16287

See here:

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/for ... 4002308931

You'd probably get along just fine with WD's Black series.
by KnightRT
Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:12 am
Forum: Notebook Systems
Topic: notebook hard drive
Replies: 2
Views: 4817

Depends on the drive. As of late, probably not, because desktop drives have become far better-behaved. This in contrast to the OEM 80 GB drive in my Dell D620, which has a constant high-pitched idle whine.
by KnightRT
Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:07 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: WD Caviar WD10EADS: 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM?
Replies: 10
Views: 16287

Re: WD Caviar WD10EADS: 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM?

My WD10EADS is slow and loud. Get a WD6400AAKS. I won't argue with speed, but my two WD10EADS's are the quietest drives I've ever owned. My other six WD10EACS's are equally impressive, especially the extent to which they forgive hard-mounting. Soft-mounted, they're all effectively silent. Perhaps y...
by KnightRT
Sat Jan 24, 2009 1:53 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: do some drives have issue with RAID in general?
Replies: 3
Views: 2185

I absolutely recommend the link from Xan. As with a lot of things, the rule with RAID is that if you have to ask, it's not for you. That said, WD drives are just fine in a RAID. The only major difference between the RAID edition and the ordinary version is the Time Limited Error Recovery setting. RA...
by KnightRT
Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:01 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: What's everyone's favorite 1TB drive?
Replies: 37
Views: 18283

Five 1 TB WD10EACs in a a RAID-5 array, all purchased at different times, all running in near silence 24/7 for months without a hitch. FWIW.
by KnightRT
Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:07 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: WD10EACS 00D6B0 at MicroCenter - YMMV
Replies: 16
Views: 21342

Edited. I had some confusion over how I was sent the most recent revision of this drive back in May.
by KnightRT
Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:23 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: WD VelociRaptor: A Triple Crown
Replies: 125
Views: 97249

I can't argue the value side, except to say that it seems like a very niche product. In my case, my Raptor is suspended within an Antec Solo and below the noise floor of my apartment. It's completely inaudible. Justifying a $300 outlay for a 5W power drop in a system that draws 150W would require so...
by KnightRT
Wed Jun 11, 2008 5:40 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: WD VelociRaptor: A Triple Crown
Replies: 125
Views: 97249

No doubt an impressive drive, but I'm having trouble getting worked up about hard disks when I see reviews for SSDs with sustained 120 MB/s transfer rates and essentially zero latency. They're expensive, and they have issues with small random writes, but these problems are rapidly disappearing. I'd ...
by KnightRT
Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:32 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Anybody gone HD-less?
Replies: 55
Views: 31380

Now isn't the best time to move to CF cards or SSDs for general use. The size isn't a problem, and nor is the contiguous bandwidth. The problem is with random writes of small data blocks. Flash drives can be simultaneously a hundred times faster than a hard disk at random reads and twenty times slow...
by KnightRT
Thu May 15, 2008 12:01 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: New build: all figured out, except system drive
Replies: 20
Views: 8300

I sent this message to Ciprico support: I also recently discovered your VST 2008 software package. This is highly interesting, but I wonder: is there any performance difference between VST 2008 and the BC4852 running the native 3.3 drivers? And could I transfer an array from BC4852 to the motherboar...
by KnightRT
Mon May 12, 2008 1:23 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: New build: all figured out, except system drive
Replies: 20
Views: 8300

how will 5400rpm and 7200rpm drives working in tandem (not on the same array, of course, but at the same time) influence noise and vibration (even when suspended)? When suspended, it doesn't matter how fast the drives spin. When mounted... it still doesn't matter, if my GP and HD501LJ drives are an...
by KnightRT
Sun May 11, 2008 8:16 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: New build: all figured out, except system drive
Replies: 20
Views: 8300

Oh, one more thing... The new 5000 series (with the VST software) are able to bridge with the ICH8/9R controllers, the VST also being able to work on its own with those southbridges... Do you think the VST software will open up more speed from the standard southbridge? ... Any data on that? I wasn'...
by KnightRT
Sun May 11, 2008 11:49 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: New build: all figured out, except system drive
Replies: 20
Views: 8300

While I haven't ever used a RAIDCore card, I really don't see where you're getting at. True, Fake RAID was especially coined to fit the kind of RAID controllers embedded on most of today's motherboards. But that term is also used for ANY controller without a dedicated parity engine on-board, and si...
by KnightRT
Fri May 09, 2008 2:08 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: New build: all figured out, except system drive
Replies: 20
Views: 8300

Start with a proper RAID card. Forget the motherboard RAID controller. The only thing I'd use it for is RAID-1 or RAID-0 by itself. If you want to do RAIDCore on the cheap, pick up a BC4852 from EBay. They go for $90-$180. The only salient difference between that card and the $500 BC5252-08 is that ...
by KnightRT
Fri May 09, 2008 1:38 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Something like a Sonata/P18x drive sled for 5.25" bays?
Replies: 2
Views: 2225

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817994026

I just bought a 5-drive version of that. Quality product, I recommend it.
by KnightRT
Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:26 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Vista or XP?
Replies: 63
Views: 26210

A lot of things impact Vista's subjective speed. On my system, a dual-core AMD X2 with 3 GB of RAM and a 7800GT, it's as fast or faster than Windows XP. The video card makes quite a lot of difference, which is a change from XP and every prior OS. The window manager is separate from the underlying OS...
by KnightRT
Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:10 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which Elastic From Ebay ??
Replies: 18
Views: 14003

Some notes: Stretch Magic never breaks or loosens. The original rubber suspension system on Antec's P150 would loosen and break within a year. The replacement cloth band system on the P150 and the Solo loosens, but does not break. It isn't nearly as secure as Stretch Magic or the previous band syste...
by KnightRT
Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:56 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: File Server vs external drive 20 ft (6 meters) away
Replies: 21
Views: 10877

You would do better with Firewire or USB. Either will break 30 MB/sec. You'd have to have a seriously optimized gigabit network to manage that, which wouldn't work anyway based on the comments about sharing bandwidth for both the drives and the ethernet card on the same PCI bus.
by KnightRT
Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:27 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which 2 Buy? Samsung HD501LJ or Seagate 7200.11 500GB
Replies: 37
Views: 20012

I have four of the Samsung 500 GB drives mounted in drive trays in an Antec Solo. At idle, there's a faint broadband air sound. That's all. When I was running a single drive suspended, it was beneath the noise floor of my apartment. I couldn't hear it at all. Performance is plenty enough for file-se...
by KnightRT
Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:37 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: 2TB storage in RAID 5 mode...
Replies: 49
Views: 26515

Don't bother with RAID-5 if you aren't going to buy a proper RAID card. The write speeds are garbage, and it has nothing to do with CPU power. If you're fine with 4 MB/sec, by all means. Otherwise, read here: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/24609792/m/709008479831 RAID-5 via Windo...
by KnightRT
Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:06 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Building a NAS
Replies: 9
Views: 5427

I'd be more reluctant to do RAID-5 than having WHS do the equivalent of mirroring. The great advantage of not splitting files is that data can be recovered directly from a drive can pulled from a WHS server in the event of a problem. I personally lack the experience with RAID 5 hardware and software...
by KnightRT
Sat Aug 18, 2007 2:53 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Building a NAS
Replies: 9
Views: 5427

I'm doing the same thing, so I'll just give you the spec I came up with. Antec Solo ($50-$80) There are better 'sever' cases, but none with disk suspension. It has room to suspend 3 disks in the lower bays, and 2-3 more in the upper with some simple modifications. BIOSTAR TForce TF7025-M2 ($70) Chea...
by KnightRT
Wed May 16, 2007 9:27 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Is it possible to have a quiet raptor?
Replies: 14
Views: 7059

My experiences differ a bit. I've been a running a second-gen Raptor 74 GB suspended in an Antec P150. I can't hear it at all, and it's almost completely inaudible even with the case open. Can't speak to the 36 GB, nor the 150 GB.
by KnightRT
Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:11 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Unbearable high frequency noise from hard drives
Replies: 52
Views: 22177

If I disconnect the Hard drives there is no high frequency(cannot be heard)....I beleive it is caused either by the rotating bearing on the plates or the heads that comes in contact with the plates... Doubt it. If the heads were dragging on the plates, the sound would be lower, broadband, louder, a...
by KnightRT
Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:56 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: how to quiet a Geforce 4 TI 4200
Replies: 15
Views: 10049

A second to NSParadox. I unplugged the fan on my Ti 4400 years ago. No trouble in marathon Halo sessions, and it still runs fine.

DI