I wish that were true. They're certainly less common than in Win9x days, but I've run into tons of BSOD conditions under XP. To be fair, they're often hardware or driver related, but they still happen. The most reliable way I know of reproducing an BSOD condition is to try installing nVidia's drive...

I'll check that out when I get home from work. It's an interesting idea that I actually considered as well. I guess if I had a much hotter running CPU, then I might be more inclined to go through the effort of cutting the blow hole. What CPU are you planning to use in your setup? Thanks! I should b...

Does the HDD ever spin down when its on.??? (HDD or Power connector fault). Does the HDD spin up when its not detected.??? (Power connecter fault). Have you tried putting a jumper on the drive to force it into SATA 150 mode.??? (Some chipsets and drives dont mix too well). It could also be the SATA...

Another option is the GigaByte K8NE . I just upgraded my HTPC (Athlon64 3000+ S754 51W CPU) and it is as happy as a clam with it. I picked up a used x16 PCIe XFX 6600GT for it and am loving it. You get almost the same experience as a S939 NForce 4 system with the exception of dual-channel memory. Go...

I ran into an issue with a GA-K8S760M (SiS760 chipset) and a WD SATA drive where I would start to get a large number of warnings and errors in the system event logs stating that the drive wasn't responding or the RAID subsystem was timing out. It turns out that some chipsets (SiS760 is one, Silicon ...

Well, supposedly my wife is getting me an Opteron 175...since I got her a Zune (which she, bless her heart, found before I had wrapped it, so now she gets slippers instead). For whomever it was who wanted a camera, if you can swing ~ $700 right now, I highly recommend a Nikon D50. Kits Camera has be...

The stock dual-core AMD heatpipe (like this ) can be very effective and quiet when undervolted to 7V or 5V and even quieter if you replace the stock 80mm fan with a Nexus or Scythe. I'm using one on my HTPC (Athlon64 3000+ S754) and am as happy as a clam with it. :D WRT the PSU, just buy an S12-430....

I'm sure this has been done by somebody else here, so I'm wondering...could I passively cool an Opteron 175 with a Scythe Ninja in a P150 case? Specifically, a P150 case with a Nexus 120mm case fan at 7V and an S12-330 PSU? Other hardware in the case is: AsRock 939Dual-SATA2 w/ (2) 512MB PC3200 DIMM...

The problem with any review doing a short one-week or so testing are the complaints about the AC Silencer fan getting noisier over time, and can even start to rattle. So, if a review says the AC Silencer is quieter, or even just plain quiet, the question is for how long? Is that a problem with ever...

The difference here.....while he was playing football, he was not a scum-bag. After his retirement from football, he was an actor, making commercials, doing football commentary. Nothing much to complain about. Was a woman brought him down, like so many other men. :cry: Misogynist much? ;-) -Derek

I rub it liberally all over my naked torso and then stick the CPU to my chest and dance suggestively in front of my wife.

Let the subcommittees and investigations begin!!!

Yes, see my answer to 2). I think that a big issue here is the performance requirements of modern operating systems <cough> Windows </cough>. If the function of the OS hasn't changed substantially since Windows '95, why does Vista require an 800 MHz computer with 512 MB of RAM, while Windows '95 wo...

Nice thing it is. I like the absurd heatsink! :lol: I don't like the looks though. I'm not a fan of perforated metal. Although it's by far the best looking wooden case I've seen, it quite doesn't match the closed (read: dustfree) look of the P180. Still good engineering here, congratulations!! (I'm...

There is no mention of discrete video cards in this case. The intel integrated graphics is not the best solution for 1080i HD video. Purevideo and Avivo do a better job at deinterlacing and sharp scaling for use on a HDTV. A 7600GT is the HD video card of choice because it supports all the advanced...

I've had remarkably good luck with the eVGA 7600GT. They seem to build high quality products and have a great warranty.

Unfortunately, they still don't have an HDCP/HDMI 7600GS for MCE. <sigh>

-Derek

most powerful and cool system is this: VIA K8T800 Pro chipset and a 90nm athlon 64 (not sempron) processor. the 2.0 ghz 512 meg cache one that new egg sells. so i agree there for the time being. via k8t800 pro has sata, cool running and very fast compared to other chipsets. I have abit kv8 pro, rea...

I'm really fond of my Dell 2005FPW (20" widescreen) and I have a couple of coworkers who love their 2405FPWs. If you decide to go with Dell, keep an eye on gotapex.com as they frequently have stackable coupons for Dell LCDs.

-Derek

Congratulations on winning the guitar! Page three says some users were able to start their crashing machines almost immediately . Should it be crashing their machines instead? I gotta say that leather-clad Asus uportable has got the looks. Too bad it doesn't have a trackpoint. Does IBM own a tradem...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4490733167064230159&q=macbook Fan when running actually seems to sound quite smooth. Just wondering if the mooing sound would probably go away if Apple updated the firmware for fan control (perhaps keeping it running slowly all the time instead of ramping so...

Tip 2: do not buy am2, do not buy conroe. Do not buy vista. do not buy hdcp compatible things. DO buy hack programs and boxes that strip drm from blu ray. Do buy 939 dual cores. It is OBVIOUS that vista is being made to control these anti-hack methods. Imagine having a legit copy of windows, a legi...

I'm pretty damn happy with the eVGA 7600GT CO with a Zalman ZM80D-HP and a 92mm Nexus fan running at 5V. Pretty much inaudable over my Seagate 7200.7 drives. Of course, installing a ZM80D is a major PITA, but it does the job. Alternately, you could go with with a VF900CU or a Thermalright V-1 Ultra ...

I have some tips on directx 10. it is basically 9 with some added really good things, but, as far as video cards go, if you have a top model now, either a x1900 or 7900 series card, really, not much to see here. I have gleaned a bit about it, and it seems to be first an attempt to unify video card ...

And your reason for upgrading to Vista is..? Right now, Vista looks like it's going to be a resource hog while giving little in return (except for a pain in the @$$ with DRM). I finally upgraded from Win98 last year because it didn't support some of the hardware I wanted. I don't plan on upgrading ...

Seasonic.

Well, I can't say with 100% certainty, but the Hauppauge 150 and the ATI Theater 550-based cards will most likely be supported. In regards to the remaining hardware, you can make a pretty educated guess. Dual core is pretty much a must (you can go single core, but dual core will make a big differenc...

Looking into building a new system and am thinking about going the Turion 64/MSI RS-482IL route... but also want to explore what other options out there that will be as quiet or quieter and still yield some good speeds. Any info is appreciated. I'd suggest getting a Sempron 3000+ and the MSI RS-482...

Looking into building a new system and am thinking about going the Turion 64/MSI RS-482IL route... but also want to explore what other options out there that will be as quiet or quieter and still yield some good speeds. Any info is appreciated. I'd suggest getting a Sempron 3000+ and the MSI RS-482...

There are a few passive ones out there and they should run cooler than the 6600 due to the smaller fab process. Both EVGA and XFX have passive 7600GS cards. Might be a good followup to compare the EAX1600XT Silent to a pair of 7600GS cards.

-Derek

Wynton Marsalis - Knozz-Moe-King (Live at Blues Alley - Disk 1)

-Derek