Thanks, I'll double-check that.

Hullo, A little while ago, relying heavily on advice from this forum, I put together a new computer in a Fractal Design Define R4 case. It's a wonderfully quiet computer, except for the hard drive. I have a WD Red 2 TB drive, and it's giving off a lot of noise and vibration when seeking. I've seen t...

I'm was using what came with the motherboard -- the Asus AI Suite III and so forth. I have since installed AI Suite, because it annoyed me greatly, so I'll need to find something else for the next time I want to check up on the temperatures. At the moment all I need to do, for fine-tuning, is to fid...

I would like to thank you all once again, and CA_Steve in particular, for your excellent advice. I have the new computer up and running, and it's absolutely fantastic and almost completely silent. Once I've played around with the Asus motherboard control programs a bit, I'll have it even quieter. At...

Ah, thank you, I did not realize that maximized mode turned the two drives into a RAID 0. I didn't know that was possible with drives of different speeds. I also thought it was always close to SSD speeds, close enough for most people not to notice, and I thought perhaps there might be an advantage i...

I'm in the process of purchasing components for my computer, and I've been puzzling over SSDs. I've finally decided to purchase one, but I've been reading about Intel's Smart Response Technology (SRT), and I'm not sure what, exactly, to do with my SSD once I have it. What makes more sense? Buying a ...

Yep, I read both reviews, but thanks for reminding me of the salient points. I think I may try the Phanteks. I've had some Antec fans, and some were fantastic, but some were a bit iffy. The Phanteks appear to be a bit more solidly constructed.

Thanks for taking a weight (ha, ha) off my mind. Last time I did this, motherboards weren't quite so well reinforced, and things got a tad... bendy. And my old heatsink isn't nearly so heavy.

Thank you... maybe ten minutes after I posted that, I was re-reading CA_Steve's thread about his PC build and saw that he has Antec TrueQuiet fans. Gave myself a bit of a headsmack for missing that.

I appreciate the answer. I've been learning a ton from this forum!

I've been reading reviews and forum posts until my brain has turned to pasta. :) I'm trying to figure out what will be the best fans for my build , the Antec TrueQuiet or one of the Phanteks 140mm fans. Do the TrueQuiets move enough air for moderate gaming? I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I do tend to...

Having mentioned the Scythe Kotetsu... I have an opportunity to get one, via a friend who lives in the UK. Is it worth the extra time and effort? The price would be about the same as the Mugen 4, after shipping. If this isn't worth the bother, I'm now leaning toward the Noctua UH-14S, but the weight...

Thanks, that's good to know.

Now if only Scythe would ship the Kotetsu over here. I just read the review, and it seems better than the Mugen.

Greetings, I'm planning a build around an ASUS Z87-PRO motherboard and Intel Core i5-4670K CPU. I had the Scythe Mugen 4 in mind for cooling, but now I've gone and confused myself by reading various reviews online. :roll: Is the Mugen 4 the best choice for cooling and silence? Should I go with the N...

Knowing they should last 3-5 years helps. The use of harmful substances does not please me, but I'll get it responsibly recycled when it dies, so that should help mitigate the damage. I have had a couple of issues in the past probably related to surge/outage damage -- a dead video card, a CPU that s...

Thanks... I had done some checking on the flight sim forums, which is how I reached the current build. Some folks there were going for the i7 line, but unless everything I've read about them is wrong, that really is a waste of money. Hyperthreading would be pointless for this game. I wanted to check...

One would think FSX wouldn't overburden a modern CPU, but from what I've read, it does. It seems the developers thought CPU clock speed would continue to increase, and we'd have 10 GHz+ machines in a few years, so they made it almost completely CPU dependent. The recommended specs ask for 3.6 GHz, i...

Well, I don't approve of the pollution caused by manufacturing these items, but on the other hand I can't afford to replace computers or components due to preventable damage. Also, I'm moving to an area where I don't know the power grid reliability at all. That probably indicates a UPS as an undesir...

Hmm... now a vote against a UPS. I had just about reconciled myself to buying one... why should I avoid them?

I posted the other day about the computer I'm building, and I've been getting great advice, which I do appreciate. Now it seems to be computer season -- I've convinced my folks to let me replace their old machines. I'd be most grateful for a bit of help. My father's computer will probably be almost ...

Thank you, that is excellent advice. I've dropped the power supply to the X-650 and switched to the Ares RAM (8 GB unless I get greedy). I'm still pondering the SSD. I was considering skipping the UPS, because I've had some bad experiences with them. But on second thought, I'll assume that they've i...

Thanks! I see we've reached some similar conclusions. I also have a couple of questions based on your response: Is the SSD really worth the cost and the risk? I'm not concerned about the limited-write issue, as I doubt I would ever "wear out" the drive that way within the lifespan of this computer. ...

Greetings, I built my current computer largely based on advice received from this website and forum, for which I would again like to thank everyone involved. It has been a good, stable, quiet computer. Now that I am at last able to build a new computer, I would be grateful for advice on keeping it q...

Shamgar, thank you very much for the detailed reply! That's some helpful advice. I appreciate it.

CA_Steve, I'd do as you suggest, but it wouldn't help. I'll be tech support no matter what -- I may as well know exactly what's going on in there.

Thanks for the advice, folks.

When presented with small-tower options, Mum liked the look of the mini-P180. So I don't think I'll have to worry about noise or cooling after all.

Regarding the Zalman CPU cooler: Looks cool, and should work OK. For *quiet* however, the HR-01+ is very difficult to beat. I saw that, but I also saw the warning that you need to be a top-notch system designer in order to make it work. My current computer has a Scythe fanless CPU cooler, to which I...

Greetings, A few years ago, I put together a computer based in part on information gleaned from this website. I did a reasonably good job, I think, but I flubbed a few things. Now I'm putting together its replacement, as well as one for a parent who is very greatly bothered by excess noise. I'd be m...