power surge=damaged parts=excuse to upgrade. No wonder why so many folks don't bother with surge/power protection. In any case, people should be investing in a good quality on line/line interactive UPS, which doesn't necessarily mean expensive. Good models have good surge suppression. Bad ones tend ...

Did you just panic when you read the word "linux" and skip the rest of the text? You basically need to run one command from the command line to get it done. Most windows-solutions cost money. Linux. The very mention is enough to scare most away. Besides, some folks don't mind spending money for a f...

Red Hill Hardware Guide . A recommended read. Ad free site as well. Can't beat that . Warning: it may bring back some tearful, painful and agonizing memories of hard drives that have long since passed away. I will not be held responsible for any heartache caused. If you have lost many a loved hard ...

I was going through the same head wrangling recently deciding which brand to buy. I don't know why it is, but buying hard drives can often be an emotional decision. Perhaps it's because if a particular brand (should be thought of as a particular model or sample -- because most hard drives are made f...

I've been away from the forums for a few weeks. Looking at the latest threads and articles on the main site, there doesn't appear to be much that's really "new". Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there's lot of activity going on at SPCR headquarters. But from a general perspective, things seem to be slow...

The problem is ESD protection! How many home users use a certified ESD-protected workstation, wearing proper clothes and follow the proper routines to prevent ESD damages when they replace the heatsink? My guess is that it's well below 1% of the users that do it formally correct. If those few can p...

Don't really play games anymore... I hate the majority of them anyway, particularly the modern 3D ones. I did enjoy some games from the DOS days, adventure games mostly, side scrolling, platform and puzzle games too. In no particular order: Sam and Max Hit the Road Day of the Tentacle Commander Keen...

This might be a bit off your discussions... but on a new Win7 install, how much disk space do you advise to be allocated to it? I generally like to keep my system partitions as small as possible yet don't want to fall short in case of inevitable bloat. I'm thinking 20GB will be enough for me (MS min...

Pads are common also on Southbridge heatsinks. I recently removed one on a Gigabyte board. It looked desperately cheap and inefficient at best. Something to also keep in mind is that removing heatsinks and their pads, greases etc. from stock on CPUs, motherboards, graphics cards and the like is supp...

I concur with most of what has already been said. A second drive is highly recommended. Even if simply used as simple storage and backup device in case the system drive malfunctions. There are many situations where separate physical disks are a must. It is quite common for creative professions who w...

3) ... I just point the fan at the ceiling [/b], which ensures that the direct airflow doesn't cause chill in the morn. I will try that one day. Thanks. 4) Unnecessarily loud noise from things like appliances, cars, and machinery still drives me nuts -- partly because I know it doesn't have to be t...

I'm curious as to the manufacture date and model# on your drive. In the review, the label of the SCPR drive says "Model: HD502HI/Y" and was manufactured in Feb. '09 whereas my sample does not have a "/Y" on the model and says "R54" instead of "5400rpm." My drive was manufactured in Apr. '09 I have ...

I just got my HD103SI from newegg today. First surprise was it's made in China by SAE Magnetics LTD / China, production date 2009.06. All my other Samsung HDs were made in Korea. I hope this doesn't reduce the reliability/quietness. Need to format it and test it out. I was after a storage/backup dr...

Hey another aussie here, first post. Basically I'm trying to silence my PC that I use for gaming and as a DAW. I've looked everywhere for Nexus 92mm fans (I need four) and the only place that seems to stock Nexus products is PCCG. <cut... to save repetitive space... responding to previous post, obv...

Despite my earlier reservations about getting another AMD IGP chipset, I think I might give this iteration another go. It's one of the best value chipsets at the moment. It's encouraging to see its low power consumption and overall efficiency from users' experiences, considering the amount of featur...

This is one of the best value chipsets at the moment. Despite my previous problems with the 780G chipset, I may give this iteration another go. The Gigabyte GA-MA785GPM-UD2H (DDR2 version) is fairly cheap around here and is packed with more than enough features than I actually need. DDR3 memory is n...

For the gamer or LANer, something a little different: Manufacturer's overview Club Overclocker review neoseeker review Virtual-Hideout review XSReviews review Marks for creativity and audacity. Maybe not as much on execution. Although I wouldn't go as far as buying the case, I'm actually not that of...

I have owned this monitor for around five months. It is a safe buy with regards to noise in my opinion. You may notice some humming or whining at very low ambient noise levels. At brightness of more than ~87 the noise disappears. I always have my monitor at low brightness of 8 or less because anythi...

BillBuerger , I hope Gigabyte and others can improve their bundled software to give more useful options for fan control and power saving features. Gimmicky overclocking options with car racing and secret agency connotations sells to the population who are drawn in by such, but both sides of the equ...

Thank you Shamgar, whiic, and new2spcr very much. From all of your info it looks like the WD10EADS (1Tb) drive should be good for me. It has very similar noise levels to the 640aaks http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15769/11 which should be ok in an enclosure. For the enclosure I am considering ...

BillBuerger , I hope Gigabyte and others can improve their bundled software to give more useful options for fan control and power saving features. Gimmicky overclocking options with car racing and secret agency connotations sells to the population who are drawn in by such, but both sides of the equ...

That's very impressive. Considering the performance improvements of the newer platform. The idle figure is probably the more important one anyway as that is where the PC will be spending most of its time, I assume. Yeah, probably good thinking not to expect much from Gigabyte support, but you never ...

Shamgar, do you remember what enclosure you purchased? I will go with one that has esata and maybe usb just in case. Do i need to get one with a fan? (I plan on placing the external drive under my desk near my tower.) My enclosure is a Welland ME-740J . It's only available in certain regions. The n...

Enclosures with eSATA and USB2.0 usually only cost a little more or about the same as a USB2.0 only one. I got mine for AUD$39: it included the enclosure itself, USB2.0 and eSATA cables, eSATA bracket, AC power adaptor, manual and CD with backup software. Pretty good value if you ask me, considering...

OK sorry I raised it. I knew it was a bad move as I couldn't express what I wanted to convey. Will crawl back into my shell and lurk. You expressed a view and it wasn't agreed with. It happens all the time. No need to feel tortoisey about it. Yet I do see where you're coming from. But that's why yo...

one thing i can safely say, i've never missed VT and to be honest, even with the e6600 chip, when switching between using the VT and not i saw no difference with virtual pc's, (only tried it with vmware) That is an interesting observation. Most articles that I have read almost demand the use of har...

Kudos to MikeC and the rest of the SPCR reviewers for catering to a wider audience than just extreme silencers - I for one appreciate it, being one of those gamers who found this site after trying to quiet my gaming machine. May I also express a similar opinion, except that I am not a gamer. I thin...

MSI's board is a really good effort on their part, considering some of the rubbish they have come up with in the past. I like the carton design too: business like, simplistic and doing away with the gaudy and ghastly fantastical and mythological imagery that pervades so much of computer gaming focus...

The advantage of the E8x00 series is that they will typically over-clock highly at stock voltage whereas the older Pentium Dual Core often struggled to hit 3GHz at stock voltage. I managed about 2.8 with a PDC and 3.6 with an E8400 which is a big difference especially when you consider that the E84...

You may also have some trouble finding an S-Clip as very few vendors appear to stock it. It's a shame that manufacturers don't just bundle the heatsink with the necessary hardware. It would probably bring the price up a few dollars at most; something that most users wouldn't mind paying in the one g...