First thing you have to understand is why DFI would recommend a 480W power supply. A lot of power supplies out there that are rated "450 watt" put out much less as they heat up, the cheapo power supplies can't handle high heat/high current loads. Your Seasonic can handle both easily and you are not ...

I would cut the case and throw a 92mm fan in. Did that with my son's computer and it works well.

Good read,
My Seagate (Zalman heat pipe cooled) runs at 41C max and generally 39C with the Samsung running 1-2C cooler. Both drives have a slight breeze coming off Panaflo L 80mm fans at 5V about 3 inches away. No concerns for me, thanks for the posts.

I like the user adjustable fan, it makes sense! I would get the 500W just for that reason, it should run cool enough for the fan not to turn on (I would set it for 40C)
500W should not be taboo, if it bothers you just say it is an extra buffer for upgrades later down the road.

I am running a Zalman 400W and most likely less than 200 watts peak. The reason for this is projecting upgrades in the future. Imagine how much power an Athlon 4000+ dual core will pull over a 3000+? Jump my 2 hard drives to 4 or 5, upgrade the video card to ????? and throw a dual tv tuner/HDTV card...

I have my XP90 equipped with a Panaflo L1BX fan blowing up. The fan runs at around 7V on a controller and there is a reason I have it blowing up in a desktop microATX. I put a 120mm fan vent above the Heat sink/fan combo so the air blowing up is blowing out of the case. It works well and keeps my 30...

I always lapped with a figure 8 motion, no concave or convex surfaces. Use a piece of glass and wet sand the sink works well, the glass ensures the sandpaper is flat. Good luck!

I have a Seagate 7200.8 80GB SATA drive and Samsung Spinpoint 160GB drive. The Seagate sits in a Zalman heat pipe cooler with rubber plugs to isolate the drive. The Samsung is bolted into a 3.5" bay. Here is what I have noticed running the two drives. Seagate--it is slightly faster, runs 1C hotter a...

The best part of the review was to mention spr! The good point was that he noticed passively cooled video cards pump out heat, add it to the case so the other fans speed up to cool the computer down. Maybe someone should of told him about Artic Coolers or HIS/Sapphire Toxic Edition series of cards. ...

It is very easy to modify the Vantec Tornado...simple 5 step process. 1) Don't undervolt it...overvolt it! Run it at 120-240VAC and after it "adjusts" to the new voltage...it will be silent. 2) Cut out motor, struts and fan blades 3) Mount on top of heatsink 4) Mount Zalmann 92mm on top of the Torna...

I ran two of them for intake fans on my computer for the last three years, the L series is very quiet for the amount of flow they produce. Connected to the fan headers of my Antec TruPower PSU, very quiet. My problem was longevity. My computer sits on the floor in a very dusty N TX and my Samoyed fu...

I am not new, just have not logged in and forgot my password! My email address has changed so I decided to start over. I do what you would call "stealth" upgrades. A gradual process that evolves over a period of three years or so. My case is 2001, half the memory is 2001, PSU is 2003, mobo is 2003, ...