I recently replaced my Aopen HQ08 case with a Lian Li (PC61) aluminium case. This case is a lot smaller, but despite its size it *does* cool better. The airflow is a lot better and it's at least as silent, of not silenter! Really, I'm quite baffled by this, because my Aopen Case has 1 and 2mm steel ...

I have a logitech internet navigator keyboard which is fairly silent. Came with a nice dual optical mousen which isn't noisy either. I really don't recommend that flat keyboard for anyone who uses a computer a lot. Those things have barely zero resitance which really increases chances of getting RSI...

Perhaps not reviews, but adding a list of reccommended cd/dvd drives might be handy. theres wild variation in the amount of noise these things chuck out - the plextor ive got at the mo is pretty much inaudable providing you slow it down to 8x, but the generic drive i had before would shake the wall...

1) Where can I buy a single fan on/off switch? I don't need 6 switches, and I don't want to spend $30-$50 on a baybus. You can either "recycle" any on/off switch you have around, perhaps the old power button from a computer or something? A regular fan consumes at most 3watts (correct me if I'm wrong...

I broke my webcam a while ago, so I can't give any pics just yet .
I'll try to measure the temps tomorrow. It's a shame those epia's don't have thermal diodes! I know for certain that the temps are lower than with the stock fan though!

If I were you I'd play it safely and just put the PAPST in there. It will probably move more air then the standard fan and is pretty darn certainly a lot more quiet. I can't think of any reason why not to do the mesh, but I can't think of any reason why *to* do it either!

The question is how long your CPU is going to live like that. In theory silicium can only take 60-70°C before it starts acting funny. I like my PC's to be silent but I also do like them to live a bit longer than 24 hrs.

Nylon doesn't block much air really. I'd be more concerned with outtake than with intake. Because if the hot air is moved out then fresh cool air will automatically be drawn in.

Well I guess it will dampen some noise.. just make the sure the air can still go in and out!

I did a similar thing on another pc here, I put bubblewrap in my case. It stopped quite a lot of noise! And the good thing is, it's free

I got my VIA EPIA's C3 800 CPU working without a fan atm. The only thing I had to do for it was (horribly) mutilate a heatsink I had still lying around so it would fit the 40x40mm spot. I hacksawed my Volcano7+ (hey, it's pure copper, can't go wrong with that :D ). I attached it to the CPU with ther...

47° That's odd .. My Maxtor (7200rpm!) *never* reaches 30°.
Then again, I do have it mounted at the bottom front of my Lian Li and there 2 80mm PAPST's blowing nice and cold air over it (both 7v of course).

I wouldn't do it if I were you. Believe it or not but the bugger gets HOT. It reaches around 60° from time to time *with* that pathetic little heatsink and seriously noisy fan. What I did is chop a volcano7 into a little 40x40mm piece, removed the stock fan and heatsink and put it on with thermal ad...

Perhaps I should get on my attic and pull out all my antiquities, just to count them! *G* (I'm only 17 but I have pc's that are older than me .. scary)

Does it disappear after a while? It's pretty normal for a little bit of a buzz to be made when everything's still warming up.

Rusty, how exactly does the air get *inside* that thing? It looks like it's completely sealed off, or am I not seeing straight?

I have more . But I don't have any laptops .

Thanks a lot .

Really? Would that be XP? Cuz I have Win2K only here.

I wonder, is it possible to put one HD in "sleep" mode while the other is still running??

Not directly related, but I'm wondering how much power a pc (including speakers and monitor and everything else you can think of) uses. And if you have any I'd be welcome to hear any suggestion to lower the usage.

- Bram

I'm using an LG StudioWorks 995E. I rather love it. It has a decent power usage too considering its size.

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The world would be so much better if they stopped writing useless linux drivers and wrote bsd drivers instead

The quality is pretty much as good as it gets .
Unless you're willing to fork out $500 to buy a GeForce FX in January ..

I have a GeForce4 MX440 with that other Zalman cooler on it, the extremely cheap one, the one without heatpipes. ZM 17CU or something like that). Still rock stable!

I wasn't aware of VIA source changes for X11 under BSD. I'll have to look into that! Thanks!

My way: Grab some pliers (or a leatherman multi too -- shameless plug), hold the card really tight, grab on to the heatsink with the pliers and TURN (from the left to the right) until it comes off. Don't try to pull it off, because you'll either have the chip *and* the heatsink in your hands, or you...

I have an AMD K6-2 400mhz running fanless .. I simply dumped my Volcano7+ on it and removed the fan . (Hey, I didn't need the volcano anyway since I got a zalman for my main pc). Works like a charm!