The Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 uses the stock retention bracket, that would be OK depending on what CPU you have. For more cooling power so does the Freezer 64 Pro.

Are you guys sure any of those coolers mentioned will work on the AGP versions?

The AGP models have a PCIe to AGP bridge chip (and heatsink) that you have to work around.

What issues are you refering to?

AM2 ideally uses DDR2-800. The CPUs either work with the DDR2 at 733, 742, or 800 depending on the clockspeed and the multiplier needed to attain said speed. http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/23/ ... page9.html

Can I ask why Socket 754? Since you already know that you'll need to move on to PCI Express. If the Skythe is compatible with S754 it is also compatible Socket 939, they use the same layout and retention design. ATI's 2D quality is quite good these days, they have some very nice dual-link dual-DVI b...

The new AM2 platform specs PWM 4-pin CPU fan connectors doesn't it? (I know AMD Live! does) So would the Alpine 7 be a good choice for a "set it up and forget it" basic quiet AM2 system?

I guess now the question would be to be: how does one make sure you get a quiet model aside from physical inspection? Since, as was mentioned in the article, WD likes to change the drive characteristics and not change the model number.

That is what is called " Away Mode " it is an Windows XP MCE 2005 Rollup Update 2 feature that some motherboards support. All Viiv certified motherboards support it, and the ASUS is Viiv certified. Thanks. Does this means it's OS dependant? I guess it won't work on Windows XP Pro? Correct, it is a ...

A neat feature is that the mainboard supports instant on/off, and even installs a hardware driver for this ability. Instant on/off allows the system to go into a deep sleep mode, whereby the system is virtually turned off (fans don't turn, power consumption is dramatically cut). However, when the p...

nici wrote:they just make a common technology seem more high-tech and expensive and unique by describing it with fancy words

Which is the very definition of "marketing BS" to me.

AFIAK, "liquid cooling" is marketing BS for the Sony using lots of heatpipes which has liquid inside used as a heat transport mechanisim.

Well the integrated video is a little hard to classify, it would be closest to an x300SE due to the shared nature of the RAM. The ATI HDTV Wonder works with any DirectX 9 compliant video card, so it should work OK... but you won't be pleased with the integrated graphics for most things I have to say...

nici wrote:You are correct It is DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D, phew, and the card is in the lower slot with "sli" enabled.

I dont know if its disabled completely if not in "sli" mode or if its just running at 4x or 2x speed or what.

Without SLI mode enabled it is just a x2 slot.

Actually there is a bit of a correlation between platter size (platter density) and throughput. And yes cache can help too.

A couple of caveats to the ASUS adapter.

1. You need a board with BIOS support for the Pentium-M. Which basically means 3 specific ASUS models.

2. SpeedStep doesn't work since the desktop chipsets in the mobos aren't able to work with the P-M to clock itself down/up on demand.

hi sphere, several people have reported that when the fan speed monitoring cable is connected to the motherboard the fan ramps up. As soon as they disconnect the monitoring cable, the fan runs very slowly, probably as it should. I was trying to determine if the problem with your smartpower was the ...

sphere, You said that you got a defective fan controller in the sonata psu. What exactly was the problem? TIA - FG From the very first time I powered it up the fans spun at full speed, there was no ramping at all. I have a TP 2.0 400 watt around for use with a test bench so I knew that was not how ...

Just a heads up I got a defective fan controller in the PSU in a Sonata II and boy was it loud. I exchanged it and things are much better.

Hi guys, A few weeks back I picked up a SmartPower 2.0 400 watt for a testing PSU that was ATX12V 2.0 and had a PCIe graphics connector. I was surprised at how quiet it was and low the fan speed was. So I got my fiancé a Sonata II in addition to an upgrade to an Abit KV8 Pro and A64 3000+ combo that...

How is this DFI better for you than an Ultra-D? Is it less expensive? I don't know much about it. Although the Ultra-D has two 16x VGA slots, don't think that implies SLI. Think of it as giving you flexibility in where you place your VGA, allowing for more cooling options of your nF4 chip. Unless t...

Try WinAAM mentioned here:
http://forums.storagereview.net/index.p ... ode=linear

People seem to have sucess with enabling AAM on their WD drives with it.

EDIT: For PakkaPakka It looks like 7.1 audio output (maybe?), VGA, DVI, Component, either PS/2 or S-Video (I can never remember), HDMI, 2xEthernet, and 4xUSB. Not counting internal headers of course. Thanks sthayashi, I've never seen a HDMI connector to this day. Wonder if the AOpen board can provi...

Most Radeon's do well in their DVI implimentation a Radeon 9600 non-Pro is usually passively cooled, as is the step down from it called the 9550.

james22 wrote:I have both the 1614C NIDEC and the DM10 300gb. Get the Maxtor, no question about it. Just as quiet and VERY fast. Maxtor idles a bit quieter but has slightly more audible seeks.

With AAM set to quiet mode for both drives or...?

You have a Precision workstation, so it is almost guaranteed that you have a Xeon and not a P4. The features you mention fit the basic Nocona core Xeon, which had the 64-bit support some months beofore Intel brought it to the desktop (P4). Link . Unless Dell has some secret batches of P4s that even ...

The problem with the older GeForce cards is that their TV-out support was optional and used an external chip to impliment. There were a few brands/models of TV-out chips that didn't do Macrovision support and therefore will flag DVD software and will deny playback to the TV. The GeForce 4MX (not 4 T...

Great to hear that the new WD is quiet. Was this testing inside or outside your NoVibes?