The small washers are in the installation guide's parts list, but the instructions do not seem to mention where to use them.

Has anyone looked into using 8rdavcore ( http://www.hasw.net/8rdavcore/ ) with these chips? It was mentioned in the comment thread on the Sudhian article ( http://forums.sudhian.com/messageview.cfm?catid=73&threadid=53576 ). Dynamically controlling FSB and voltage depending on load and temperature m...

Before passing final judgement on a drive, I suggest making sure it is updated to the latest firmware version. I have had several optical drives where some sound problem (e.g., high spin playing CD's) has gone away after upgrading the firmware. Samsung firmware updates can be dowloaded from http://w...

Don't forget that there are two kinds of Thorougbreds, A's and B's. The A's reduced dies size by a greater percentage than they reduced heat (or something like that). The B's have a die with one more layer and a larger surface area. I believe that as a result, the B's are easier to cool. For more in...

DVD playback is quiet, though not silent. It is a tad bit louder than playing DVDs on a Samsung SD-612 12X DVD drive. I rather doubt that anyone watching a DVD, as opposed to listening to the drive, would notice. With my noise-reduded, small form factor SK41G about 1.5' from my head and on my deskto...

Upgrading the firmware from T404 to T405 seems to have solved the problem. CD audio playback is now quiet. http://www.samsung-odd.com/eng/LiveUpda ... wnload.asp

I have found that both DVD CDRW combo drives I have tried are loud as heck when playing music CDs. I have tried both the Samsung SM-332 (12X DVD, 32X12X40 CDRW) and the LG GCC-4320B (16X DVD, 32X10X40 CDRW). The problem is that both units start off at full spin when playing music CDs. The Samsung ti...

The noise reduction material is likely a resonance damping material such as Dynamat. There is precious little clearance in the case to allow for foam. I wonder what the heck they mean by a noise reduction cable? I would want to know which fan they mean by, "quietest case/heat-pipe fan in the market"...

From the introduction in the manual for the Seagate ATA V drives ( http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/manuals/ata/100221374a.pdf ), it would appear that the Seashield is part of every drive. The same is true for the ATA IV series ( http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/manuals/ata/100129212b.pdf ). I...

According to the Adda US web site ([url http://www.addausa.com/specifications/up-40.pdf[/url]) the 0412MS-G70 puts out 5.7 CFM at 20db. Note that the 0412MB-G70 has the same specs and that the 0412MX-G70 appears to be a bit quieter. As the PSU isn't exactly overcooled with the stock fan, you might n...

Bluefront, thanks for sharing your results. The $64,000 dollar question is what is 'too close' and what is 'far enough". Clearly a foot or two away from the wall is far enough and 4" is too close (from a cooling and noise perspective). What happens when you move back to 6", 9" and 12"? Though your r...

Could you tell me where you purchased the Zalman shroud/duct. I ordered one from ChipCooler.com only to be informed that the Zalman duct is no longer available.

How can you tell the difference between an A Core and a B Core when looking at them? Can you tell from the serial number? ...

I ordered seven XP1700s. I wasn't expecting TBreds and was concerned from what I had read that the die size reduction would negate any reduction in heat generated by the TBreds. When they showed up, they were TBreds. I will never ever again build a small form factor machine with a Palomino. I find t...

The fan isolating do wonder on 80mm fan on these SFF. One thing to keep in mind... Rubber grommet will make the original screwless fan mounting knobs to be too short for its application (unless you tighten it down quite a bit which destroys the whole purpose). Might want to get something a little l...

If you order from mouser.com, there is a USPS Priority Mail with tracking option for shipping. This will cost no more than UPS shipping and will get it to you faster. Scroll through the long list of shipping options and you will find it. They also carry 40mm fan grills. The stock fan (on at least th...

I have built a couple of SK41G systems (for AMD). One needs to keep in mind that with Soyo's Autoguardian turned on, the mobo will change the speed of the case/cpu fan depending on CPU temperature. There are three speeds - app 80%, app 90% and 100% of top fan speed. The temperature at which the mobo...

I just received four of these a couple of days ago. Three of them are going to go up on eBay tomorrow. The fourth is going to a friend who says he doesn't mind noisy drives. It is fairly quiet playing DVDs. It is rather noisy with both data and music CDs. I found that the spin noise made it hard to ...