Hi... I have a fairly new 3.2 GHz Pentium IV with a gig of Ram that I built a while ago to be extra quiet. I'm still using a four year old Matrox card from my previous computer, so I figure it's time to finally upgrade my video. Today I have a Viewsonic 22" monitor that I run at 1600x1200 @ 85 hz an...

johnsto wrote:if it's any help, i had a samsung 160gb (8mb) sata arrive this morning... with NIDEC motor! was a bit surprised...

Sweet. Where did you order it from?

Okay, has anyone actually: a) had this clicking noise when the drive was brand new? b) actually had the drive long enough that the noise has gone away? It looks like since no one can assure me of a quiet Samsung, this will be my next drive. But I sure would like confirmation that the noise will even...

Putz...please report back once you get the Seagate. What size are you getting?

Anyone still selling Nidec based Samsungs?

I've been very confused for a while, and I'm sure I'm not alone. If I buy a 160 gb Samsung 8mb cache pata drive from Newegg, will it be as quiet as the ones I bought in February of this year? Or are they louder now? Or is there no way to know ahead of time? Is there anything else I should consider? ...

Ralf Hutter wrote:Samsung Spinpoint PATA, either 120GB or 160GB.

Don't forget to use the "search" function to look through the Silent Storage forum for more info. There's tons of info about the Seagate drives in particular, and even more about silent drives in general.

Why the preference for PATA here?

This sounds like it's a great drive, but I can't find it anywhere on the internet. I assume it will be available soon. If you find it, please share where you can get it from. I have a unique application for it. I know that most people are looking at it as a desktop drive here, but I think it would b...

Not only 2" less on the height of the case, but also 2" less depth of the case. That's actually pretty significant...not for us maybe, but for other people!

I'd start by: 1) Making sure I can monitor the harddrive temps with smart. 2) Assuming this is a true, I'd disable the fans on the bay, and see if the temps. stay in the safe range. 3) If not, I'd try something like this which uses an 80mm fan. I don't know if it's easy to replace with something qui...

Hi Mike...

Were you able/are you able to get the Nexus 120mm fan for testing?

And it would be great if you could test the fixed speed acoustifans as well.

Thanks!

Why do you need a fan up front at all? I have four computers in BQE cases now, and none of them use a frontal fan.

I got a Nexus 120mm fan today. It is indeed a Yate Loon fan. In fact it has the Yate Loon name embossed on the side of the fan. (Although the label is pure Nexus.) The fan is actually a little dirty. It could be that all fans come this way, but the orange just really shows it off. While the 80mm Nex...

(MikeC's essential recommended PSU guide-- good stuff) http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page3.html I have owned the following "quiet" power supplies over the last year: Fortron 300 120mm Fortron 350 120mm adjustable Seasonic Super Tornado 300 120mm I'm not doubting that modding a power suppl...

Buy them both and convince Mike to let you do a comparative review for the site.

Mike...

Is your plan to release everything at once? Any chance of doing them one size at a time, so we get results faster? If so, please consider starting with 120mm fans and working your way down...

Thanks!

acompeau wrote: I have two of the Nexus 120mm "Real Silent" case fans on the way. I'll post once I've tested them out (sorry, no SPL meter available).

Great! What fans do you have to compare them to? Anyone bought one yet that has a 120mm Papst they can compare it to?

ummm...why would you pick the zalman?

On the plus side it comes in orange. Which is quieter than black. (Both of which are quieter than biege). :) I never knew this. I suspect it is like "Black cameras take better photographs" which any photographer will tell you is true :) Jim Rolleiflex 2.8, Nikon SP, Canon A1 - ALL Black Jim... Of c...

With the 80mm Nexus fan you can use either the 3 pin motherboard connector, or the four pin motherboard connector. The 120mm has two connectors as well, but the 3 pin is only for rpm monitoring, while the four pin power supply connector has to be used for power. Which means that you'd have to conver...

...who's going to be the first to report back on how good it is?

I doubt it. All these sensor apps do is report the output of the board sensors, they shouldn't add their own "coloration" to the results. Actually my understanding is that the numbers to be accurate need coloration.... because the motherboard manufacturers all implement stuff differently based on m...

Check out this paragraph... "Everything worked as advertised but there is one fatal fault of the controller. If you fiddle with the sound activation control too much while the unit is powered occasionally the fans will fail and will not come back on until the system is rebooted. This however is no r...

Hmmm...the reviewer found that "with its solid construction and functionality, the Eudemon pulls through as being the best overall product I have ever reviewed. "

Don't know how many products he's reviewed though.

I continue my quest for a suitable fan controller. I know Shadowknight had problems with the Zalman fan controller and the 3700-amb case. Anyone had an easy time installing it in the 3700-bqe, or should I completely write off the Zalman fan controller with that case? (I asked the same question in th...

lm wrote: 80mm PSUs are the way to go in quiet computing. Most people around here agree on this. The psu should get fresh cool air, not cpu-heated.

80mm and 120mm power supplies are both pushing air out of the case. Therefore they are both getting cpu heated air. Or am I missing something?

Anyone tried any of these?

(You can see the A5 here...)
https://www.3dcool.com/?module=product&sku=ENERMAXA5

None of the so far reviewed here fan controllers seem that perfect, so I imagine there must be a few nicer ones out there just ready for us to discover...

Zuperdee/Mike... Thanks for the advice. Active PFC does sound like a good idea, unfortunately there are no 350W power supplies on the recommended list that score a 7+ or higher for noise. Guess that means I should consider buying the Seasonic SS-400FS APFC? Or is there some other model I should cons...

Before I go out and buy my second Nexus-3500, I just want to understand one thing. If I instead got a model with Active PFC (the Nexus has Passive PFC), would my electricity bill be siginificantly cheaper?

What's the preferred motherboard for excellent but quiet overclocking of this chip?

I have not done an A/B comparison between the Z7000 cu or cu/al against a Panaflo 92L equipped SP94. I suspect they would be close, perhaps close enough to call it even. Hard to tell exactly w/o trying it. But there is a review which might give you a pretty good idea of how the SP94 would do in a h...