floffe: Thank you for your comment and for linking to the document. For our family's way of life, we are quite happy to wash up by hand. I admit though the number of dishes to wash up in our household isn't much compared to a larger household or hosting environment (lots of dinner parties, guests). ...

Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned the HDD in question. It's a Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 40GB. I have since replaced it with a Samsung HM160HI 2.5" and WD6400AAKS 3.5". My critical data has been backed up to these drives, however, I still don't trust them as much as my old Seagate. Don't...

A hard drive fell out of one of my cases when I was reinstalling some drives. Time to get out the handkerchiefs folks: it was quite a sad moment :cry:. Thankfully, it was an older system drive which was non-critical and nearing retirement at the time. (I had wisely backed up the critical data on a s...

...

Our working class family don't use dishwashers. I've never seen a need for one in our house, and we'd probably never use it even if one was given to us and installed for free. Utter waste of water, electricity and maintenance costs from our perspective. Even if I was in a different social class, I w...

After some reevaluation of the P183, I think the design of the PSU mount to fit the CP-850 is a bold and positive move on Antec's part. The straight through airflow configuration makes sense and should help to make a quieter power supply. While I would never need or even consider buying a CP-850, pe...

i looked hard at the dark knight, but i ended up getting the mugen 2 because: 1)its cheaper 2)it cools better 3)it's a *lot* quieter, 51db vs 68db(!!) http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/2736/scythe_mugen_2_cpu_cooler/index6.html xigmatek coolers in general are not the best choice for silent computing...

But in general, Bosch's are like Hondas, well-built and reliable. Most Hondas imported into Australia are Made in Thailand. This is mostly due to a free trade deal between the two countries. The exceptions are the Hybrid and high end Sport models. Honda cars do have a reputation for excellent build...

Aww man, I spend quite a bit of time responding, then I hit submit and it asked me to logon. When I did everything I wrote disappeard. :( When you compose a lengthy enough reply, copy it to the clipboard or paste it into a .txt file on the desktop. That way, if you ever get logged off, disconnected...

...

A mATX performance board aimed at gamers is still mostly a strange idea. I think it's a great idea! mATX is what I'd chose for a gaming computer to haul around to friends and LAN parties. Noisy environment and all headset use makes computer noise a non issue. Cheers Olle If good mATX boards weren't...

I recently discovered a tool that can securely wipe HDDs from a floppy called HDDErase . It is regarded by security experts as the fasest and most secure software method of completely erasing a HDD, since it utilises a built in security feature that is on most hard drives manufactured after 2001. Bl...

robokopp, that doesn't sound too good :!: I am awaiting Antec's response to my trouble ticket regarding my Solo which has faulty and damaged parts. This is the 3 RD Antec case I have had in 6 years that has had problems. Why do I keep punishing myself then, do you ask? Well, that is a good question....

Okay, after reading the OP's topic again, I think he is meaning that his system will draw up to 400W at load! That throws a spanner in the works of our recommendations :?. [ Quiet up to 400W ] The culprits for the high power consumption would be a combination of an overclocked quadcore CPU, a power ...

Looks to be aimed as a competitive replacement for the stock cooler for average citizens. In the so called "mom and pop" segment, or perhaps more accurately "those who upgrade for mom and pop" segment, AC Freezer 7/Pro 64 PWM is the most well known and trusted. Interesting whether Scythe and their u...

A kilo of Zalman on my CPU? No thanks :). I'll be staying with Xigmatek for now: top performance for the dollar, fairly light, affordable. Mugen 2 looks to be a top performer, but price is quite high in my locality, and it's another one of those heavyweights that I try to avoid. Surely someone can c...

US$80 does seem high for a value PSU... that's probably because the Nexus is a European product: the Euro is quite strong against most other currencies, so outside the EU you have to pay a premium for these imports. Cooler Master 690 is a good alternative to the P18x but they cannot be directly comp...

FOR Mike Chin: Any chance of a SPCR review or do you think there are enough good reviews on this case out there already. :?: The chances of MikeC reviewing and embracing this case are as good as England winning a World Cup anytime soon . Highly unlikely, but not outside the realms of possibility. "...

As Neil said, the Nexus Value 430 will be the quietest fan-cooled PSU around the 400W mark. It's not as efficient at low loads as the similarly spec'd Corsair VX450, but it will be a lot quieter as the fan in the Nexus will be spinning much slower. Regarding the P182 you're considering, if you can g...

Does the HX450 have the plastic baffle that the VX450 does? I have a VX450 that I consider quite audible (but livable for now), although my system is fairly low power. So the fan must be behaving strangely of its own accord. You've already done the fan swap and voided the warranty, so you might as w...

I will be getting one of the variants of this board. Most probably the R or P version which does have MOSFET and VRM heatsinks. I live in a warm climate also (40+C in heart of summer), so whatever cooling I can get that doesn't contribute significantly to noise is a bonus. I personally do not like m...

...

...

I too am needing to buy a new system drive. It will either be F2 or LP. I hope Seagate has overcome their previous issues (noise and bad firmware) so I can give them worthy consideration again. The Barracuda ATA IV ST340016A served me for almost seven years before I layed him to rest in bubble wrap....

I have heard (through relatives who have owned or know others who do) that Bosch is generally of high quality. Some Bosch appliances like refridgerators and washing machines are made in Brazil (and probably Thailand). This is very common for consumer appliances now. I think in the EU, they will prob...

...

Well, as said, the law of physics can't be overtaken by human will: the µATX form factor has more thermal limitations than the ATX (a smaller surface is able to dissipate less heat than a larger one, and this is a fact, a smaller surface may host less chip than a larger one, and so on... The small...

Dell UltraSharp 2209WA : audible on-off humming sound when computer is switched on and reset. In very quiet conditions and working at desk, humming is audible at brightness less than 87. Brightness on this monitor is set no higher than 16 -- usually at 8 or less. Anything higher is too bright for m...

Lastly : I really, really like the case and I like the looks too, grows on you and I should also point out that the case (as the entire series in fact) do look better IRL. Glad to hear you like the case. It probably is still the best mass produced full tower case for silencers. Given the price, it ...