Devon Cooke's blog

SPCR is always working to improve its testing procedures, and every once in a while we make a breakthrough that massively changes the way we go about testing hardware. Recently, we had such a breakthrough in our airflow testing methodology.

The problem with breakthroughs is they tend to make things obsolete. Such is the case with our current database of airflow results — our new method improved things so much that we have to throw out all of our existing results and start again. After countless days refining our test procedure — and several more of retesting — we proudly present the fruit of our efforts. With the exception of some obsolete 80mm fans, every fan in our database has been retested with the new test procedure.

Fan Round-up #1: 80mm fans
Fan Round-up #2: 120mm fans
Fan Round-up #3: 92mm fans
Fan Round-up #4: 120mm fans (again)

Unusual Fans
Noctua NF-S12 Series
SilenX Ixtrema Pro
Arctic Cooling Arctic Fan 12L

After our two main test beds for heatsink testing developed intermittant defects, we've rebuilt our test bed for the fourth (or is it fifth) time so we can continue to bring you quality heatsink reviews. At the same time, we've brought our article on testing heatsinks up to date — a long overdue update that brings it out of the era of Athlons and P-IIIs into the present day where Socket 775 now rules the roost. We've also tossed in some gems about VRMs and testing CPU power, as well as a quick re-test of some old favorites to kick things off.

As power supplies go, the ST30NF has good longevity. It's been on the market for more than two years, and a lot has changed since it was first released. As such, Silverstone has updated it to keep up with the times. Most significantly, the new revision includes the connections that are now standard in the industry. Read more in a postscript to the original review.

Our recent discovery of the Western Digital WD5000KS has upset the standings on our Recommended List and prompted a revision of the whole list. Several questionable drives are gone now that a good high capacity option is available, and a number of quiet notebook drives have been added. A retired list has also been added for drives that are no longer quite up to snuff or are no longer being made.

Antec is well known for producing some of the most noise-friendly enclosures around. In fact, Mike Chin, SPCR's editor, has twice collaborated with Antec to create the P180 and the NSK2400 — both of which incorporate noise-friendly design features based on tried-and-true SPCR knowledge. Another Antec case, the P150, features drive suspension to reduce vibration induced drive noise — only one of two cases that we know of to do so. Recently, the company released significantly updated versions of the P180 and the P150, including much demanded black finish jobs. Please click on read more.