I'm not an idiot but the things described in the article sounded quite vague and blurry... Didn't saw anything new there, though. It all has been done for ages now, but the guys at Apple are smart enough to blow up the hype once again. For many users who never suspected that fans can be precisely co...

From my own experience with HDDs, I can tell you that if hard-mounted, no 3,5" drive is even a close match for any 2,5" drive out there; however, when suspended, things change a lot and a quiet 3,5" drive may not be particulary disturbing. I have taken the extreme and suspended an antique 160GB Mome...

Just a minor note - the Seasonic S12II-380 managed to slip into the 400W+ group

Everything about our lifestyles damages the environment. Your CRT isn't exactly innocent as the driven snow. It may be a sunk environmental cost now (not really, because some day it needs disposal), but it still has a footprint. You clearly know what I meant when I wrote this. I never said my CRT i...

Some existing Core2 products will be discontinued in 2009, but other new Core2 products will be launched. Do you think this contradicts or supports my statement about Core2 products being widely available for at least 2 more years? The E8xxx series was released less than year ago (in January), and ...

No, it does not. It has very high idle power, which is what most desktop CPUs do most of the time. Not that THG is a great source to quote, but they measured idle power to be some 1-2W in idle. It's load power consumtion that has increased, but given the higher performance you get, it actually tran...

I think this may be as big a failure as the Pentium 4 Wow, this was completely out of place... I don't want to start explaining how different things are nowadays, let's just say that simply because a CPU doesn't fit your needs isn't a reason to call it a failure. I wonder what you mean by "somethin...

Hi OtZman, I'm using a notebook since a year and a half now, so take my advice with a grain of salt; I never managed to fulfil all the things I'm going to talk about, either, but never mind, I hope they will be of some use to you. 1. First of all, don't take it for granted that one of the most expen...

Xbitlabs reported the drives will feature 3 platter, 166GB each... With WD being traditionaly quiet on the topic, it isn't entirely clear how many platters the drives will carry at the end. I'd bet 2, given the 9,5mm height, but who knows. A single-platter 250GB drive sounds like a very nice upgrade...

Sure, don't take my explanation for a scientific fact, I'm a total noob :) What I know is that ASIO output works for me even when the Windows Audio Service isn't started at all... And I guess it's a shortcut after all. I'll read the link thoroughly, thanks for replying. UPDATE> Yes, the picture seem...

Some questions: 3) Can the integrated audio give bit-perfect digital output, or does it force resampling? I think Mike is right, it has much to do with the OS (especially if you intend using Windows XP/Vista). I suggest you try this: http://www.asio4all.com This driver is one of my finest discoveri...

Well, I guess we'll just have to swallow it - hardware that performs extreme (I don't hesitate using this term since the 4850 GPU is an excellent performer) and runs cool is simply a rare gift, like the 3870 was... If you want top gaming performance, you have to cope with much heat and noise. Well, ...

Are you speking from experience? I'm asking because I was thinking of maybe switching from my T166 to an F1 for the added performance. Don't rely very much on some noticeable performance gains if you change your drive. In the contrary, if you aren't doing something that relies exclusively on hard d...

I must confirm the above, my drive measured 12,2 ms average access time with AAM off (measured in HDTune actually, but differences with HDTach shouldn't be as high as 4ms whatsoever). It may be that I'm getting too picky when it comes to PC acoustics these days, but if this drive is among the quiete...

May be that I was hoping to see my own dreams being supported this way in the far future while donating... Nevertheless, I'm glad for being able to help, albeit by a small amount. It's a great site that I always enjoy revisiting. Rising the bar even higher is the only way to go for the true professi...

Hi, I've got a 1GB Samsung DDR-II 667 SODIMM installed in my notebook which has the rather weird timings of 5-5-5-13. I want to add a second one, but the memory I can find in stock has the more common timings of either 5-5-5-12 or 5-5-5-15. Of course, there are no apparent BIOS setting which could a...

It will be too strange if quality control is practiced in different manners for "Intel" and "AMD" motherboards, so I wouldn't bet on this one. It is a fact however that there are notebooks that don't whine; and I wouldn't wonder if this is the case for the majority of them. So there is a way to make...

You're right. Still this doesn't change in any way what I sated above.

The problem has nothing to do with Intel or AMD directly. The blame is entirely on HP/DELL/Apple for choosing to integrate cheap crappy motherboards in their products. Intel (or AMD either) can't control what type of capacitors or other components a given motherboard manufacturer is using. But when ...

I've got a HP nx7400 with a T7200 CPU and it is suffering from the same flaw. I think it's rather annoying and simply can't believe that nobody heard that before sending the stuff for mass production. Or maybe some genius thought it wouldn't be noticeable for most users, who knows. It is an arrogant...

Yes, it works and there is no need to install additional drivers, since the southbridge is ICH8, and not ICH8R... Guess who's the idiot now

It seems that the iastor.sys driver is causing some problems on some systems, as a google search would suggest. I've also got a notebook featuring Intel's 945GM chipset and the SATA controller uses the same driver (even same version), but without any issues. So maybe the driver just doesn't come up ...

I must admit that I own a SATA drive for the very first time now; It didn't make any sense for me until I bought an Asus P5B-VM mATX system board, which has only got one ATA connector... So my experience with SATA driver-related problems isn't that big, you see. My problem is fairly straightforward:...

For the peace of mind, be sure never to buy that drive, if you are planning to build a PC that has something to do with the words quiet or silent (honestly, it would be a nice choice - if you were deaf or your PC was residing in the next room). Suspending the drive would resolve one of the issues - ...

What I really care about are the acoustics qualities of the SS-401HT... I don't want to know about sleeved cables and fancy shining retail boxes, or if there are two PCIE connectors, since I don't intend to use any :). A few percent shaved off from the efficiency are in my opinion not something to c...

Yes, I've put some large safety margins, just because I really don't know what those componetns are likely to draw :) I was indeed surprised to find how little DDR-2 sticks consume - there is a nice (too complex, maybe) calculator on Micron's site, i think. The only decent power supplies I was able ...

Hi all, I'm planing to build a system consisting of the following (basic) components: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU (~65W) MSI P965 Platinum (~40W) Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 (~20W) Samsung Spinpoint T / 400GB (~10W) XFX GF 7600GS (~20W) LG GSA-H22L (~20W) Fans, Mouse, Keyboard, etc. (~10W) My aim is to...

Who says this? It's just about getting a job well done to the end. You may call it perfectionism, and I enjoy being a perfectionist in everything I do, not in just playing with my rig. Besides this, there is enogh madness in everyone on earth... It just sublimes in different areas of life.

Ok, try cooling your 130W CPU with what you're feeling. "This collector plate can only attract particles from a distance of approximately 1/8 of an inch away!" The quote is from http://www.aircleaners.com/sharperimage.phtml . I don't want to call anyone idiot, I just told you what the Breezer does a...

Please note that any significiant airflow, induced by the ionizing efect of strong electrostatic field, occurs between the two electrodes of the electrostatic air pump... For me it's arguable what ammount of this airflow would reach components that are not between them - or even half a metre away. B...