Still in doubt about HD502HI or WD Caviar SE16 640GB WD6400AAKS, though. the WD640 is WAY louder, and it does not have any speed advantage except for random access. That surprises me as I consider the WK6400AAKS a reasonably quiet drive so the HD502HI must be beyond my expectations when it comes to...

However, I would like to compare the speed numbers to my Hitachi 5K160 in order to relate to something well known. If the Samsung F2 is much faster than my current 5K160, the F2 is the obvious choise for me :wink: No contest. The Samsung kills it for every performance spec. Maybe even noise. edit -...

I do consider buying this Samsung disk, but I lean towards the WD Caviar SE16 640GB WD6400AAKS for speed. However, I would like to compare the speed numbers to my Hitachi 5K160 in order to relate to something well known. If the Samsung F2 is much faster than my current 5K160, the F2 is the obvious c...

Amazed no one tried to listen to the sound file before or complained -- the article has been read nearly 5000 times. Does anyone listen to these? I dont use them - tried them a long time ago, but wasnt confident with the result. Speakers sounds different and tone adjustment and volume plays a facto...

It's nice to play with the thought of a new cooler, though I'd suggest you simply try the current AC with the upcoming CPU and see whats happening. You can always swap cooler later

dvdmonster wrote:I would like to see how the Athlon II X2 250 preforms against the 5050e/4850e/BE2400. This is pretty easy drop in replacement, and very interesting for all those with low power 780G systems.

I'm also very interested in this

@MikeC: As far as I remember, I saw in a SPCR review or two, something like a AM3-CPU in a AM2+ board, will use more juice, than in a similar AM2(+) CPU in the same board. I havent been able to find it again, so is my memory pleying tricks on me, or is there something about it? Yes there is. It hap...

Phenom II X4 905e 0.825V Phenom II X3 705e 0.80V Thanks for the tip, those are definately interesting. And the 705e is even cheaper than the X3 720 :o Probably a bit slower too, but still much more power than my current 4850e... Will be interesting to see reviews when they appear - so far I've only...

I consider one of these 3 Phenom II CPU's: 810 X4 4 MB 720 X3 6 MB 940 X4 6 MB Which of these will give me the lowest wattage @ idle on my Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H rev. 1 board? I'll use Q'n'Q. Also, will these 3 CPU's give a higher idle wattage, than my 4850e? From time to time, I see comments about ...

Aside from 4850, I guess your motherboard choice need to be responsible for higher idle power draw as well. Budget motherboard tends to draw less power than premium motherborad I believe you're right - 120 watt minus the 50 watt for the HD4850 is 70, which still is quite high. I get more and more h...

Thanks :-) I just re-read the SPCR review, and I forgot to check about idle power, when we choosed this card. Fortunately, his happy, he got the power, and stayed within his budget. Regarding idle temp - it's in a Antec Ninehundredtwo, with all stock fans at low, so there's plenty airflow. Further, ...

My nephew's machine is drawing 115 watt at idle. That seems too high, I was expecting something in the 60-70 watt range. The main components are: AMD 810 Phenom II X4 XFX HD 4850 512 DDR3 Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UDP Corsair VX550W OCZ DDR3 4 GB There's only one HDD and one optical drive, and of course a...

With the Triton 75, you probably need to brace the heatpipes midway between the fins and base against a padded or rounded edge so that the heatpipes will not bend right where they meet the base. If they do, once you have the fins at right angle to the base, the pipes might hang too low and interfer...

Did you simply bend the heatpipes, or did you warm them up first to make them softer" I did not warm them up. Just bent with both sides well supported in my hands, and once I could get access to it, the "crook" of the bent portion supported against the padded arm of an office chair. I did it very s...

I've a Asus Triton 75, and I think I'm going to unbend it... I was planning on swapping it out for Ninja for better airflow to the rear, but seems more fun and interesting to re-use the Triton as un-bended...

Did you simply bend the heatpipes, or did you warm them up first to make them softer"

I recently built a system with AMD X2 4850e and 780G/SB700 chipset. Normal Vcore is ~1.25V. In BIOS I can get it down to 1.00 with no apparent problems. Dropping it further to 0.975 and the system fails to POST. The above is excatly why I dont bother undervolting... C'n'Q gives me 1,00 volt automat...

I've bought a USB based DVB-T digital TV tuner, which supports the upcoming MPEG4 (at least around here :wink: ) On my stationary AMD PC (specs in sig) running XP SP3, the AMD cool 'n' quiet wont lower the CPU freq./volt, when I exit the included ArcSoft TotalMedia 3,5 software. I'm using the suppli...

Hi all, everything is PCI-E. 1. I was kind of hoping for some sort of reference (I did a fairly long internet search but found nothing) - a table compering different passive GPUs and how hot they get (really how come nobody made such a thing with so many roundups on the net). I'd suggest ATI HD3450...

Wow, nice to see something different from the clean exterior design route! And it's especially good to see something else than the Antec internal design, that works for quietness. I'm not that impressed with the open front style from Antec... The Raven under a desk have more potential - I think. I b...

...but I suspect getting a cooler more suited to your application will be the ultimate solution here (read: tower cooler). Your CPU is far from being a furnace, and you don't have a hot vid card in the mix, so you shouldn't need 4 fans in that system... I think this nails it - heck, even with a Tem...

Overall, I think the Nexus has other and bigger problems, than the buttom placed fan... However, I'm not considering a Breeze, but a Temjin TJ06 ( SPCR review here ) in disguise as a Enermax CS 718. - Graphics card will have a harder time getting fresh air -> need the fan spinning faster -> more noi...

LodeHacker wrote:To Nexus' defence I have a very hard time figuring out whether my Nexus fans make noise at all @ 5.5V

That's where my Nexus is (@ 5-6 volt), seems to confirm my Nexus is no longer good...

I forgot to mention, that I'm using the onboard CPU fan controller for controlling both the CPU and exhaust fan, and when the CPU is under heavy load, both these fans spins at around 1100 RPM, and they're still having a hard time keeping the CPU cold. The Nexus intake fan is still around 500 rpm in ...

I'm somewhat pleased with my current system, but I find that too much noise escape through the front of my P180. Will it help swapping for a case with buttom intake? I guess a lot depends on the details, so here they are: AMD 4850e/Asus Triton 75/S-Flex/C'n'Q spinning @500 rpm most of the time Gigab...

thejamppa, that's a nice review: Short, exact and covers almost all I like to know. And it's great to have good alternatives to S1/2 and Thermalright.

Just stumbled over this thread... Very nice work, and I especially like the creativity and originality. And to top it of, you actually did it

Thanks for mentioning the HIS could be quiter. Though, the goal is not a SPCR quiet system, but I try to guide him to quiet stuff, or at least stuff, which can be made reasonably quiet without too much hazzle. Me nephew cares a lot about light, case with window on the side panel etc. etc. I think I ...

Great input, thanks a lot, I'll check those cards out

I'm helping my nephew with building a machine. He wants to play Counter Strike Source, Need For Speed Undercover and Call of duty. Most likely some others, but definately not GTA4. Screen: Most likely Samsung T220 (22"/1680x1050). He also wants to watch DVD movies (not Bluray). First: Is a GTS 250 /...

Hi there I'm looking for a black DVD / CD burner. The main priority is reliability, secondary it should be reasonably quiet when watching DVD movies. Apparently both quietness and realiability can be achieved if using slower speeds. So I guess a drive, which can be set to lower speeds through firmwa...