Search found 191 matches

by darthan
Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:01 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: HDD issue with heat (WD5000KS in Scythe Quiet Drive)
Replies: 3
Views: 2895

That is within the drives rated operating temperature range. Over 45 does make a lot of the people around SPCR pretty uncomfortable as it could theoretically reduce drive lifespan. I don't know that there is any hard evidence to back that idea up though. If you're worried try suspending or otherwise...
by darthan
Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:39 am
Forum: Newcomers Briefing Room
Topic: A silent high-end gaming computer: possible?
Replies: 19
Views: 15541

The answer is maybe, if you've got lots of money. If you really must have dual 8800GTS and such, well, you're going to have to invest in a large water cooling system to make it work. This would get to be a complicated project very very quickly. You would do better to just get one 8800 GTS (it's wort...
by darthan
Fri Dec 22, 2006 2:13 pm
Forum: Newcomers Briefing Room
Topic: Reaaly Good, Really Silent card for the Dell 30'' Monitor
Replies: 12
Views: 8226

You might as well wait until the Dell 30" arrives before buying another video card. Then test it with the one you have, if it works (if you can successfully display the monitor's max res. and bit depth then it works.), you're all done. If it doesn't work then buy a new graphics card. Something like ...
by darthan
Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:29 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Phase-change memory
Replies: 5
Views: 4393

Unfortunately the many applications that phase change can replace hard disk is in things like cell phones and stuff. This type of memory won't have the capacity to replace hard drives for several years, at least.
by darthan
Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:26 pm
Forum: Notebook Systems
Topic: need some feedback..
Replies: 2
Views: 4238

You should be good to go with any USB mouse. My experience with WinXP is that you can plug and unplug USB mice to your hearts content and they'll work just fine.
by darthan
Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:25 am
Forum: Newcomers Briefing Room
Topic: Fan grills inside the computer?
Replies: 4
Views: 5125

I do believe it is also because of the potential for messy wiring. A PSU fan is a lot less likely to get jammed by a misplaced wire if it has a grill over it than if it doesn't. Computer components for retail sale are generally built on the principal that the person installing them is a thumb finger...
by darthan
Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:59 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: Physics question: why does metal feel colder than ambient?
Replies: 7
Views: 7355

Your body generally senses changes in environmental conditions, not absolutes. For things like temperature that means things that feel cold are things that are rapidly conducting heat away from you while things that feel ambient are slowly or not conducting heat away from you. How fast something con...
by darthan
Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:23 pm
Forum: Off Topic
Topic: What do YOU want for the holidays?
Replies: 42
Views: 39405

fmriguy, if you get the E3Cs (good headphones, those) be careful if you have pets, especially dogs. See, things that go in your ears start to collect earwax, and something nasty like that is naturally irresistibly tasty to dogs. I had my pair for only seven weeks... :cry: As for what I want for Chri...
by darthan
Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:15 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Looking for a small speed bump
Replies: 2
Views: 2810

DVD playback generally isn't limited by your video card. It is usually done by your CPU using a software decoder contained in your DVD player software. A Sempron 3200 with 1GB of RAM ought to be able to play back any DVD without trouble. As for what card, in the price range you're looking at, you pr...
by darthan
Thu Nov 23, 2006 1:37 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: EnergyStar Computer Spec 4.0 Finalized
Replies: 17
Views: 17576

It seems like Category A is almost useless. In just a two years there are going to be virtually no computers sold with less than a dual core processor and 1GB of memory.
by darthan
Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:33 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Buy Laptop now or wait for Vista and Santa Rosa.
Replies: 4
Views: 3672

When buying technology there is always going to be a newer better technology no more than six months out. I'd just ask, will this thing be useful now? If yes, then buy it now. If no, then wait for it. I understand that Vista breaks this mold a little bit, but unless you have a specific reason to nee...
by darthan
Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:30 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Recommendations for a VGA cooler: x1900xt
Replies: 7
Views: 4661

It is probably easiest to just put a fan undervolted on the video card cooler. Or, if you can adapt it, plug the fan into the video card so you can use ATITool to control it's speed as card temperature varies.
by darthan
Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:08 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Cable required
Replies: 3
Views: 2827

Are you sure that the mobo won't transmit sound through the digital audio jack to your DAC/amp? It ought to transmit all sound not just 5.1 sound from DVDs. You might want to check out the drivers or sound settings and check the mobo manual. It really ought to be able to put out all its sound digita...
by darthan
Wed Oct 18, 2006 9:17 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Any room to maneuver?
Replies: 4
Views: 3199

Just try it. 7V the two case fans and then run 2x Prime 95 or whatever CPU stressor software you like. See if the CPU temp goes high enough to throttle (I'm not sure how to check if it's throttling, CPUID might tell you you though). If it doesn't, then you're done. If it does, then buy the third fan...
by darthan
Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:52 pm
Forum: Watercooling
Topic: I've been told my beast needs water
Replies: 59
Views: 38321

Well, the first question you should ask yourself is if silent is really the goal or just comfortably quiet. Comfortably quiet absolutely can be done, probably without watercooling. Silent almost certainly can't be done without a large investment of time and money and maybe (probably) not even then. ...
by darthan
Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:39 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Questions about the basics of 2.5" drives
Replies: 7
Views: 3586

If you get an SATA laptop drive you don't need any adapters. They take standard SATA plugs and power cables. This is one of the benefits of SATA. If you're using it for media storage you're right, performance essentially doesn't matter unless you are interested in Hi-Def video. Then it might matter ...
by darthan
Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:19 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Are the new PC Power & Cooling Silencers quiet?
Replies: 8
Views: 4650

Well, the reputation of PC P&C is that they make high quality (workstation quality) power supplies, that have proper industrial cooling. So the chances of them making a power supply that is genuinely quiet are slim. But why would you need a 750W power supply anyway? Unless your system involves multi...
by darthan
Mon Aug 28, 2006 3:28 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: How do I quiet a DC Fan Clicking noise?
Replies: 6
Views: 5830

That type of clicking can also be caused by PWM fan slowing (as opposed to undervolting). If the card is plugged into your graphics card header try slowing it through a Fanmate or undervolting it some other way. If that clears up your noise then PWM is the problem. If it doesn't then you need to loo...
by darthan
Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:51 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: XP 32-bit or 64-bit?
Replies: 10
Views: 5045

Yeah, if you do a lot of gaming you'll probably want to stick with 32-bit. Every piece of software should work, but (graphics, sound, etc)drivers for XP-64 aren't as mature as the 32-bit ones so 64-bit is probably slower for gaming. XP-64 is really a sort of interim solution until Vista arrives so i...
by darthan
Wed Aug 23, 2006 9:25 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Some info needed on Gigabyte 7900gt
Replies: 6
Views: 3760

If you're talking about a Seasonic S12-430, it should have a six pin graphics connector and it will handle a 7900GT just fine. If you are talking about the Gigabyte 7900GT that comes with a built in VF-700 heatsink then yes, it could be quiet. As long as the card undervolts the fan properly when it ...
by darthan
Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:36 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Tuning my Antec 180 to new heights, advice welcome! Updated
Replies: 22
Views: 13451

Hmmm, mostly sounds good. It sounds like you'll be making things hotter and quieter, not cooler and quieter since most of what you're going to be doing is removing fans and reducing fan speeds. I would hold off on replacing the fan in the Sonata PSU if I were you. I'm using the same set-up with the ...
by darthan
Thu Aug 17, 2006 12:19 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Time for a new rig, CPU help appreciated
Replies: 6
Views: 3623

I wouldn't worry so much about the 89W TDP of the X2s. First, that is the worst case scenario output for the highest clocked biggest cache CPU, all the slower ones will be cooler. Second, with a good tower heatsink from Scythe or Thermalright you will be able to tame those beasts with minimal noise....
by darthan
Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:15 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: P180 airflow - fanless vga?
Replies: 15
Views: 8239

Going passive should work. It's important to remember that going truly passive isn't possible. You must have some airflow around anything hotter than a low power (X1300, 7300 etc.) card. Something like a 7600GT is going to require more than just random airflow to cool it passively, at least in 3D mo...
by darthan
Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:16 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Questions about earth ground?
Replies: 20
Views: 8478

Aris, electrons won't flow in both directions. They will flow in the direction of the net voltage. That is, if you hook up a +5V and a -5V to the same ground, the result is a 10V current flowing from the +5V to the -5V. (Yes, the electrons go the opposite direction, the physics/engineering conventio...
by darthan
Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:52 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Zero Moving Parts 120mm Fan Project
Replies: 22
Views: 13287

Ummm, negative ions won't do anything for you. And if you google around I'm sure you could also find people who think positive ions are good for you. The best case scenario is that they do nothing. The worst case is that they do exactly what science would say they do which is react with the air to c...
by darthan
Wed Aug 16, 2006 2:42 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Way To Hot? Should I complain...65c
Replies: 10
Views: 4355

Yeah, what Rusty said. Also, BACKUP!!! 66C is above the rated operating temps for every normal desktop drive (that I've heard of) so it probably will end up killing the drive. Make sure any precious data, or even data you kinda sorta maybe like is saved somewhere else. It's kind of a pain, but at le...
by darthan
Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:34 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: cheap passive card that won't bottleneck non gaming system
Replies: 11
Views: 5484

Buy any video card you want. Those are all 2D tasks and won't require any special work from the video card. Heck, an S3 Virge would do it (as long as you made sure to get it upgraded with 4 whole megabytes of RAM so it could handle 1024x768 resolution). I'd recommend getting a card with a ATI, Nvidi...
by darthan
Tue Aug 15, 2006 3:29 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Energy budget calculations for new system
Replies: 2
Views: 2103

Well, as far as mobos and RAM goes, call it 30-40W total max power and you'll be covered. RAM usually draws just 2-3W per stick and a mobo probably no more than 20W but it could be 30W so just use 40W as your guideline. You really don't have to worry about their power draw too much, it's pretty mini...
by darthan
Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:42 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Is this safe? (antec p180 and antec 500w SP concern)
Replies: 4
Views: 2753

Yeah, that system's max power draw is no more than 200W, and probably significantly less than that. You have tons and tons of headroom on that PSU.
by darthan
Mon Aug 14, 2006 10:44 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Changing CPU speed and fan speeds on the fly in Windows?
Replies: 4
Views: 2975

Well, both AMD and Intel chips should take care of speed regulation for you. If you enable C'n'Q on an Athlon64 or EIST on a Conroe they should both undervolt and underclock themselves when high performance is not needed. This should be true even if you overclock them (well, a simple FSB overclock s...