Search found 112 matches

by inti
Tue Nov 13, 2012 9:09 am
Forum: Deals, Vendors and Classifieds
Topic: WTB: Spare Antec Solo / P150 drive rails for 5.25" drives
Replies: 1
Views: 3538

WTB: Spare Antec Solo / P150 drive rails for 5.25" drives

This: http://store.antec.com/Product/accessory-spare_parts/solo-p150-sx-tx_5_25_rails/0-761345-30282-1.aspx If you have two or (better) four drive rails to spare - perhaps unused in the base of your current case, perhaps you are upgrading to a new case - please get in touch. I'm happy to pay for shi...
by inti
Tue Nov 13, 2012 9:02 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Antec Solo drive rails?
Replies: 3
Views: 3993

Re: Antec Solo drive rails?

Has anyone recently managed to buy Antec Solo (or P150) drive rails?
Any kind SPCR members upgrading from an Antec case, want to sell some to me?
by inti
Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:23 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Silent NAS, looking for ideas
Replies: 12
Views: 12432

Re: Silent NAS, looking for ideas

Hi Mike. The cost of one case was US $848 plus shipping plus taxes. (In my case international shipping to Europe was approximately $100, also I had to pay European taxes on delivery but no US sales tax.) That was the price for the case itself (including e-SATA and power board options to be internall...
by inti
Fri Nov 02, 2012 6:53 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Silent NAS, looking for ideas
Replies: 12
Views: 12432

Re: Silent NAS, looking for ideas

I have now bought the A-Tech mass storage case myself, and have it working. I chose the option with an e-SATA to four SATA adapter mounted internally in the case, linked to my PC by a 2 metre e-SATA cable. Here are my impressions: 1. The case comes as a kit. Although all the tools you need to build ...
by inti
Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:16 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: multiple hard drives, not for server but for RAID speed
Replies: 28
Views: 14172

Re: multiple hard drives, not for server but for RAID speed

RAID is very noisy because any disk action requires simultaneous seeks from all drives. So your +3dB power law will hold true for RAID. To explain, in a normal multi-drive system, all drives are spinning but typically only one drive is seeking at a time. If you do a complex drive-to-drive operation...
by inti
Sat Jul 09, 2011 5:14 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which 2TB HDDs?
Replies: 12
Views: 7815

Re: Which 2TB HDDs?

Did you look at Seagate? Their 2TB is now a 3-platter drives, and I think they handle the '4k sector size' issue best for older operating systems (i.e. if the drives are formatted in Windows with non-aligned partitions)
http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_ba ... t2000dl003
by inti
Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:08 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: HDD's in 5.25" bays (4in3 modules etc)
Replies: 15
Views: 6815

5.25" drive caddy systems for HDD are very bad for noise. They are designed to fit the drives into the space, with no consideration for noise at all - many even have an incredibly noisy 6cm fan of their own ... Apart from the lack of any rubber or elastic (and probably no physical space to include y...
by inti
Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:07 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Silent NAS, looking for ideas
Replies: 12
Views: 12432

Any updates on this thread? It would be great to hear comments from somebody who owns the A-Tech mass storage case, as I keep wanting to get one but the cost seems very high.
by inti
Thu Jan 22, 2009 4:52 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Idle vs. Parked Heads vs. Spin Down
Replies: 8
Views: 5222

As there's a lot of expertise about spin-down on this thread :) I hope it's OK to ask this fairly detailed question: My system has many HDD (let's say, eight) in a JBOD configuration, and staggered spin-up. The system is primarily a media server, used for music for the house (one drive) recording TV...
by inti
Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:31 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Samsung EcoGreen F2 500GB / platter is out!
Replies: 110
Views: 93084

Here is the full range of F2: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productSubType.do?group=72&type=61&subtype=78 HD502HI - 500GB HD102SI - 1TB HD103SI - 1TB HD153UI - 1.5TB HD154UI - 1.5TB I don't know what the difference between the models is - all look to have same spin speed and 32MB cache,...
by inti
Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:59 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: The quiet DVD drive ultimate thread
Replies: 24
Views: 20952

I'm very pleased with my new LG GGC-H20L. It's a fast Blu-Ray / HD-DVD / DVD reader (and DVD rewriter), and the quietest DVD drive I've ever used - I've not even tried Drivespeed on it yet, either. I'm sure it's only average in noise terms compared with the Pioneer 216, but still, it's a nice perfor...
by inti
Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:31 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Why arent external fanless PSU's more popular?
Replies: 14
Views: 6689

I can think of a few reasons: (1) Clutter (2) Cabling (3) Case cost - the external PSU would need a proper case Clutter - you'd need a large separate box, which needs to be put somewhere Cabling - ideal solution would be some type of modular connector at the back where the PSU power lead normally go...
by inti
Thu Oct 02, 2008 1:38 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Hard Disks. Good for offline storage over the years?
Replies: 34
Views: 17137

I use HDDs for archival and backup, and I have some that are 5 years old with no problem at all. I probably only spin them up once every 3 months or so. This can be a sensible approach to backup or archiving, but think about the following. Cost: good quality DVD blanks (Taiyo Yuden) cost around $0.2...
by inti
Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:43 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Gigabyte passive HD4850
Replies: 77
Views: 76858

What about the Powercolor 4850 - it has a fan, but is said by this review: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4850_PCS/30.html to be the quietest fan-cooled card they have ever seen. It makes no sense to me to get a hot passively-cooled card which necessitates two system fans to make t...
by inti
Tue Sep 30, 2008 2:29 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: HIS ATI Radeon HD 4650 Heatpipe Silent
Replies: 4
Views: 3955

they've really crippled it in order to make it cheap while still passive. 600mhz core (compared to 750 stock) and 1000Mhz DDR2 instead of 2000Mhz GDDR3. That is indeed the difference between 4650 and 4670. 4650 is like a factory-underclock of the 4670. Supposed to achieve 48W peak instead of 59W. I...
by inti
Tue Sep 30, 2008 2:24 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon HD 4670: A perfect balance?
Replies: 498
Views: 390289

Asus 4670 with a factory-installed Accelero L1 2-slot cooler - said by Asus to be 15 degrees cooler than reference design, so maybe scope for Fanmating it down to something really low noise? http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2&l2=8&l3=806 (Edit: this was covered by the jamppa on page 1 of this th...
by inti
Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:58 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ATI Radeon 4550 - 25W - Silent from birth
Replies: 30
Views: 25395

First review: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/hd4550/12.html Poor performance with modern games, let down by 64-bit memory interface. Video decoding performance untested. Power consumption not as low as might be hoped: a 9670 seemed to use 4W less at idle. Ouch. This is a shame, b...
by inti
Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:42 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ATI Radeon 4550 - 25W - Silent from birth
Replies: 30
Views: 25395

Update: launch date now said to be 30 September 2008.
by inti
Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:37 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: ATI Radeon 4550 - 25W - Silent from birth
Replies: 30
Views: 25395

ATI Radeon 4550 - 25W - Silent from birth

ATI have announced the Radeon 4550, due for retail maybe end of September, based around a chip called RV710. My non-technical understanding is that it is a scaled-down low power version of the chip in the Radeon 4650/4670 series of cards. The 4550 comes in two versions (half height and full height) ...
by inti
Fri Sep 12, 2008 3:28 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon HD 4670: A perfect balance?
Replies: 498
Views: 390289

Thanks for mentioning the 4550 - that sounds like the perfect HTPC card, single slot passive <25W. And still faster for gaming than a 3650 - should keep a (very) casual gamer like me happy. More about 4550: Picture of it and specs (leaked AMD slide): http://www.dvhardware.net/article29749.html Septe...
by inti
Tue Dec 25, 2007 1:31 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Time for RAID
Replies: 21
Views: 13895

RAID is very difficult to make silent - whenever I've tried it, 'seek' noises from HDD become very much more obtrusive, because both drives are seeking exactly simultaneously. Therefore I agree with other posters. Use a single working drive, and implement a sensible backup system using one or more s...
by inti
Sun Dec 23, 2007 5:12 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Radeon hd3850 (105w)
Replies: 79
Views: 46910

Powercolor 3850 Xtreme (also called 3850 Pro Extreme Silent in some markets) This looks to be a 3850 with an aftermarket cooler ( Zerotherm GX810 ). Cooler specs say "Automatic fan speed control by Temp. Sensor (900~2500 rpm)". So keep your case cool, and this should be very quiet. Could be a good ...
by inti
Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:19 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: A word of warning about booting Windows from 2.5" drive
Replies: 43
Views: 18939

highlandsun thank you for your informative post. The PLA service you referred to is Performance Logs and Alerts Service? One of the many I have disabled, on my own machine :) I have also disabled Indexing Service. And for a nice idle machine, I think you need to either disable 'Warn when low on dis...
by inti
Wed Jul 11, 2007 7:34 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Finally, a quiet SATA drive...I mean really quiet.
Replies: 49
Views: 53223

I have several Samsung 501LJ (T166 series). They are good fast drives (in terms of throughput), cool running, build quality seems good and the motor and seek noises are quiet. But there is significant sample variance for vibration - some of my drives vibrate a fair amount. If you are suspension-moun...
by inti
Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:34 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: A word of warning about booting Windows from 2.5" drive
Replies: 43
Views: 18939

I think the suggestion that Windows XP accesses the drive on average once every 30 seconds is misleading. My wife has a notebook running Windows XP SP2 with default configuration (she won't let me near it ...) and McAfee antivirus, and she often leaves it on, and idle obviously, overnight. In the qu...
by inti
Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:35 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Antec P150 still has rubber band suspension?
Replies: 16
Views: 8369

I just got a P150 in the UK, and it had rubber bands still. I'm not complaining, the tension and springiness of the bands is just right for drive suspension. Also it was tough to get the drives to slide in, and the fact that the rubber bands have a circular cross-section so that they 'roll' over the...
by inti
Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:27 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Silent NAS, looking for ideas
Replies: 12
Views: 12432

I'm very interested in either the A-Tech case or MikeC's suggestion for a home built version (thanks for looking in on this thread, MikeC). I am thinking of placing an order for the A-Tech soon but I'll hold off a few more weeks as it is very costly, especially after factoring in shipping to Europe ...
by inti
Fri Oct 06, 2006 6:42 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Silent NAS, looking for ideas
Replies: 12
Views: 12432

There is a commercial product which does this: it is costly, but beautifully made (of solid metal) and both safe (in terms of temperature) and silent or near-silent for up to 4 drives. http://www.atechfabrication.com/products/mass_storage.htm This cools the drives by conduction which is how drives a...
by inti
Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:31 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Removable drive bays
Replies: 18
Views: 11482

An update: I've not found a solution to vibration transmission when using an aluminium mobile rack - it is basically as bad as hard-mounting a HDD, perhaps even worse because there is a slight play in the system and so you hear the HDD rack vibrating against the enclosure or against other HDD in the...
by inti
Wed Sep 27, 2006 4:30 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Google suggest new 12V-only PSU standard
Replies: 11
Views: 5988

You'd also need hard drives to work on 12V only. I was thinking about the PicoPSU for a new build I am doing, but I don't think it will have enough juice for the drives: I think the system will need more than 90W. The real problem here is not the motherboard but the difficulty in finding a high curr...