Hi , my cup of tea is Linux :) which distro? > I prefer windows 7 and office 2003 ... having grown up with windows 95 > my core 2 duo ... Hi Dan, To answer “which distro?,” a quick and easy solution for about any old PC hardware that you want to work like Win95: - Buy an SSD that fits your system. ...

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...

So, ~1.25cm mesh. Uh oh, now we're in the range of what all those fan enclosure honeycombs are...:) lol, not a chance, those things are expensive :o For those playing the home game, you want something like aluminum bug screen. You'll need to caliper the opening, but they usually have about a 1mm ap...

Hi Steve, FCC shouldn't be an issue. Several reasons: - All the components are bought retail, so they individually have FCC compliance. - We’re still using a standard case. Granted it’d be the cheapest we can find (~$20) and it would be left ‘open’ with all the panels off. I’ve used open cases in th...

Steve, Abula,

Do either of you know what your actual case airflows are and what temps that keeps your case? I think I'll write this up and post it on stack physics and see if I can get real world numbers...

Best,
Michael

Not sure I follow: if the filter is so air resistive, then making the whole case out of the same resistive material would make the whole case just as resistive, no? No. A fundamental of fluid dynamics is that the more volume a fluid has to pass through the greater the total flow rate will be for th...

Why not just place HVAC filters where the case openings are? Short answer: Airflow. If you only place filters on the case openings, you'd restrict the airflow so much your case would become a furnace. To overcome the filter resistance, you most likely would have to turn your fans into aircraft engi...

lol, thanks for the heads up!

[2nd attempt, posted last week, but didn't show up?] Hi Steve, That’s probably one of the best non-answer answers I’ve ever gotten. Basically, just like any other field really, you have to dissect the published paper for scientific validity. Since no ones said any different, I’ll go with what I’ve g...

"Promo codes have usage limitations that require you to enter your email address to enable Promo Codes."

Edit: oops, wrong August...

Hi Steve, PSU: You are conflating what we can hear (my quote) vs what Anandtech could test with their setup. Two separate things. Ah! Thanks for the clarification! So I don’t make the same mistake again, from SPCR standards or general standpoint, what dB(A)s, as reported from testing environments, w...

Hi All, Time to replace a 9yo laptop I currently use in my living room. It hasn’t moved from its spot for more than 3 years, so I figure I’ll just replace it with a quiet desktop. Hopefully I’ve done some decent research, which I’ve put up on https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Michael-jsdhf/saved/s9JbXL ...

NSG S0 is €999.00

I was going to get a system with a fanless cooler, but then thought that perhaps a case designed for this purpose might be better Go with a case "designed for this purpose" as most of the heat is shunted outside the case and all the other components are then not 'baked' by the heat that would be tr...

Hi All, I’ve had this thought for several years, maybe close to two decades, but I never really explored it. Facts we agree upon?: - The more unrestricted airflow inside a case the lower the temps. - Leaving the case open allows very good airflow. - An open case accumulates dust pretty rapidly. So t...

Hi ekt,

> hdplex. mmm. mini itx form worries me about expandability

You can have ATX, microATX, or mini-ITX with HDPLEX

https://www.hdplex.com/hdplex-h5-fanles ... -case.html

Specs tab, section: HDPLEX 2nd Gen H5 Chassis Motherboard Compatibility

Best!

I, as many others, will be building a quiet PC before the end of this year. I’ve read many posts here that critique, and give advice on, parts lists. It seems like the people in the know are repeating themselves over and over, which seems like a huge waste :( . How about we reverse the process? Have...

Ah, welcome to thermodynamics… > making my dream passive PC case If you’re serious about that, consider thinking way outside the box. (Pun not actually intended) > The biggest heat pipes I've found are 12mm wide and 600mm long. Look outside the PC industry, much longer heat pipes do exist. “A pipe o...

Edit: Yeah, I think I'll go with the HD-Plex HD1.s w/ a picoPSU, especially if I can find a mini ITX Skylake MB for it. I've put a message into HD-Plex for them to update their MB compatibility list And that was fast! 11:31 Send: Can you update your page? 11:33 Reply: Yes, let me update today. 13:5...

I did this out of order, so I'll paste the High end drive benchmark list up here at the top: http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/high_end_drives.html The EVO you listed is an older interface and has about a third of the read/write speeds as the SM951's. Do what you think best, but relevant actual per...

@Michael-Inet, . . . Again if you do benefit from high sequentials go for it, else a bigger ssd (sata III) will make more sense over time. I agree with your statements, I can't see how most are going to benefit that radically beyond just using a modern SSD. And, while I did notice a large OS differ...

Consider Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB M.2 3.5-Inch SSD (MZ-N5E500BW) . Hi Abula, I did this out of order, so I'll paste the High end drive benchmark list up here at the top: http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/high_end_drives.html Edit: SSD only list, http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/ssd.html The EVO you ...

How about using an M.2 SSD if you can switch to a motherboard that supports it? Hi edh, Thanks very much for the tip on M.2 SSDs! I haven't shopped for one in so long I didn't realize just how much a difference the interface makes now. Changes: SSD: M.2, PCIe 3.0 Motherboard: Thin mini ITX w/ PCIe ...

HD Plex Hi Vicotnik, Thanks for the reply, and while I'm off researching, I had a question about the HD Plex. Why do the heatpipes on each side not have one going the opposite way to spread the heat load to the case better? Both your case and Bobb's do it, so there must be a reason, but it seems od...

Hi All, My current notebook is old and I ran across an older post on building a fan less PC [1]. As this new PC will most likely end up in my bedroom, I'd like it to be totally silent (e.g. fan less). Below is what I'm thinking, but as my starting point was from something ~18 months ago ($500 Passiv...