what's interesting is how these high density 5400rpm 2.5" drives compare in performance and noise with 5400rpm 3.5" drives - performance is likely to be the same, noise should be similar (extrapolating down a bit from the WD6400AAKS to the GP WD6400AACS), but vibration should be better at an increas...

wow, that website redefines saying nothing with many words

just had a look - these guys would be one option:

http://stores.ebay.com.au/MITXPC_Power- ... W0QQfsubZ4

no worries - I just email the store in Box Hill (closest to me), if they have an item in stock they'll issue an invoice and hold it until a time (usually 1-2 days) I specify. Bit archaic, but seems to work fine. No info on the picoPSU I'm afraid, one of those things I'd like to do but can't in any w...

MSY used to stock them - that's where I got mine from in Melbourne. They still have a listing for them ($103) and I believe they have a couple of stores in Sydney. impressive consumption bigclaw - my rig is pretty similar but draws ~10W more. My guess is the non-80+ PSU - a picoPSU would be an obvio...

that's shonky, sounds like they're palming off old stock for RMAs and hoping people won't notice. WD really does have some issues with honestly - first the whole "GP spins between 5400 and 7200rpm crap", then sneaky model changes with out model no. changes and now this. It would certainly make me re...

ah okay, bit more complicated than I've experienced in the UK and NZ - there it was a simple case of plugging the output of the STB into the input of the TV card (SD only though).

fair enough, there aren't enough decent films/ shows on the box here in Oz to bother, so I pretty much the same route. The 2 choices with TV tuner cards are broadly software based and hardware based. SOftware based cards (usually the cheaper ones) draw less power but rely on the CPU for encoding/ de...

I sent one of my AAKS-00B3A drives to WD because I had bad clusters on it. Those idiots sent me the dual platter version : AAKS-00VYA0. Now I am stuck with a slower and noisier drive. Is there anything I can do ? Can I ask them to send me the same drive version I sent them originally ? I'd be prett...

sounds like you have a good HTPC there with an enviably low power draw, so I shouldn't feel too bad :) As for the 2x1GB vs. 1x2GB debate, don't forget that 2 matched sticks will be faster as they'll be working in dual channel mode, something you won't get with 1 stick. Given that you're working with...

neat, it's not often I'm right are the GPU temps reasonable?

on an open bench, yes, I think a notebook drive would be the way to go for ultimate silence. I was working on the basis that it would be inside a case, where I think there would be little noticeable difference.

ah, that's interesting, makes a lot more sense too. Plenty of different options - I'd personally consider running both of those 80mm fans as exhausts, using the PCI slot covers and right side (looking at front of case) vents as intakes. If you block off the left side vents, that should draw air over...

it would be really useful to see where the intakes are on the top and sides, as the airflow pattern doesn't make a huge amount of sense at the moment. Nice job on the HDD mounting, but I wouldn't bother with a fan to cool it, 2.5" HDDs run exceptionally cool. I'd be moderately worried about keeping ...

that question also depends on how noisy the rest of your computer is - in absolute terms 2.5" drives are generally quieter than 3.5" drives, but I'd be surprised if you can hear a suspended 3.5" WD GP drive (I can't hear my WD6400AACS). So you may end up paying a premium and having lower performance...

that's an odd looking case :? very tall, but with stacks of spare space around the front half. Are there any other intakes other than at the back? Did you cut out the vent for the CPU HS yourself? If you want more airflow over the motherboard it would be a good idea to block off that vent above the ...

30W really isn't bad for a full mATX build w/ 2GB RAM! Is the CPU permanently underclocked to 1GHz? If it is, then you can always use CrystalCPUID to dynamically scale clock speed and volts on demand, that way you get the best of both worlds. Can you undervolt any lower? Most recent AMD chips are pe...

but Aris, they have succeeded in forcing competition in the CPU market! And they still are and in both directions - AMD's aggressive price cuts have forced Intel to cut prices (and lose considerable margin), whereas Intel's technical superiority has forced AMD to compete on price. I'm sure you remem...

you're arguing cross purposes Aris - on one hand you're saying AMD was the market leader and so, based on the PERCEPTION you keep banging on about ("The vast majority ask the sales clerk "whats faster, intel or amd?" and the store clerk says "well intels new i7 is currently the fastest". Then the cu...

mats, that's still a little high for me - my whole PC currently idles at around 40W :) Once there are some user reviews on here with undervolting data I'll start thinking about it - I'm pretty conservative (took me 4yrs to upgrade from an old Xp machine) and I have to save up for a potential move fr...

:D Honestly, trying to get a thread back on topic! I am - once some more, lower power versions come out I'd be interested in dropping one into my 740G (AM2+) mobo. If it fits within the same thermal envelope as my current 5000+, doesn't cost a bunch and has better performance, then it'd be a no brai...

Its not my fault it took people this much explination for them to figure it out. Well that explains everything. ha ha ha ha, hoo hoo hoo hoo. Awesome :) I'd really like to hear someone explain to me how a company can go from being the leader in their industry to falling a year behind their primary ...

fartingbob - I'm afraid every forum in the world seems to have member who takes a contrary view to reality and will defend it to eternity, even when no one else agrees with him. Aris is ours

sure AMD may have had the performance crown a few years ago, but that doesn't change the FACT that AMD is a considerably smaller company with fewer resources than Intel, does it? Surely even someone as bullheaded as you can accept that? One reason AMD did well with the Athlon64 was precisely because...

Aris - that's like complaining about how crappy the per capita income in Colombia is compared with the US. You're comparing a relatively small company with the industry giant - I read somewhere that Intel's R+D spending is greater than AMD's entire earnings. Even if that figure is slightly wonky, th...

after the original SPCR review I was dead keen on getting a 4670, or if money was really tight, a 4650, but given the uncertainty of the idle draw I think I'll skip. The low low idle draw was the main reason for wanting a 4670 as the 9600GT is a similar price here and around 15% better in games. If ...

rubber_boat - that link didn't return an item and I don't know enough German to understand why :?: As for getting a SktA system down to 50W idle - it might be possible, but you'd have to castrate the chip by underclocking it so badly that it wouldn't be capable of doing much at all. My old sktA syst...

long time since I did this and I no longer have the chip or the pictures, but my ancient post here has some good info. Basically there's a pit where one of the contacts is cut (by a laser I think) that locks the multiplier in any direction. So to unlock the chip, you need to get a fine scalpel or sc...

I'm very impressed with my Pioneer DVR-216 drive - very quiet and smooth sound, no louder (possibly even quieter) than a YL Ds12SL fan at full speed. In fact, it's quite hard to distinguish between them - I sometimes think that Speedfan has closed and ramped my DS12-SL up to full speed, until I real...

I wonder with the advent of ever cheaper SSDs if WD correctly called the large storage market with the GP/green line and these large AND fast drives are out of touch? Looks like you don't get much more, other than heat and noise, over 5400rpm drives.

Hmm, 60GB SSD and 1TB GP drive would be schweet

ignoring the issue of cost, this wouldn't be a bad PSU for anybody - efficiency at the AC draw most peoples PCs work at (70-110W I'd guess) is still good from ~75-82%. Plus you essentially have a silent PSU up to 400W DC, which is about as high as even a pretty hardcore gamer PC gets. So it might be...