Search found 407 matches

by Spod
Mon Apr 04, 2005 10:17 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: SPCR is 3 years old today
Replies: 40
Views: 21645

And here's another note of goodwill among the crowd. Of course it's all been said already, but isn't it nice that so many different people are saying it?

Happy Birthday SPCR!
by Spod
Mon Apr 04, 2005 9:57 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: What's the best type of files to put on WD740 Raptor drive?
Replies: 45
Views: 24305

Putting the pagefile on a RAM disk is counter productive. Reasons to leave the pagefile on the hard drive, rather than using a RAMdisk: - Paging stuff that hasn't been used from memory frees up space for disk caching. - It gives PhotoShop more RAM to play with. PhotoShop will make good use of up to ...
by Spod
Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:05 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: The Top SPCR Quiet 120mm Axial Fans Compared + 120mmAC Fans.
Replies: 197
Views: 528976

In general, thicker fans are capable of overcoming more backpressure from restrictions in case airflow - that's useful when trying to blow through a radiator. You still need to be careful when selecting which brand & model of fan to get - a good 25mm fan may produce better airflow with lower noise t...
by Spod
Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:46 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: What's the best type of files to put on WD740 Raptor drive?
Replies: 45
Views: 24305

I'll reinforce nick705's suggestion - put OS pagefile on the Raptor, PS scratch on the 300 GB drive. DO NOT put both the pagefile and the scratch disk on the same drive - this will cause serious performance issues. (Obviously, if you only had one disk, you'd have no choice...) Raptor: OS, pagefile (...
by Spod
Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:14 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: E.A.R Grommets on a Tri-Cool?
Replies: 8
Views: 4402

Someone here (I forget who) suggested immersing the fan mounts in hot water to soften them before installing - this makes them easier to pull through small holes.
Don't forget to dry them off before installingnthem if you're doing this with the motherboard in place!
by Spod
Fri Apr 01, 2005 4:35 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: new FSP Green Power with 85% efficiency
Replies: 88
Views: 61409

Since the UK uses 240V AC, power supplies are able to operate at higher efficiency (a few percent), meaning less heat generated and slightly lower (temperature controlled) fan speed than the same system running on a 110-120V AC supply. I don't think that would account for a reduction from 30 dBA to ...
by Spod
Fri Apr 01, 2005 3:58 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: SLK3000B and Acoustic Dampening
Replies: 4
Views: 2237

Ralf, this is obviously too late to influence the OP, but given that both kits reportedly fit, wouldn't the AcoustiPack BQE kit be better, since it includes a foam lining for the case door? I guess you have to weigh a perfect fit against the HDD cage against better noise dampening for your optical d...
by Spod
Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:55 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Need case suggestions.
Replies: 5
Views: 3205

If you get the SLK-3000B, and remove the TAC duct, you can install the AcoustiPack pre-cut kit for Antec SLK-3700BQE. This will block off the side panel holes, and includes a dust filter which you can use instead of a front fan. Then all you have to do is tape the gap at the bottom of the bezel. As ...
by Spod
Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:43 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Prime 95 and AMD 64 (90nm) underclock not compatible?
Replies: 9
Views: 5432

I had memtest86 errors with my Crucial Ballistix PC4000 running at DDR400, but when I took the case side off, they went away. In the end, disabling CPU fan control (as it blows onto the RAM) and increasing case fan speed fixed it. My system isn't as quiet, but stability is more important to me. And ...
by Spod
Mon Mar 28, 2005 12:24 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which DVD Burner would you get?
Replies: 59
Views: 33209

The Pioneer DVR-109 is a little shorter than the -108.
by Spod
Sat Mar 12, 2005 11:34 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Motherboards: Socket 939, PCIe Compatible, etc.
Replies: 78
Views: 54097

The VF-700Cu is still a fair bit lighter than the Arctic Cooling silencers. Don't worry about it.
by Spod
Sat Mar 12, 2005 1:57 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Hard disks rated by noise & heat
Replies: 10
Views: 4615

SR, and the problems with their noise measurements, have been dicsussed here often. (239 times according to the Search) So let's fix it! (Thread suggesting that SPCR does SR's noise testing for them - comments/opinions welcome, but stick them in that thread). As 15K drives go, the Seagate 15K.3 is ...
by Spod
Sat Mar 12, 2005 1:29 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Will the future be double-sided mobos?
Replies: 18
Views: 7003

If you'd like to do something like this for yourself, there are watercooling systems that use a big passive radiator mounted to the outside of the case. More portable than a Reserator/EXOS freestanding tower radiator, but the standard inconveniences of watercooling apply - price, installation and ma...
by Spod
Sat Mar 12, 2005 11:59 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Any Problem With Putting a Hard Drive Up on Its Side?
Replies: 7
Views: 2499

I've also have seen plenty of discussion and evidence confirming that any orientation with the disk either horizontal or vertical is fine for the disk. It is logical that such an orientation would have no effect on bearing wear, and besides, the bearings are designed to operate equally well under bo...
by Spod
Fri Mar 11, 2005 9:14 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Is there a way to read a list of supported CPU from the BIOS
Replies: 1
Views: 1139

Not from the BIOS - that'd just say the same as the motherboard maker's website. Your best bet is third party websites and forums.
by Spod
Fri Mar 11, 2005 6:23 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: What is better with XP120: Nexus blowing UP or DOWN?
Replies: 18
Views: 5400

It could if you (incorrectly) stuck the strips to the fan instead of the heatsink, meaning you had to unstick them and restick them on the other side of the fan every time you flipped the fan. Otherwise, I agree, they're perfectly robust for their intended use.
by Spod
Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:09 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Budget passive video card w/DVI?
Replies: 17
Views: 7123

Hardware assisted WMV decoding? It was only introduced with the 6600 series, wasn't fully implemented on the 6800, didn't know about the 6200 series. Does the 6200 with TurboCache have the same decoding capability?
by Spod
Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:23 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: My 3000SLK Antec 120mm Fan
Replies: 27
Views: 11152

Another fanmate? Not rebooting your system so often? Or use the motherboard's fan control (set CPU fan threshold to 60°C and the BIOS will slow it down, even before C'n'Q kicks in).
by Spod
Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:28 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: yet another nforce4 system
Replies: 2
Views: 1839

There are already several threads here discussing nForce 4 motherboards, some of which include specific examples of whether an XP-120 fits. Thermalright also has a motherboard compatibility page for the XP-120 on their website.
by Spod
Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:50 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: My 3000SLK Antec 120mm Fan
Replies: 27
Views: 11152

The simplest route to silence is either to buy an adapter, or to simply buy a Nexus 120mm case fan and a Zalman Fanmate to slow it down with. The Nexus is pretty quiet at 12V, but fanmated to 6-7V you'll struggle to hear it over the other fans in your system. The advantage of the fanmate method is y...
by Spod
Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:33 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Will a Zalman HP80 or a Tt Fanless Cooler fit on a 6600 AGP?
Replies: 2
Views: 2223

The Aerocool VM-101 is fanless and fits some 6600GT cards - see the User Reviews forum for more info.
by Spod
Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:27 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Balancing features in Athlon 64 3500+ system
Replies: 10
Views: 4628

The Aerocool VM-101 seems the best passive solution - see the User Reviews forum thread (by Edward Ng). SPD latencies are generally fine, but when using 4 DIMMS, you may find it won't boot or work reliably unless you specify a 2T (2 cycle) Command Rate timing in the BIOS. You can leave everything el...
by Spod
Mon Feb 28, 2005 5:30 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Suspending hard drive w/ Stretch Magic (picture)
Replies: 48
Views: 75292

Too much tension will transmit more vibration, though obviously you don't want the drive hitting the sides of the case when you move your PC. So, somewhere between firm and relaxed, then. :)
by Spod
Mon Feb 28, 2005 5:22 am
Forum: Notebook Systems
Topic: Heat issues on Compaq N800V
Replies: 1
Views: 3425

It's probably worth a try - it might make a couple of degrees difference. Thermal pads are quite popular with OEMs because they're easy to use, but I don't know if they're used in the n800v, having never taken the CPU out of one. Laptops can be pretty tricky to improve. You could consider one of tho...
by Spod
Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:36 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Balancing features in Athlon 64 3500+ system
Replies: 10
Views: 4628

RAM - All S939 boards and CPUs should support PC3200/DDR400 with 4 1GB DIMMs. Most current S939 Athlon 64s won't support 1T timings with 4 DIMMs, whatever the board/chipset. I don't know if the latest 90nm spin of the 4000+ has the better memory controller, or if that improvement is due in a later r...
by Spod
Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:16 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Finally moving to A64 - could use an outside opinion
Replies: 2
Views: 1952

Gholam - that all seems to make sense. Avoid using fans on the top of the case if you can, as they will have the most direct noise path to you. I'd suggest putting the PSU at the bottom - it's much less likely to ramp up. The 6800 is a pretty cool card, and you might get away with the Aerocool VM-10...
by Spod
Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:52 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Does fanless component really equal less noise as a whole?
Replies: 3
Views: 2192

Chipset and graphics coolers are restricted in the size and positioning of fans they can use*, and this means they often have to use smaller fans running faster. *While adhering to ATX/AGP specs, which aftermarket coolers don't necessarily have to do. So it's often worth using passive graphics and c...
by Spod
Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:22 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: A64 Questions from a Regretful P4 User
Replies: 12
Views: 4769

THE PCI bottleneck is why modern chipsets have their own dedicated link to the southbridge, PATA and SATA controllers integrated into the southbridge, and dedicated links for GbE controllers. Even RAID is now integrated into many southbridges. Unless you need more than the integrated functionality f...
by Spod
Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:00 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Raid 0 - one of the disk makes more noise than the other.
Replies: 3
Views: 2288

Although it's not quite true that disk activity always happens on both drives in a RAID 0 array simultaneously, it usually happens that way. The only likely reason one drive would produce more noise is that it's mounted in a different place that resonates more, or random sample variation (different ...
by Spod
Thu Feb 24, 2005 5:51 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: How do you attach a fanmate to the NV5 on a 6800GT?
Replies: 8
Views: 4421

I was idling around 53°C before fanmating, around 63°C afterwards. I haven't got round to testing load temps yet, since I figure I've got enough headroom not to worry about it.