Where's some/any information on speed control, using the 4th conductor, of the 4-pin fans out there? With the ability to not use low-frequency PWM internally, and a tach-friendly 12v always on power, integrated start circuit, Arctic Cooling's (OK, not being dual ball helps) looks like a good 120mm f...

I've had 0.7mm and 1.5mm in use for some time (0.7mm over a year), and have had no problems. If you have none, get only 1.5mm.

I first went with elastic cord, and it dried out way too quickly. Within 3 months it remembered its shape.

Didn't know Arecas came with another HS. Interesting. 2GB VM: 2GB VM is the limit in 32-bit regardless of how much RAM you have. It's a WIndows/IA32 limit. Technically, it can be gotten around with PAE and /3GB, but both cases need the program to be written for it. If you've got 128MB RAM, you're st...

2GB : 2GB is the VM limit per app. If you don't multitask much, or leave your apps running, then yes, it effectively becomes a real physical limit as far as how much you use. I don't see how anyone manages that way, but then again, I have FF up all the time, with 100-200 tabs, and that alone will u...

Anyone know of an ETA on these? I'm up for an upgrade, and this seals my mobo choice... if I can actually get one within a month or so. Lensman: mice, printers, scanners, sound cards, hard drives, flash drives, serial and parallel and ps/2 and IDE adapters... I think things like TV tuners on USB are...

Not bad at all.

BTW, here's the best Chin could do:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article313-page5.html

Better, yes, but with fewer HDDs, and an AMD board w/ IGP, and no extra HDD controller.

Is there some advantage to getting the Nexus? They also sell a Thermaltake A2329 Silent Cat. The Nexus is for people who either don't know about fan controllers, or who don't want to know. Avoid the "Silent" Cat at all costs! :D IMO, even Nexus fans need to be undervolted at least to 50%. My experi...

All DC fans can click. PWM control in many fans will cause more a growling or grinding noise.

Some folks here have run the Ninja passively with overclocked X2 CPUs (I haven't seen any C2Ds, but they should be just as doable). Also note that it was done to a Prescott 3.x in the big P180 review. Given such a little price difference, I'd go for it. I haven't used a Ninja, and am a bit of a TR f...

I don't know if you'll get quite down to that, but the TDP for all of them is 62W, and most of AMD's newer parts don't make it to their rated TDP at stock speeds and voltages. With underclocking and undervolting, I don't know that 14W is reasonable (if you run at 0.9v or something, then OK, sure), b...

According to Gigabyte's web site, the board does 1.5-1.85v

In that case I'd go for the S754+NF3. Overclocking and overvolting is supported by every board out there, but undervolting typically is either not there, or has very high limits. You can get CPUs for socket A. The current Semprons are becoming scarce, but are still around. But, I have no idea what o...

Another option tothink about is a decent K7 cooler anda new Sempron. I'm not sure if your board supports them at all, but if they do, you've got some easy underclocking (100MHz FSB = -40% from stock), possibly allowing fanless operation. It will be cheaper ($60-90 USD?), but less of a sure solution ...

eWiz is the only store I'd normally use and can think of of the top of my head that ships to Canuckistan. I have not 100% verified that the cooler works, either. So take this as a template (except that the PSU is fabulous; I highly recommend Enhance if you're going more frugal than Seasonic). * GIGA...

I came across a piece of cabling for the Supermicro 5x3 hotswap cage ( Newegg link ), and thought about this thread. A couple months ago, I didn't get the time to do any rigorous testing with it, so no great temperature tables or anything. But, here's my impression: 1. It's built very well. While no...

Intel has dropped PATA support. It is provided by a separate controller chip, and Asus, at least, uses one with poor Linux support. IIRC, most use the same chip, from JMicron. I wonder: do newer BIOSes allowing USB optical drives to boot get around the problem? Will WIndows XP install successfully f...

With current prices, it really looks too close to call on power (as seen by the replies so far, too). What I would add is this: if you don't need a video card, go AMD/nVidia. The 6100, 6150, and Quadro mATX boards should do wonderfully, and offer good value for a non-gaming desktop. I built a client...

I won't have a nearby fan at all if I can help it, but since your pic clearly shows some RAM heatsinks, it looks like a good way to go (I couldn't recall the model name at the time, but the VM-101 is the one I meant in the OP, at the end).

The stock heatsink is plenty heavy, but is one of the ducted ones. I think it relies on the fan too much, on top of having dubious TIM. So, it looks like options are basically limitless. Cool

I have a 9600XT, and due to the power cable in my FX being the bane of many ducts and tinkering, I've thought of trying it again, especially since I think its trouble is its fan. But...what's a good cooler that I can get where I can either use my own 80mm fan, or run passive, other Zalman's ZM80 ser...

Black Sabbath - Behind the Wall of Sleep

I did notice the audio difference going from Audigy 2 to the extrememusic (not not all X-fi cards have the x-fi chip), but that's because I have above average headphones and way above average hifi-system. No, it's because the SB 128 through Audigy 2 have had a crappy hardware resampler. Many cheape...

It won't be an easy ride for them, but they've proven capable in the past, and will be again. While often picked at for their platform plans, I think it's fascinating. If AMD can pull of a PC SoC (not embedded with low performance) before Intel, they will be ahead of the game even if at lower perfor...

No, the CPU's front-side bus (FSB) runs at 1066MHz. The RAM runs at 666 2/3MHz. 800MHz RAM could help with latencies, but the difference won't be much. Not worth it unless you live on benchmarks, really (note that the situation is a little different on the AMD side, if not by much). If you must make...

With Vista drivers not an issue (FYI, Intel's are great, nVidia's need work, ATi's stuff I haven't tried), either Intel or nVidia's current IGPs will do wonderfully. Even in desktop use, they're not discernible from discrete graphics (I haven't tried much in the way of movie playback or anything, bu...

You will also just find them as 0.1" (2.54mm) polarized headers (3-pin, obviously).

Not LiteOn. Ever. I got mine for CD ripping, but leave it turned off most of the time . All of theirs are generally very loud, even when forced to spin slowly, and should be avoided at all costs if you want one that's quiet.

Idea: Rear-inside: vent holes, possibly with mesh grill if they are easy to see from elsewhere in the room. Possibly a large hole with a slow 120mm fan. Bottom: vent holes, small ones, along the bottom sides. The reserator idea is good, too, but of course could really get in the way of working on th...

You've got to start somewhere and somehow. The trash alone from building a PC, much less keeping it running or considering the materials, is sometimes appalling (I want everything in plain cardboard boxes--don't even bleach them! And make the anti-static bags reusable, Seagate! :evil:). Somehow we'v...

Can you cut or drill it? What I'm thinking here is a rectangular hold on the bottom-front of that enclosed space, and any kind of hole at the top-rear, possibly ducted out of the case.