I just installed a 6600GT card in a machine. Can someone suggest a really simple (hopefully) download that I can use to put stress on the card to see how much it heats up. Thanks.

The Nexus 120mm is a standard 3-pin fan, with an additional capability to use the 4-pin Molex INSTEAD of the 3-pin (in which case you lose RPM monitoring.)

Makes sense. Thanks.

Any reason for this board to be significantly better than the A8N-SLI premium?

You can download the Hitachi DiskTool from their web site

Note that the acoustic management it turns on and adjusts only affects seek noise, not spin (idle) noise. BTW, you may have an unusually bad drive and should try to exchange it for another.

From a site sponsor

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/fb123.html

I presume you mean the small 90 degree bend to form a "lip" at the top of the tray. That is proper and adds strength to the tray (against "twisting motion.")

Well, try to be more flexible in your requirements. I've built 3 systems with that case and 3 or 4 drives, and always put them with the cables on the right so they are hidden. Neater install and I can change a drive in minutes - the cables simply come out with the tray to get disconnected.

It works just fine. A couple of cuts needed for the side door (both exaust and air vent for heat sink) but that's under 5-minutes with an exacto knife.

If the supply is labeled 230V, then you can be quite sure it will not work on 110V. This has nothing to do with whether it has a switch or not, now anything to do with PFC capabilities. If you move the computer to North America, replace the supply - no choice.

There's not much reason to worry about average life of a drive. For some odd reason Maxtor has started quoting "Component design life" instead of the old "MTBF", but the term, roughly, means the same thing. Also their 5 year number is quite low by their old, and others, quoted lifetimes of closer to...

sandos, maybe you didn't completely understand the comments. Your mounting in the picture would be ok if the drive were vertical, not slanted. It does not have to be on the floor of the case, and heat can be a problem with your "insulation" arrangement, so being in the path of a fan is good.

Ahh, sounds like a very nice machine if only we had a SocketT Pentium-M and a SATA 2.5" drive.

Actually the "pre-cut" kits have approximately 3 of the standard sheets, while the Deluxe has 2 standard and one 17mm sheet. So, it's a matter of what fits best in your case, many can't fit the thicker sheet anywhere useful. The cutting part is easy.

I suggest you do a more extensive job defining what you want a case to do. As said above, the stacker is quite open and some noise does escape. I can't imagine comparing it to, say an Antec 3700 or the new 3000. They are apples and oranges. I think the stacker is one of the best cases on the market ...

A small point, but important to some is the difference in the HD mounting cage between this (3000) and the 3700BQE that you don't mention - number of drives. I have built a number of machines with the BQE with a 4-drive raid set and could isolate the drives using Ralf's sorbothane method. Works grea...

If you're undertaking this type of project, I presume you have a multimeter available. If not, immediately purchase one. That will tell you exactly what you need to know about how to adjust your connectors.

And maybe an experiment using only one 120m fan would be enlightening.

So, I'll propose an experiment for "overreacted" Bruce to perform. Simply measure the watts used by a machine with the PSU at the top and measure the outlet temperature of the PSU. Then, using a heat gun or similar source of hot air, insert additional hot air into the PSU until the outlet temperatur...

To keep the side panels from rattling is quite easy, and ahould require purchasing nothing beyond what you already have handy. It requires some material where the front channel of the door contacts the lip that holds it into place - the channel is larger than the lip, hence rattling. I use a couple ...

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You can be certain that power cables have nothing to do with "sacrificing performance." Use the two device cable with comfort and happy computing.

Aww, come on!

Just like an old Yugo, just remove the drain-plug, drain well, then add about 35g. of good Pennzoil (30SAE), assuming it's available in France. Remember to replace drain-plug.

Clay is quite a reasonable insulator - folks around the world have built living quarters out of it for many, many, many centuries. That makes it a poor conductor, by definition.

Just use an extention cable

http://www.svc.com/123to3ex.html

for $0.99

(CompUSA has the same thing for $3, but no shipping if you have one close. Almost all computer stores that have parts have these.)

got it. I guess I refer to back and front opposite from you. I'll change.

Is it possible you are a bit confused about how the Seasonic ST 300 works? The 120mm fan pulls air FROM the case and that air cools the PS and it exits out the back. It doesn't "pump a lot more heat back into the case."

I'll bet you didn't realize this has already been posted here a couple of times.

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=16376

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=16294

.... it's not really possible to de-couple the fan from the HS. ..... You could benefit from reading of the older threads here. Some of us have decoupled many, many fans on the Zalman 7000 and it works just great. http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=10314 http://forums.silentpcreview.c...

Congratulations. Very professional result. And a clever idea about using the plastic wire clamps.