Edit 1: My Scythe Shuriken definitely does not fit. I must have a different version/model. Hmm. Mine is a Rev.B SCSK-1100. I guess it's also possible that the socket location is different on your board (I'm using an Asrock A75M-ITX) and you're running into interference with something where it clear...

Hey, I saw this yesterday and I meant to respond but got sidetracked. I built a PC for my wife last year with the ISK-300. It has an AMD A8-3850, a 100W TDP CPU, and the ISK-300 does fine with it. I replaced the single Antec 80mm side fan with two Cooler Master Blade Masters since I wanted PWM fans ...

For what it's worth, I updated to the version 1.20 BIOS and now it idles at 200x5.

Is anyone using Cool 'n Quiet successfully on this board? I'm using it with an Athlon 64 3000+. I have CnQ enabled in the BIOS, the AMD driver is loaded, and I have the power management set on Minimal. However, MSI's CoreCell utility as well as WCPUID are indicating that it's only dropping to 200x9 ...

I'm answering my own question here. I found some benchmarks of both cards, and it looks like the 9600 XT isn't anywhere near the same league as the 9700 Pro - the 9700 Pro being 20% or more faster in most cases. THG has a review of the 9600 XT with benchmarks on the 9500/9600/9700/9800 as well as so...

Hi folks. I'm currently running a Sapphire Radeon 9700 Pro in my system, along with a Barton Athlon XP 2500. This system runs fine and is fairly quiet. The only problem is that it dumps a ton of heat into my room, even at idle. As summer's approaching I'm looking for ways to make it a bit more effic...

Even the lower-powered notebooks can be quite loud. I had a Dell Latitude with a 600MHz Celeron, and that thing had the worst fan noise. Since portability and raw power aren't concerns, maybe you should look into something built with a e-Otonashi or maybe a Mappit A4 . Regarding the Centrinos, they ...

One of the reasons I like silent PCs is that I have permanent hearing damage due to long-term exposure to loud noises. I have continuous ringing (tinnitus) and big holes in my frequency response. Now, if something's too loud it's painful. Even a conversation at above-average levels makes me wince. S...

I have the Sapphire 9700 Pro that came with the passive cooler. I had the same problem - this card/cooler combo dumped so much heat into the system that it was frying my RAM. I had to install an extra case fan just for that. I replaced the passive cooler with the Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer. Like ap...

The Sonata PS is not really that quiet. I'm using one in an Antec SLK3700 and it's the loudest thing in the system. It's way louder than the SilenX in my wife's PC or the Fortron in my web server. If I were you I'd stick with the Fortron - if I had known about it when I got the SilenX, I would have ...

I have a similar setup (A7N8X, Barton 2500, SLK800U, Radeon 9700 with ZM80, Antec 3700, single 120mm exhaust, Sonata 380 PS). One thing to keep in mind is that with the A7N8X (and possibly other boards as well) in a tower case, the memory sockets are just above the video card. With the ZM80 you end ...

I've got a new IBM Thinkpad T40 with the 1.3GHz Pentium M. It has a cooling fan, but it is thermostatically controlled and nearly silent even at full tilt. The fan is also buried somewhere inside the laptop rather than visible somewhere along the edge. The only way I can tell it's running is by plac...

I built a MicroATX system for my sister last month. I used an Asus A7N8X-VM and an Athenatech A100 case. The Asus board was nice. It didn't have all the bells and whistles of my A7N8X Deluxe but I didn't need them for this project. This board has video out but you need a slot panel adapter (sold sep...

Gandalf, you should be able to find a simple wireless access point for well under $100. I got a Netgear access point/router/switch for $70. As an alternative, if you have wireless cards on both the laptop and a PC on your wired network, you can use ad-hoc mode and Internet Connection Sharing to give...

Another experience here... I've used Sennheiser and Bose noise-cancelling headphones, and they both do a good job of reducing fan noise. I don't know that they would make much difference now that I've replaced most of the noisy fans in my systems, but for your run-of-the-mill-noisy-fan-having PC the...

I'm guessing you mean you don't want one of the Via Epia boards. I think your only other options for a small form factor are the Micro ATX motherboards. In-win makes a nice micro-tower, the L545P. A friend of mine has one but I have not been able to assess its noise potential. The Biostar M7NCG is a...

Thanks for the suggestions. I think these boxes have a temp sensor and a temp display somewhere in the menus, so I can keep an eye on it. I may try just disconnecting the fan, but I'll at least make some more vents in the case. It can get pretty warm in the room during the summer here and I don't re...

Has anyone here attempted to make their TiVo quieter? I have the DirecTV/TiVo unit, and there's a fan inside that makes quite a bit of noise. I'm pretty sure it's a 40mm fan. The funny thing is that it's not situated by a vent, it's in the middle of the box and just circulates air around. I've got t...

Thanks Wussboy. I don't fold@home but I'll look into it. I see a lot of talk about the teams around the net. I've gone and made more changes since getting rid of that Maxtor. I recently replaced the aging Intel HSFs with Thermaltake Volcano 5s in my main PC. After I did all the work on my Linux serv...

Hi all, Just wanted to drop a note of thanks to all of you for giving me the motivation to fix some of my noise problems. I found this site a few days ago while looking for quiet CPU coolers. After reading a bunch of articles and forum threads, I decided to tackle the task of quieting down my Linux ...