Seems like the clear competitor is the Lenovo X1. I'm a big fan of the IBM/Lenovo in-keyboard pointing device, which maybe only Dell also has?

If anybody has any advice please let me know. I don't mind how much it costs but obviously cheaper is better. http://www.logicsupply.com/products/jt_t_1610 I'd choose the 2 GB RAM option, and the cheapest Intel SSD option. Brings the total bill to $324.95 ( plus shipping, maybe ), for a system that...

How does the Solo II compare to the P183? I compared the reviews and it seems that they have similar noise levels at load, while the Solo II tests had lower CPU, GPU and HD temperatures. The Solo II is smaller, and has real USB 3 ports on the front, but are there other major differences? In real li...

The usual complaint I hear is about pump noise. Never done water cooling myself -- never built a system that draws >200W under any load.

Abula wrote:If you are going with big storage drive, then i would go with small ssd

I agree that a small SSD is the way to go. It doesn't even need to be the newest or fanciest to feel much much more responsive than a mechanical HD. As a bonus, they use little power and don't vibrate.

It strikes me that this case might work really well as a positive pressure case, with two ~700 RPM intake fans and no exhaust fan. Especially with a tower CPU HS pointed out the back and a fanless PSU or semi-fanless PSU with the fan not spun up.

_MarcoM_ wrote:Anandtech review it: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4730/ante ... ta-evolved

Unfortunately, a fairly ignorant review IMO

I'm curious why you put an intake fan on the upper HD cage, instead of on the intake fan mount in front. I'm also curious whether you're using the intake fan slat-cover-things, which always seemed like a really strange feature of the P180 to me. Great questions. Thanks. I put the fan on the upper H...

I'm curious why you put an intake fan on the upper HD cage, instead of on the intake fan mount in front.

I'm also curious whether you're using the intake fan slat-cover-things, which always seemed like a really strange feature of the P180 to me.

Sooty wrote:Thanks, Worker control.

I’ll give filtering a miss for now, but might experiment with it at some point.

I'm a big fan of filtering in general. My systems don't get much dust inside them.

OTOH I don't have really high-power systems that require lots of air.

Beautiful!

Can't comment on the cases either, sorry. I just keep building Solos like it's 2007. :) Sure, but how is the Solo Mini with airflow and a hot discrete video card, or are we talking full ATX only? :) We're talking full ATX, and with no hot video cards. In fact, I tape over the vent in the back by th...

I'll probably go ahead with 2x4GB, and the Xigmatek recommendation is great. I'll probably use them quite a bit in the future. I think I'm going with the Xigmatek Loki SD963, probably with two Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro fans for a very quiet push-pull configuration: http://www.newegg.com/Product/P...

At this point, I'm trying to finalize my build and shave the costs down where I can. It looks like I could do this with the i5-2300 for about $25 USD less. (Maybe I could spend it on a better cooler.) I'm wondering if there's any meaningful benefit beyond the raw clockspeed. I think the price diffe...

1) Will the Big Shuriken be up to the task of staying reasonably quiet when the CPU is under load? The stock Big Shuriken is very effective at managing my i3 during long periods of video transcoding, but it works hard to do it and this is quad core. I'm hesitant to try some of the larger, heavier c...

However, that’s the airflow level when clean, how about when they start getting clogged with filtered crud? How quickly does that happen, and to what extent is the airflow compromised? I use this type of intake filter in all my systems. I vacuum them off when they get dusty. I haven't done measurem...

Enzo_FX wrote:Why didn't they make the drives mount towards you, that is so that you insert them from the opened side of the case, rather than them pointing towards the CPU/Board.

Drives cages in that orientation tend to block the intake more, and this case by default is an intake-fan-only setup.

In a P183, either one would be fine, especially if you put a slow case fan in the middle of the bottom chamber. The 400 will be slightly more efficient, and somewhat more expensive. how do you mean the 400w would be more expensive? running cost would be the same presumably,. . . its the same price ...

In a P183, either one would be fine, especially if you put a slow case fan in the middle of the bottom chamber.

The 400 will be slightly more efficient, and somewhat more expensive.

Looks to me like maybe they increased the intake fan size to 120mm from 92mm, which is long overdue IMO.

jebus_beler wrote: The CM 690 has some front ports - usb, audio, and eSata and I was wondering I have to check motherboard compatibility for those or if they will work with any motherboard.

They will work with any motherboard, though hooking up the audio can be annoying. I frequently end up using tweezers.

andymcca wrote:Who is the current king of low-RPM ball bearing fans? (Someone else want to weigh in here?)

Gentle Typhoon, I thought?
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html

Ordered. Thanks!

Update Mar 31: It arrived this week, and I have to say, the packaging for these is just over the top. Velvety PSU bag? Two-pocket bag for the detached cables? Hopefully it'll work well. Gotta love Newegg -- ordered on a Saturday night, and received it around noon on Tuesday.

- ask for aisle seat, in order to be able to go and stretch my legs without bothering others. - ask for seat in the very back of the plane, as far away as possible from the engines (I already did this); the front-most seats would be even better, but my company won't provide me with a first / busine...

Especially given the floor intake, you might want to consider an intake filter, for example something like: http://www.jab-tech.com/120mm-Aluminum- ... -1501.html

Ideally, you'd mount it so it's easy to remove and rinse off without powering down the system.

How about spraypainting a Solo?

Yes. Look up "black body radiation" in your favorite search engine.

http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/skylab-2.htm

Hard to cool in space. Hence the need for foil shades to keep the sun off.

With the nine blades and small hub they remind me of Slipstreams. Looks like translucent plastic blades, though, which usually wobble a bit, right?

The 120mm high and low speeds sound pretty promising -- 600 and 1000 RPM!

Any chance you could mention the model of heatsink you used? Looks like a 120mm tower Xigmatek... My job is as a C++ software developer; we recently upgraded our desktops to 1x X5660, and they are very very fast. We've also lashed them together with distcc, and 40 such machines really powers through...