Dirkwoods (my employer) sells Zalman and Antec gear, and I plan to keep hassling to get more quiet-focussed gear in stock.

ok, I have added a few generic shops recently because a lot of silent gear is becoming mainstream.

Re: MSY. I buy all my base parts from here, and they are one of the few companies to stock HIS. When my HIS 9800 Pro (iceq) died (2 weeks out of warranty) they sent it back, and got me a brand new one. This was awesome service. I have also heard people with horror stories.

With MSY don't go there unless you know what you want. they do NOT offer advice. Prices are cheap, but the queues can suck.

MSY headquarters used to be the Glen Iris store (that was the first one), but now it's the Clayton/Monash store, which is in a warehouse. They have queues there, but they seem to be shorter, and it's a lot easier to park. The queues in the Glen Iris store were horrific at times - five people serving and there were still twenty or thirty people waiting - that was a typical Saturday

I've had good experiences getting warranty exchange parts there, too. A friend of mine was allowed to exchange a motherboard that he rendered useless by flashing with the wrong BIOS (he explained, and they still swapped it). I've heard one horror story, but it was partly the fault of the buyer.

I noticed that they've added the Antec P180 to the price list, and I think it's the best price in town.

You are right, though - it's best to visit MSY knowing what you want: "I want this motherboard, this CPU, this RAM, this hard drive, and what do you have in the way of 7800 GTX cards this week?"

not Australia I know but does anyone know if any of these ship to NZ? Any recommended suppliers (particularly of Thermalright, I really want an SI-97) in NZ itself? Just come from the UK, so I'm a bit at sea about where to get stuff from.

Matt, I should have mentioned this in t he PM, but look at Overclocking sites in NZ for good Heatsinks

http://www.overclockers.co.nz/

We all need them for the same reason, just with different end objectives

i bought some stuff from coolpc.com.au a short while ago, highly recommend them. they have a large range, reasonable prices, quick email replies, and good customer service. the boxes come well packaged, and when i found one thing was missing from the delivery i simply emailed them back and i got it the next day via overnight delivery!

PC Case Gear and Scorptec are pretty good

Can we start a distributers section here as well? For anyone that works at a computer related company its usually pretty easy to get an account with any of the distributers, and getting wholesale is a sweet sweet thing

for distributers I'd say www.altech.com.au is my fave, because they have zalman

PC Casegear are good but their online communication definitely needs improving.
HB Outlet have some silent stuff at good prices ie Glacialtech fans..

Dont know if this is still being updated, but I have traded with on numerous times with satifaction with:

PlusCorp
Scorpion Technology
Nintek
CoolPc

Also traded with pc case gear but I was very disatisfied with them, bad supported, very over quoted postage, to be 10 tins of mints it was something like $20 post.

I am not from Australia but i found this from ebay.
Ebay
There Website
They call it "Usicase 400W Super Silent Power Supply with 12cm Fan"
AU $27.49/AU$29.00

Thought how many Db is Super Silent supposed to be?
They don't mention anything about Db.
I am guessing that Usicase is not a good company?

Unless you're building a ten year old PC don't touch it with a barge pole.

Look at the ratings:
+3.3V +5V +12V -5V -12V +5VSB
25A 30A 16A 0.5A 0.5A 2.5A

The highest current capacity is on the 3 & 5v rails and not the 12v rail where it should be.
No use even if it does have a 24pin plug!

i've just stumbled across http://www.pcmarket.com.au/ while looking for a sd11g5. i've not bought anything from this shop before, yet, but the site is easy to browse and the prices are very competitive. most prices listed include "free" shipping.

starsky: Personally recommend SecretNet & HBOutlet
Also worth putting staticICE search tool on the list too.

I'll recommend auspcmarket.com.au, their not cheap but they are good and their packaging will survive a nuclear war.


I'll 2nd secret, free deliver if your local and/or free pickup. The online ordering system will send you a heap of emails however.


++

anybody know any shops that sell Kill-a-watt power meters (or equivalent) either in Aus or preferably in NZ? Everyone I ask here looks at me like I've got a third eye in my forehead or something

Dick Smith, Jaycar or Altronics I think. Will check later for a link.

Hmm, surprises no ones metioned Ai-Tech. great service, have a shop front at , Elstinwick. Stock Zalman, Antec parts ect. They can be found here at: www.ai-tech.com.au

Here are a couple.

CAT. NO. MS6115 from www.jaycar.com.au

Ifr you're more adventureous and want to build a kit, Dick Smith has K7217, but you'll need to get it certified by a sparky before you power on (don't skimp on this step - 240V can (and does) kill people)

If anyone finds one that will log to a PC, then I'm all ears...

Here's an ongoing Oz Powermeter thread
Post #4 also fully links to the Jaycar meter @ AU$40.

One of my new local shops - NEXUS (Latrobe Street Melbourne CBD) has all sorts of stuff, and they do order-ins. When I was in there buying all the components for my new system, I was having a browse and I noticed a collection of Scythe Heatsinks, and expressed my surprise that someone had them in stock. The guy in the shop said they were the Australian Distributor. My lucky day.

The in-shop prices are more expensive than the web prices, so when you go into the shop, make sure you have the web prices written down, My experience has been that they will honor them.

Cheers.

Starsky.

I can say, without a doubt, that Ai-Tech are the WORST people I have ever had to deal with. And I'm not alone.. Do a search on Whirlpool's forums for Ai-Tech / PC.net.au. They don't answer phones, don't respond to emails. Shocking. I bought 3x cases from them and ended up driving down to pick them up, without any correspondance with them at all.

Also a good idea to add ausprices.com.au, another price comparison.

I would highly recommend AGAINST purchasing any Zalman products in Australasia, as their support appears to be pretty much non-existent in this part of the world, unless you can be sure the shop you buy it from will guarantee the product.

I'm in NZ, and have lost the metal braces needed to secure the cooler to the CPU, and have been emailing them for months trying to find out how I can obtain replacements. They have completely ignored me, not even one reply yet, and now I'm the proud owner of an expensive paper weight. I can't recommend Zalman to anyone, and suggest people look elsewhere as their service is perhaps the worst I've encountered.

The Jaycar meter is apparently back in stock now too ..

Arrikhan

There are two MSY shop-fronts in Adelaide (SA), and their price list includes Seasonic S12II and S12+ psu's, as well as the WD GreenPower hdd's, and some Antec cases. Also has the Cheapest Prices in Aus that I can find, for pretty much everything they stock.. they don't post stuff though, you have to go to the store, and you can only get something if they have it in stock.. they don't order in.

Best bet is to ring them and find out if they have what you want, then you can ask them to hold it for up to 2-3 days in my experience. I've bought 3x WD 5000AAKS and a E6750 from the shop in Adelaide City while on holidays there, for various mates back home. Prices on the price list at the time of reservation are what you pay upon pickup.

Also.. PC Case Gear has Scythe Slipstream fans

It would also appear that now that Nintek is dead that Noctua gear will be available in many more stores at a lower cost through new distributor Mittoni
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=news ... =34&lng=en

What happened to Nintek?

Scorpion Technology recently added the Noctua NH-U12P Performance CPU Cooler and Noctua pressure/sound optimised fans to their range. Their prices can be high but they are an excellent, professional store to deal with.

Went into administration taking tens of thousands of customer $$s with them.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... m?t=894870

Ouch.

Thanks; I haven't been around Whirlpool for a while.

MSY (price watch) now list the Noctua NH-U12P Performance CPU Cooler ($83), Noctua NC-U6 Dual Heatpipe Chipset Cooler ($32), Noctua NF-P12-1300 120m System Case Fan ($29) and Noctua NT-H1 Pro-Grade Thermal Compound ($9).

Yate Loons fans can now be bought in Australia from Gammods :

http://www.gammods.com.au/store/index.p ... cPath=7_12