I have considered a Thermalright SI-120 with a 120mm Nexus fan on as an alternative to the Zalman. Will it be as cool as the Zalman and provide decent VRM cooling yet be more quiet? I used a Zalman CNPS 7000-Cu, first stock (with Fanmate), then modified with a quieter, isolated fan. I gained substa...

DanW wrote:has anyone had any experience with any controllers from them?

Fan controllers from whom?

I've re-read your question several times, and still can't figure out who or what you're asking about.

My Seagate 7200.7is only about 18 months old - pretty disgusting if it's already failing. I don't know the cause of the hum, but it happens when the drive is idle (which it is for all except about 2 minutes/day). The hum happens maybe once/week. Well, i asked a computer technician today and he said ...

Here's a very inexpensive way (if you're in the US) to isolate the HDD's in the Sonata drive sleds. This isolation works great with a drive that is already pretty quiet (love my Samsung SP2004C!). However, the Seagate 7200.7 SATA drive (used for backups only) can occasionally hum irritatingly even ...

Maybe a Thermalright HR-05would be skinny enough to fit on your chipset next to the X1800XT? If so, it would benefit from the 92mm intake fans you're already using.

Check the base of your XP-90C for flatness. My XP-120 had a distinct "curl" around the edges that would have precluded good contact. I lapped it from the beginning so can't tell you about temp differences. But if the HS is getting warm (heatpipes and fins, right?), then it must be absorbing heat fro...

Don't add a front fan. NOISE! The Yate Loon at 5V (840 rpm) in my Sonata I/II hybrid, attached to the HDD cage with the Antec silicon rubber screws, contributes NO noticeable noise to my system. I've just stopped/started it and sitting here at in a very quiet house early in the morning, can't tell ...

And as mentioned earlier, the Papst 4412 F/2GL (blue/silver label, made in Hungary) is a favorite in my system except for the initial cost. It comes closest to what teomilke thinks he wants: 55 CFM at 1600 rpm and claimed 26 dBA, which doesn't seem too far off compared to the Nexus and Yate Loon (me...

DO rpm's directly translate into airflow, does anyone know this? Roughly speaking, they are directly proportional. There was a thread in the last few months ago with pretty good data curves. Couldn't find it in a quick search, however. Basically all fans of the same size turning the same speed will...

Or closed corners can become open corners in about five minutes with a coping saw.

Do you know the Nexus 120 will be too low airflow? This is teomilke's thread, but I tried a Nexus 120 on the XP-120 cooling my less-hot Northwoods CPU, and found it let the CPU temp rise more under load then I was comfortable with. The Papst 4412F/2GL that I picked up during a trip to Europe last s...

Have you seen this review(and there are several more), over in User Reviews?

Also, Madshrimps did a very comprehensive fan review last March.

Switching to the Northwood is not worth it IMO. A northwood might save 20W but is that worth $125? It was worth $200 to me 18 months ago. I switched from a 3.0E Prescott to a 3.0C Northwoods (both 800 fsb) very soon after building my sig system. It was my first build, started prior to finding SPCR....

I use the IR thermometer to measure the temperature of the exit air grill on the PSU, being sure to point it at an angle so that it is less likely to "see" a hot internal component. Seems reasonably consistent.

I found a Nexus to be a little bit low in airflow for the 3.0C Northwoods in a socket 478. I'm using a Papst 4412 F/2GL, slowed down to ~1400 rpm max with a Fanmate 2 at max, but using the variable voltage of the Abit FanEQ function. I'd think that a Globalwin would be just about perfect. what power...

As ultrachrome suggested, an infrared thermometer works pretty well. They cover a wide range of prices, and the big variable is the viewing angle. They vary from 1:1 (one inch wide view at one inch distance; cheap) up to 50:1 or more (expensive). Here's a range from one manufacturer . I use the leas...

Muk, I wouldn't say that I have strong hands, and as mentioned, I thought the pipes were easy to bend by hand. I did have to slightly twist the flattened portion to ensure good contact with the black block. The way I did that was to GENTLY use pliers (I used some with smooth jaws) on the flat part o...

What's curious about the VGA cooler in the first two pics is the additional heatpipes out at the ends of the fin assembly, visible by the pipe tips emerging from the fins. The second shot shows that they don't come directly from the GPU core, so maybe they're loop-backs from two of the four coming f...

Definitely consider JimX's advice about the SI-120.

While I didn't have any fit problems with the XP-120, it is much quieter (with a Papst fan) then a fan-modified Zalman 7000; cooler, too, with the 3.0C Northwoods.

the global win ncb seems to have high rpm, 2-3k... too much to be silent? You must have been looking at a different fan. Here's the Globalwin that has had several positive reviews here at SPCR, and by Madshrimps . That's what I'd get if buying now, instead of the Nexus, Yate Loon and Papst that I'm...

Lots of good advice here. 4 x Generic 1GB PC3200 Why 4Gb RAM? The tests I've seen show no noticeable improvement from 1Gb to 2Gb, and most motherbaords don't run quite as fast with all four RAM slots occupied. But maybe your rendering programs can use that much. Pro-Engineer that we use at work can'...

Oh yeah, don't try to manipulate the fins, and avoid using them as leverage. They're only a press-fit on the pipes - not soldered. One of my outer fins bent slightly during the pipe straightening. I attempted to correct that, and in the process, loosened the press-fit. If I keep using this one, I'll...

lemons, Important Advice: DON'T use pliers. (But you probably figured that out already.) My limited improvement may be due to the low power of the 9600 Pro - only about 20 watts/40C max. Maybe the improvement is proportional? Hope you realise I will hold you responsible if the thing falls apart in m...

Several views of what I was describing above: Here , here , and here What appears to be a kink in the left pipe is actually a shallow dent from attempting to hold the soft pipe with pliers while applying twist - that was the wrong way to do that, but the pipe is still seems to work OK. PS. Now if I ...

I just modified a VM-101 on the 9600 Pro by bending the heatpipes as lemons suggests, following similar reasoning. It was remarkably easy to do, but the results weren't anything remarkable. I bent the heatpipes by hand, going slowly, until the the fin assembly was 90 degrees from where it started (p...

do you reckon that something like the Zalman 7000 would fit my mb? It looks like this: http://www.asus.com/999/images/products/170/170_l.jpg The Zalman 7000 extends 1/2-5/8" beyond the CPU HSF retention frame. If you have that much room to your PSU, then it would fit. However, a Thermalright XP-90 ...

If it's a Sonata Mk I with the TP-380S PSU, then you'll cut the noise noticeably by switching to something quieter. The change to the S12-430 was one of the top four quieting improvements for me. Others in the top four already mentioned: - Active to passive chipset cooler (Zalman NB-47J). If your mb...

I really like the Papst 4412 F/2GL fan on my XP-120. It's effectively running at F/2GLL speeds (1400 rpm max). I suspect a Globalwin fan would be equally nice and less expensive. Both of these fans have bearings that should withstand the higher temps of a CPU cooler for a long time, but I don't thin...

A suggestion from someone with no P180 experience: Wouldn't the 4-pin 12V power cable have a shorter run if it went under the graphics card on the left side of the PCI-e connector?

You're using a mATX motherboard with integrated graphics. If so, try powering up with the display connected to the integrated graphics port. Did you set the BIOS to use integrated graphics or an add-on card? Have you checked that there are no extra standoffs behind the motherboard? Have you tried po...