7600GS would be preferred over 6600GT I think, but it's listed as PCIE only. For AGP, the 6800 is within reach of the price of the 6600GT and should run cooler. The stock clock speed is 325Mhz versus the 500Mhz of the 6600GT, the 6800 uses its increased pixel and vertex pipelines as well as double t...

If you're going DVI to flat panel, I would guess (really, I'm guessing, please someone refute or confirm) you're going to be more reliant on a good DVI implementation than differences in quality output from the chip itself. I use a few-years-old LCD screen, so color and black levels aren't accurate ...

I would not just unplug the fan. I almost did that to a geforce3 ti200 last week before I noted that the aluminum wafer (I'll not call it a heatsink) and sparse fins would probably allow the chip to get too hot. I'm not familiar with differences between the Zalman northbridge coolers, but Coolermast...

Details seem hard to come by still, but maybe AM2 will be the platform that their Pacifica virtualization finally rolls out on. I'm keen to install 2G of RAM and run linux and Windows side by side.

Yes, that's a Vantec Stealth. :) They're what I have available at the moment. It's the louder of the two fans, the other being the one in the Neo HE 430. Ultimately I'd like to replace the Vantec with something quieter (I have a 120mm Panaflo, but the depth of it looks problematic for those clips. M...

My Samsung 250G SATA2 is hard-mounted in the cage of an SLK3700AMB using the grommets. It's got the same cyclical drone / hum as the 2 x 80G drives it replaces, albeit to a far lesser degree. The only moving parts in the system are the Samsung, the PSU fan, and a 120mm fan at ~1400rpm, so I don't th...

I'm using the A8N SLI Premium and like it just fine. It even works without any problems with my Neo HE 430.

The Thermalright motherboard compatibility page for the XP-120 says it will work with this board: http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main ... 120_k8.htm

Since it sounds like modifying the existing internals is less than desirable, how about modifying the environment? I don't have any experience with these, but maybe you could isolate your cases better from what they're resting on: http://acoustiproducts.com/en/acoustifeet.asp An easy test might be t...

I cut off a portion of the bottom of the box so the top would sit flush with the fan on the Ninja. It's not in its final state yet, I need to secure it better after I cut out the rear fan grill. It doesn't line up perfectly with the exhaust on the case, but given that it had been running unducted pr...

Here's a Scythe Ninja duct made using only what was included! ;) I kept pondering what I had lying around that would be the best fit for the least amount of work, and finally settled on this. http://www.thatsmystapler.org/images/ninjathumb2.jpg http://www.thatsmystapler.org/images/ninjathumb3.jpg Th...

I've had no problems with my recently setup A8N SLI Premium. I find it odd that though I'm logged in, I'm unable to respond to the survey at the top of the thread. Am I just not seeing a button / link somewhere?

Are you saying that video acceleration is not supported under Linux for the newer nVidia AGP/PCIe cards, or are you just suggesting the FX5200 because it is AGP and still available? I think I was confused about xvmc versus video overlay. Here's a page that explains nVidia video acceleration support...

The arguments above hold a little less relevance given that a requirement here is cross-platform support (linux / Windows). The FX5200 is supported well by the nVidia binary drivers (no, they're not open source) and is the latest AGP model afaik to support XVMC, the internal name for their MPEG2 dec...

Neo 430 HE, purchased about 3 weeks ago from Fry's Atlanta store. No seals or stickers broken. SN begins with 0510. In use with Asus A8N SLI Premium rev 1.02, XFX Geforce 6800 GS, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, Samsung 250G SATA2, 2 optical drives. In testing the initial build, I was able to power up: mot...

I'm using an nvidia fx5200 (fanless, an XFX I believe) for mythtv under debian sarge, no problems to report. They'll typically run you USD $35 - $40 from newegg.com or the like.

More good hardware options, see the AMD Geode thread.

Directron has a Geode NX 1750 MB / CPU combo

http://www.directron.com/directron/m7vig4comb29.html

Ironically, they picture it with a big heatsink and fan.

Any more thoughts/suggestions? Particulary on the software side, now that I have a few hardware avenues to explore... I found the soekris stuff through the m0n0wall site. It's a pretty neat looking FreeBSD based firewall, so if you like BSD you could probably add the functionality you want. My pers...

It looks like you can do everything you listed except ADSL modem and gigabit ethernet with the Linksys WRT54GS and friends (the ones that are linux based) and some hardware hacking: http://wiki.openwrt.org/UsbStorageHowto http://wiki.openwrt.org/PrinterSharingHowto Or you could go the full DIY route...

Wow. They didn't use the drive suspension, no big surprise - but the inside of their case is a real mess compared with the SPCR review shots. There's no out-of-the-way cable routing, and they even used rounded IDE cable that appears to exacerbate the problem they mention with DFI's edge-mounted IDE ...

I'm using a Hauppauge, primarily for its linux compatibility. The PVR-350 is great if you want picture-perfect TV-out with MPEG2 decoding in hardware. The other Hauppauge PVR cards offer various combinations of tuners, but afaik they all have hardware MPEG2 encoding - very nice for offloading the CP...

You seem to be missing the massive storage wanted by many an HTPC setup. I only see a single 80G drive, unless I skipped something. You also don't mention a tuner card, so maybe you only intend to watch / rip DVDs, not actually record TV. If you want to keep full quality DVDs on your drive for on-de...

The geforce 6800 AGP is available for around $160 (may need to mail in a rebate form). I believe it offers lower heat output than the 6600GT, and the higher memory bandwidth might be more suited to the resolutions you work in, especially if you use AA / AF.

Is the BenQ drive quiet? That's the whole point here, remember.

I'm particularly interested in whether any of these drives will run quietly under linux. Plextor hasn't offered any indication that they will make their utilities available for linux, and afaik they're required to quiet their drives.

http://users.erols.com/chare/elec.htm

I just ran across this and thought it worth sharing.

I plan on trying the 3-in-1 oil thing. The one I got also has terrible chatter when first started up, after about 6 months of use. A favorable SPCR review means a lot to a product like this, but the early adopters end up being the first wave of long-term testers. I hope potential buyers take note of...

I went ahead and ordered one from jab-tech. I'm hoping to point a bracket mounted fan at it rather than attaching one directly - I'm a little surprised it hasn't been mentioned here given the concerns about weight and torque on the CPU socket. Also, I'm curious what would be required to use this fan...

http://thermaltake.com/xaserCase/tsunam ... mimenu.htm

Layout and features are very similar to the Antec SLK3700AMB, but it's about half the weight. I'd love to see a review of this case.

Newegg has them - http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductde ... 140&depa=1

With regard to the weight of the sink / fan combo and possible stress on the motherboard and mounting hardware: Is the recommended fan included in the listed product weight? Would a Zalman fan bracket allow mounting a fan off the HS and still get adequate airflow? It would be nice to see a bolt-thro...

I just replaced a Thermaltake G4-VGA with the NV Silencer 1. Sorry, I don't have pictures, temp measurements, or any of that. I can tell you what you already know - next to the G4-VGA, the Silencer is, well, silent. It's in an Antec SLK3700AMB along with a 120mm exhaust on a Zalman fanmate and a CNP...