I'm guessing most of the $40 went towards the Zalman 7000B?

The primary HDD at an angle makes me nervous. Make sure you back up important data often.

BrianE - thanks! That's the name I had trouble recalling. I merely recall the tag line "Kneads like (something - putty?) / Hardens like steel". geekbanter : I have a Sonata too (guess I'm a sucker for Antec marketing) that's now mainly used as a semi-online file server. I use Wake On LAN to power it...

I got tired of opening the case to press the power switch, and my motherboard doesn't allow me to power up the machine using either the power key or a key combo (it's any key or nothing). So I did this: http://dizzy.smugmug.com/photos/58368343-L.jpg Basically that's the original reset button transpl...

SilentPower wrote:It's weird because it started making the noise when I connected this PSU, but I know a PSU cannot possibly make a hard drive start making noises.

Could it be that the previous PSU was loud enough to mask that sound?

What I found is that in order to have enough current on the 12V supplies, I had to go up to 500W+ supplies. It's probably true that my rig never needs more than 300W, but the fact still remains that I can't exceed the current requirements of any of the rails. I can't just add up the watts, in other...

Thanks for your help guys. This is just looking into the future, but what if I decided to upgrade to a 64-bit 4000+ processor later on, or overclock my current AthlonXP 2500+ to 3200+, or overclock my Geforce 6600GT, would the S12-330 take it? Or would I be better off with a 380 or 430? I was runni...

Like BigA suggested, check your BIOS settings. Download and run utilities like Everest / Sisoft SANDRA. They have benchmarking and diagnostic tools. There's also an app. called A64Tweaker that should show you all you never wanted to know about DRAM settings. DRAM timings (other than speed) should no...

I'm probably going to get flamed for saying this, but you've gone from a 3GHz system to a 2.4Ghz system; so why wouldn't it be slower? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not in the mood for flaming today. Suffice to say that most people by now know that MHz = Speed only if you're comparing everything...

Plug your 20 pin connector into the 24 pin socket, leaving the 4 holes beside the red wire and yellow wire empty. Crude ASCII graphics: __ XXoooooooooo XXoooooooooo Thats the view of the socket on the motherboard. The "_" characters signify the position of the tab / catch on the socket housing. The ...

Have you tried enabling AAM? It seems like you find the seek noise objectionable, and AAM reduces seek noise. It does slow down the seeks slightly. I've never bothered to benchmark, but from casual observation I've not found it to be a problem. On my Maxtors (120GB and 160GB), enabling AAM makes a b...

But I have started playing multiplayer COD2 and when I have the settings at 1280x1024 with AA on the computer will suddenly shut down when the action starts getting intense. It could be any number of reasons: Game bug (unlikely, since it is a very popular game with many other players) Driver bug (c...

Where do you get the EAR ones? I've looked at several online retailers, to no avail. The Silicon Acoustic link above, McMaster-Carr (search the forum posts for the right part number) or occasionally eBay. GHz : I have both EAR-344 and EAR-345. Can't remember which is for what fan, but the one for 8...

Never tried the Verax sticks, but the Silicon Acoustics one look exactly like the EAR isolators. The EAR isolators break as well. I've broken my share of them. They're the ones that require me to file the flange thinner, or they wouldn't fit properly. They're also harder to install. With the "rubber...

After breaking a number of these (Sunbeam, unknown brand that I found in Akihabara, and the EAR ones from McMaster-Carr), I just drill the holes on the fan slightly larger, and if needed I file the flange thinner (depends on the isolator used). I usually file the mounting hole on the case a little a...

Which fan is this? I know there's a new fan connector where the 4th pin is for PWM speed control, but I haven't paid much attention to it. I know it's been mentioned before several times in the forums here.

You can replace the fan or just get a fanmate for it to adjust the speed.

You can line the case with vibration dampening material such as polymeric mastic (available from McMaster Carr - do a search in the forums if you'd like to know more about it) or roofing tape, but it'll only get you so far. From your description, I doubt if it will solve your problem. You may want t...

Your best bet will be to search the web for some good articles on how to build your system. I learnt mostly through trial and error. I haven't come across any useful case manuals. Some useful things to know: 1. Screws in a PC case come in 2 different threads - 6/32 and M3. If you use the wrong one a...

Have you guys seen this keyboard: Optimus Seen it mentioned a number of times before, think it'll still be a while before it is released. Techno_Pride, why did you post that Dark Shine keyboard here if no one can get it :cry: . Although that right shift key is very unnerving -- had one on my Sony l...

Yes, twist them back and forth until they break. Most of the time they break cleanly, but if it doesn't just clean up with a file - as long as the components are not already in the case.

You probably should post on classifieds, but I'm replying because I have no idea what you mean. Perhaps mentioning what model your case is will help?

What's wrong with a regular blank PCI cover?

hravn wrote:Why isn't there a Phantom with detachable cables?

Erm, how about:

I've got a nice p180 with an a64 3000+ and even with the cool 'n quiet turned on that damn stock CPU fan is running at 3100 rpm idle.. though the CPU never gets above 30c! Is the stock fan a temperature controlled fan? I never plugged mine in so I never bothered to find out. Does the RPM go up unde...

Actually is there a better fan than the panaflo? I got a 8cm one and unless if it's at 5v it's audible. Nexus has pretty good fans. Don't know about the 80mms, but 92mms and 120mms are good. Someone else makes the 120mm fans (Yate Loon?) so it's probably true for the other sizes as well. Which Pana...

Don't forget that a NV3 will exhaust the heat out from the case. If the air from my 9800 Pro (before it died) is any indication, that is a lot of heat. I can't help with noise comparison since I never owned a VF700. For cooling a Barton, you might want to consider a Thermalright SI-97. A friend has ...

In Windows NT I had to reinstall. Since Windows 2000 going from single to multiple processor works without a reinstall.

so i will stay with the agp motherboard, does that limit me to nf3 or are there nf4 boards that support agp?? If there are any nForce4 with AGP support, I suggest you investigate a little to see how it is implemented. A few implementations create the AGP slot on the PCI bus, and performance suffers...

An old PIII or Celeron is a good choice since many of those CPUs are cool enough to run passive and you can find them dirt cheap. If you're careful about your choice of motherboard you can find one that supports large hard disks, otherwise you're probably limited to 128Gb per drive. I recommend som...

The ASUS A8V Deluxe is also a good option, but has a VIA chipset (its very stable, but has less features than nVidia chipset). Well, it is stable. Sort of. But I learn more about it every day. Here are some of the stuff I encountered not related to features, or lack of them. It freezes occasionally...

All black? What's with you folks voting all black? Sheesh, get a Dell, if that's how it is... :wink: Hmm Maybe there's a reason Dell are number one? Erm, price, convenience of ordering? Anyway, Dell seems to be moving away from black to silver (or white - hard to tell since I haven't seen it in per...

The NSLU2 can only access USB drives. Last time I checked, you need to reformat the drive, and it only supports one drive (a second drive can be attached for mirroring) - you may want to check up on that. That may or may not be an issue for you. For a silent (or near silent) roll your own solution, ...