Search found 169 matches

by Luke M
Sun Feb 23, 2020 4:48 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Fractal Design Define 7 & XL - Reviews and Discussion
Replies: 3
Views: 5713

Re: Fractal Design Define R7 & XL - Reviews and Discussion

Can you remove the PSU shroud? It doesn't seem like it has a functional purpose.
by Luke M
Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:32 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Seagate's 10TB HDDs
Replies: 38
Views: 159217

Re: Seagate's 10TB HDDs

Hadn't heard of the WD80EFAX, but from pictures, it looks like it might be more related to the WD100EFAX (i.e. the 10TB Red I wrote about having maddening 'background maintenance' noises). I won't be taking a risk on those and will leave it to a quiet PC enthusiast who owns one to comment. I have a...
by Luke M
Sun Oct 21, 2018 9:05 am
Forum: Networking
Topic: Ethernet vs. Powerline vs. Wifi Adapter
Replies: 2
Views: 17043

Re: Ethernet vs. Powerline vs. Wifi Adapter

I tried power line networking and it barely worked at all (tried in multiple locations in two buildings). WiFi is much more predictable in my experience.
by Luke M
Sun Oct 21, 2018 8:55 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Tips for selecting a case (2018)
Replies: 4
Views: 12724

Re: Tips for selecting a case (2018)

And if the power supply is facing up-side down, it's facing the floor or desk. And what's wrong with that? If there's enough space between the case and the floor. Like you're indicating, it's potentially marginal, but it's also basic thermodynamics. Heat rises and the power supply is designed for t...
by Luke M
Sun Oct 21, 2018 7:06 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Seagate's 10TB HDDs
Replies: 38
Views: 159217

Re: Seagate's 10TB HDDs

This thread should be moved to the hard drive forum; not many people will find it here. Anyway... Some info that may be useful: the latest 8TB WD Reds (WD80EFAX) are air drives, not helium. This means higher motor noise (also higher power consumption than the 10TB WD100EFAX). But the seek noise is l...
by Luke M
Thu May 03, 2018 6:37 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Micron 1100 a really good value SSD
Replies: 5
Views: 12403

Re: Micron 1100 a really good value SSD

I doubt they are "new" drives as claimed, but regardless, the price is good.
by Luke M
Thu May 03, 2018 6:30 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: how quiet are 2tb seagate 7mm 2.5 drive?
Replies: 3
Views: 7661

Re: how quiet are 2tb seagate 7mm 2.5 drive?

It's a two platter, shingled recording drive.
by Luke M
Thu May 03, 2018 10:27 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Seasonic Prime Ultra - Bad Fan and Bequiet Straight Power 11
Replies: 7
Views: 18362

Re: Seasonic Prime Ultra - Bad Fan and Bequiet Straight Powe

It's only a sample of one, but I'm happy with my Seasonic Focus Plus. It uses a 120mm fan. When I toggle the fanless button, I can't hear any difference. I don't know what the minimum fan speed is, but the air flow is very low; I can barely feel it. Anyway, if I had got unlucky with the fan, I would...
by Luke M
Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:02 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Need alternate recommendation to WD Red [SOLVED]
Replies: 30
Views: 24488

Re: Need alternate recommendation to WD Red

Why not a 2.5" drive?
by Luke M
Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:22 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: With helium drives, anything above 6TB = noisy?
Replies: 26
Views: 55758

Re: With helium drives, anything above 6TB = noisy?

I have a WD80EFAX (8TB "Red" helium 5400rpm) pulled from an external. The idle noise is unpleasant (high pitched whine), but not loud. Installed in my PC case, it's fine. Seeks are a loud, dull "thud". In addition, the drive does something in the background, which means you will hear seek noises ev...
by Luke M
Sat Jan 13, 2018 9:20 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: With helium drives, anything above 6TB = noisy?
Replies: 26
Views: 55758

Re: With helium drives, anything above 6TB = noisy?

I have a WD80EFAX (8TB "Red" helium 5400rpm) pulled from an external. The idle noise is unpleasant (high pitched whine), but not loud. Installed in my PC case, it's fine. Seeks are a loud, dull "thud". In addition, the drive does something in the background, which means you will hear seek noises eve...
by Luke M
Wed Nov 15, 2017 12:36 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Recommend me a UPS
Replies: 4
Views: 7286

Re: Recommend me a UPS

As for silent, are you talking about silent during normal operations? I don't generally have UPSs near me in a quiet room to notice if there is any coil noise or anything. When there is a power outage there will always be noise from the conversion but that's the least of my worries at that point in...
by Luke M
Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:52 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Recommend me a UPS
Replies: 4
Views: 7286

Recommend me a UPS

Looking for an inexpensive, totally silent UPS. Doesn't need to be high capacity.

Any advice would be appreciated.
by Luke M
Mon Oct 16, 2017 1:53 pm
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Antec P280 (or similar) drive trays for high capacity HDs
Replies: 3
Views: 5209

Re: Antec P280 (or similar) drive trays for high capacity HD

Hmm...the P100 is still for sale (Newegg has it in stock) and it uses the P280 trays:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1458-page4.html

If they want to keep selling the product and avoid returns, it seems to me they have to update. No?
by Luke M
Mon Oct 16, 2017 4:42 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Antec P280 (or similar) drive trays for high capacity HDs
Replies: 3
Views: 5209

Antec P280 (or similar) drive trays for high capacity HDs

Has Antec made drive trays that support the newer HD screw positions (used by high platter count HDs)?
by Luke M
Thu Apr 20, 2017 5:31 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Quiet card for 4k/5k desktop use?
Replies: 15
Views: 15995

Re: Quiet card for 4k/5k desktop use?

Vicotnik wrote:Would integrated graphics + low-end card with DP work?
Yes, good point. Although some of us are still using PCs that predate DP1.2.
by Luke M
Thu Apr 20, 2017 9:01 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Quiet card for 4k/5k desktop use?
Replies: 15
Views: 15995

Re: Quiet card for 4k/5k desktop use?

I haven't seen a low-end card with more than 1 Displayport output. This may or may not be a problem depending on your monitor choice.
by Luke M
Sat Apr 08, 2017 3:46 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: What's a good idle GPU temperature?
Replies: 8
Views: 7055

Re: What's a good idle GPU temperature?

I was wrong about the Gigabyte being fanless under 60 degrees. It's actually fanless under 58 or 57, something like that. I was "successful" in getting the fan to spin up without gaming or anything too stressful. The fan isn't loud at low speed (it's very loud at the 3000rpm maximum!), but I can hea...
by Luke M
Thu Apr 06, 2017 6:23 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: What's a good idle GPU temperature?
Replies: 8
Views: 7055

Re: What's a good idle GPU temperature?

I guess it's normal then. It does mean that any 3D at all will push it over 60 and start the fans. A fully passive card would be better since they have beefier heatsinks, but not many choices.
by Luke M
Thu Apr 06, 2017 1:28 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: What's a good idle GPU temperature?
Replies: 8
Views: 7055

What's a good idle GPU temperature?

My nvidia 1050ti card ( this one: http://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N105TWF2OC-4GD ) idles in the 50s. (It's fanless under 60). That's with a 21 degree ambient temperature. Is this normal? My case doesn't have much airflow, just a single slow 120mm fan.
by Luke M
Sun Oct 30, 2016 7:06 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Silent 4K office (not gaming) card?
Replies: 8
Views: 7204

Re: Silent 4K office (not gaming) card?

Not counting obsolete cards, there's nothing cheaper than the AMD 460 or Nvidia 1050. It would be nice if they made a cheap 64-bit card for upgraders, considering that people are keeping their PCs longer due to the slow progress in CPU speed etc.
by Luke M
Sat Oct 22, 2016 7:34 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Largest 5400rpm storage?
Replies: 6
Views: 6230

Re: Largest 5400rpm storage?

Maybe they had an excess inventory of 7200rpm drives so they sneakily relabeled them. Or perhaps there never was a 5400rpm version of the 8TB drive, and it's just a fiction created by WD's marketing department so they can sell the same drive at two prices.
by Luke M
Sat Jul 30, 2016 8:18 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: The case against SSDs
Replies: 8
Views: 11413

Re: The case against SSDs

Are you nostalgic for tape drives? They still exist, but only for niche applications. Hard drives are going the same way.
by Luke M
Thu Sep 10, 2015 8:42 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB M.2/PCI-E SSD
Replies: 9
Views: 10136

Re: Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB M.2/PCI-E SSD

Ok, good. I know some of the Intel PCIe SSDs only boot in EFI mode. EFI is what retail PCs have used since Windows 8 (Microsoft requires it). You know, "secure boot" and all that crap. Most systems older than Win8 were classic boot only (the traditional method based on the original 1981 IBM PC...Mas...
by Luke M
Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:20 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB M.2/PCI-E SSD
Replies: 9
Views: 10136

Re: Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB M.2/PCI-E SSD

Ah, so it's AHCI. Still, if it doesn't have a boot ROM (still waiting for an answer on that), then support for it would be BIOS dependent. Even if the BIOS knows about AHCI for on-board SATA ports, it doesn't automatically mean that it supports booting from ROMless add on cards.
by Luke M
Mon Sep 07, 2015 8:53 pm
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB M.2/PCI-E SSD
Replies: 9
Views: 10136

Re: Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB M.2/PCI-E SSD

So I take it you had no problem booting from it, on an old machine? In what modes (EFI or classic)? My understanding is that most of these laptop PCIe SSDs don't have boot ROMs, so only work on newer machines with NVMe support built into the BIOS.
by Luke M
Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:18 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Moving Windows 8 to a 3TB drive, tips?
Replies: 1
Views: 4054

Re: Moving Windows 8 to a 3TB drive, tips?

Followup in case somebody stumbles onto this via google... Acronis Trueimage does support cloning a Windows MBR source drive onto a >2TB drive while converting to GPT and making it bootable in one simple step. You need an EFI BIOS and you need to boot into Acronis (CD/USB) in EFI mode. This is the e...
by Luke M
Thu Dec 26, 2013 2:57 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Moving Windows 8 to a 3TB drive, tips?
Replies: 1
Views: 4054

Moving Windows 8 to a 3TB drive, tips?

Has anyone successfully moved Windows 8 to a >2TB drive? I've used Acronis Trueimage (the free version provided by Western Digital or Seagate) in the past and it's always worked great, but there are a lot of complications with >2TB drives. These are the things I think I know: 1) MBR is limited to 2T...
by Luke M
Thu Jan 03, 2013 8:36 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: New Antec Case 193 or 280 (or 183 maybe)
Replies: 14
Views: 10496

Re: New Antec Case 193 or 280 (or 183 maybe)

The P280 is really nothing special, compared to the majority of the cases on the market - it does away with the divided zones of the P183, does away with support for the CP PSUs, does away with the more solid, removable drive cages and does away with the multi-ply construction of the side panels. I...
by Luke M
Wed Jan 02, 2013 11:48 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
Replies: 8
Views: 10527

Re: Nanoxia Deep Silence 1

The "2" is shorter and deeper. It supports E-ATX motherboards.