Thanks for the suggestion. I actually already replaced those rubber groments with ones from the Antec P180 (They fit). I am inclined to believe this is side panel related. Unfortunately. Fractal Define doesn't seem to respond to e-mails or voicemails... It's a big difference comopared to Antec or Co...

Hi, I ordered a Fractal Design Define XL 2 months back. Starting 2 weeks ago. The case started developing an intolerable vibration. The vibration noise is a high level of rattle that comes on and off every 2 seconds, so I assume it's Hard drive related. I do have 4 7200rpm hard drives spinning inclu...

Updated with price drop

This is a sweet setup you've got there. Advice : - Check your flicker links (they don't work for me) - Give a combo price (for all or parts of the setup) - Any warranty left on parts ? Thanks. I fixed the flicker links. Haven't though much about the combo price. Will hopefully add warranty informat...

Upgraded to Ivy Bridge, so up for sales are: 1. HIS Radeon HD 6950 2GB in original box - SOLD 2. Intel Q9550 E0 stepping with OEM HSF - SOLD http://www.flickr.com/photos/46378683@N08/7174521719/in/photostream 3. Gigabyte EP45-GD3P motherboard (no accessories, backplate included) - SOLD 4. Thermalrig...

Thanks for the breadth of knowledge and all the replies. Just read the Fan Expert review. I wish more motherboards implement this feature (Makes me feel like I got the wrong brand). The Aquaero is another analogue or low frequency PWM control device, so although it offers a high degree of control fo...

cmthomson wrote:

MikeC wrote:Some boards have both VR and PWM control even for headers that are 4-pin; the Asus Z77 series boards, for example.

Wow. That might be the only one... And a reason to upgrade from my Asrock Z68.

If that's the only reason... May I recommend the Aquaero (what I use) or T-balancer?

Vicotnik wrote: edit: Found this article on the subject.
- http://www.analog.com/library/analogDia ... speed.html

Great read. Thanks. Now I am wondering why high frequency PWM can't be implemented on 3-pin. Research for another day.

Mrc112 wrote:processor: 3770k + prolimatech genesis & 2x red vortex 140mm (both fans would also be connected to the fan controller and shut off when normal using the pc)
mobo: ASUS P8Z77-V DELUXE

I would replace the prolimatech fans.

I have a gigabyte 670, which uses the same PCB and fans as a the 680. it is quiet 11 fans *CAN* be quiet. It's probably overkill, but I think your setup will work. I would double check the power draw and make sure the controller can handle all of them at low rpm levels. The caviar black is loud. Mor...

cmthomson wrote: 1: The latter. The PWM signal tells the fan what percentage of current to draw.

And how does the fan regulate the amount of current to draw? Thanks for your patience with me

This nerdy question is more out of curiousitythan necessity as I still rely on old school voltage control for fan control Question: 1) How do PWM fan headers work? There are 4 pins. Ground, 12v, sense, and pwm control. Does the pwm control pin supply the actual current to power the fan? Or does the ...

Thinking more about it. AT the point, the sheer weight and regidity of the casing might matter more. My ancient Antec P180 vibrates despite the suspension with 4 Seagate 3TB hard drives.

The question is how much vibration damping will this HDD cage give you. And the answer is... none. Not sure how you would go about dampening vibration for 12HDDs. Is soft mount still the best option at the point? How does the vibration of 12 HDD spinning at the same time affect each other (resonanc...

Holy, what a beast. Love the build.

2. I would take a look at the SPCR test of the C14. My recollection iw that SPCR swapped out the Noctua for the Nexus fans, and the Nexus fans did well. Take a look at it your self. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1138-page5.html Noctua fans are fine. I like Thermalright TY-140 better, not wor...

Does anyone think a Scythe SY1225SL12LM-P will be able to pull in enough air or would the GELID Solutions FN-PX12-15 be better? The Scythe SY1225SL12LM-P has a nominal top speed of 1200, but in practice runs at around 1350 rpm max. More importantly under low load conditions it can drop down to arou...

And vote goes to Fractal Define R3. Least work involved to keep quiet. Corsair 550D is a fine choice, too. Pick the one with better price / aethetics

Mettyx wrote:
Interesting, but probably there is no such thing in my country. Last I saw was Palit GTX680 and PointOfView NV and I've never heard of those brands.

Can't tell if you are serious or joking. Stock GTX 680 means a GTX 680 card with the nvidia designed reference cooler. It can be of any brand.

Mettyx wrote:
Isn't that really disruptive to the airflow in the case and increases noise subtantially

Won't they be better for NOT disrupting the front to back airflow in most cases (compared to small top-down coolers).

Bigger fans also tend move the same amount of air with less noise.

The only thing that ever holds me back is that it's too focused on the Gamers/Extreme segment. Right, who needs 4 5.25" bays and 6 3.5" bays? I too would love to see a smaller version of this case. There are those of us paranoid with data, and keep 8 versions of weekly backups :D on top of a quarte...

So see that the article lists a Firewire connector. I saw it mentioned on the Corsair website, but just got the case and don't see one anywhere. Definitely not on the front panel: just 2 USB 3.0 and audio and power switch. Or does that mean that it comes with a bracket that connects to onboard fire...

Flanker wrote:very nice review and very nice case. Looks like the top choice for spacious quiet cases is between the P280 and 550D now

What about Fractal Design Define XL. Would love to have silentpcreview it!

Thanks. Will check it out.

m1st wrote:Another possibility is that one of the drives is partitioned as a GPT drive and the other as an MBR drive. GPT puts a ~128MB metadata area at the beginning of the drive IIRC...

Thanks, that was it.

Do hard drives lose capacity over time? I recently reconfigured and reformatted a pair of samsung F3 1TB (which has always been in windows 7 software raid). However, when I tried to recreate the raid, I realized that one hard drive reports 931.39 capacity while the other reports 931.51. Looking at S...

Btw, saw you have a gigabyte mobo, I'd venture to guess that you have an NEC made firewire controller. You can see this under device manager though.

I am no expert on this, but the firewire controller could have something to do with it. I'd check with PreSonus tech support (if there's a way to do that, hope they aren't like M-Audio) to see if they can offer any input. As far as I know, some Audio Interfaces (some RME ones, but not sure aobut Pre...

The first thing that popped into my mind was: Why? No real advantage at all, even a mini-itx would do (using HD HomeRun for cable duty, which takes up no card slot). I am planning on retiring a few old core 2 systems (Core 2 e4500 to q9550) with full atx motherboards and trying to find away to re-u...

Anyone where has experience or idea whether it would be possible to fit a full atx mobo in a shallow depth made for micro-atx case like the Lian-li PC-C50 http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=552&cl_index=1&sc_index=26&ss_index=68&g=spec or silverstone gd05 http://www.silverst...