I purchased this unit based upon the review; I'm a big fan of Zalman products, but I've learned to seek the wisdom of SPCR on these matters. Couldn't be happier. Found it on sale with free shipping at $200US, which is about the level that I can slide stuff by the spousal unit without getting the hai...

The extra drive will be a little louder. However, the increased noise is certain to be less than that of the average Scream of Anguish(TM) when a non-RAID drive's critical need sensor triggers and drags the head through that oh-so-important document you absolutely must have in the next 20 minutes.

One sure-fire way to meet the higher power is to start messing around inside a CRT. Even unplugged, until it's discharged, there's enough power there to kill you.

Nice writeup.

One suggestion: you have the same HD as I do, and I found that while the Maxtor utility wouldn't set AAM mode, the Hitachi feature tool would. The difference in seek noise is incredible, and the performance drops only slightly.

Wow, something's not right about those temps - I've got the 7000Cu, keep it on the lowest speed setting, and it has to be an incredibly hot day to even approach those temps; on a 2.66/533, i'm easily 20 degrees lower than what you're seeing. Do you have good case airflow, and is the heatsink making ...

I've got the 7000Cu; what I've read on the Cu and the AlCu tends to indicate that they're quite similar in performance. Both ship with a Fanmate controller which allows adjustment of the fan speed. According to my ear, with the Fanmate turned all the way up (~2700 RPM), the noise level is about the ...

The Zalman manual has great installation instructions but no removal instructions. The 9700 heatsink is attached both by mechanical expansion fasteners and by a sticky thermal pad. Use the card in 3D mode for a few minutes to get the pad nice and warm so that it comes off easily. Remove the card fro...

Serious cooling, and the manufacturer claims 35 dB in normal operation:

http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/Cooling/Mach2/

Interesting stuff. Manufacturer's page is here:

http://www.chip-con.com/index.php?pageid=43

Okay, I'm gonna put the 2.8c into a sonata, so airflow should be better than an average case. I will get the 7000 to cool it. How much noise will there be with this system? Maby I will have to underclock a bit to get the noise down. The 7000 is listed by the manufacturer at 20 dB in silent mode (13...

I've got a Zalman 7000Cu on my 2.66 and am very pleased with it. The 7000AlCu is also available now; $10US cheaper and about 300g lighter. Neither will fit on a few mainboards due to space limitations (they are large).

Using it on my rig...basically, just follow the AS instructions - clean thoroughly with acetone or whatever, rub into the HS then clean with a lint-free cloth, tiny amount on the CPU, then spread as thinly as possible. Might be possible you trapped a hair or some other contaminant, doesn't take much...

I've got a 7000Cu, and in silent mode, it's without a doubt silent, and the cooling performance is stellar in either mode. The 7000AlCu has been favorably reviewed as the same performance for $10US less. Certainly recommend either of them. Drawback to these would be, I suppose, the fact that the fan...

The NewEgg price at $89.99 with free Fedex shipping seems a real bargain to me. They also have the all-steel version (no side window) with an Antec 430W PS for $118.99 + $18 shipping, search on PLUS1080AMG. I use that same PS in my PlusView version of the case, and am extremely pleased with it, but ...

Seems that replacing the drives with something bigger, newer, and quieter would be the thing to do here. I recently purchased a few of the new Maxtor DM9s with the 8MB cache option; with acoustic management enabled they are indeed very quiet.

Vendor down the street from me has them without the PS for $99. I haven't done mail order from him, but he's treated me fairly on walk-in sales.

http://www.vtcomputers.rite2u.com/scrip ... IEW1000AMG

Are you measuring using a digital multimeter, or using something like MBM? MBM is a bit off on some rails on some boards.

My system uses an Antec 1080 Plusview case: http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=90510 I have 4 basic Antec 80mm fans in this case: two exhaust below the power supply, one intake in front of the hard drive cage, and one side intake. All of these fans are driven by the thermistor...

The Antec 1080 is a nice one. Lots of room, good airflow.

http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details_en ... odID=91082

Also comes in a clear side panel version:

http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details_en ... odID=90510

Wow, scary-looking NB heatsink on that Intel board. Take a look at section 3 in this link: http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/zm80-hp.htm Basically, looks like if you have 1.5cm of obstruction-free real estate from the edge of the AGP connector (~2.0 cm or so from the center of the connector), ...

Standard ATX tower horizontal configuration is also fine (per Zalman) for the ZM80A, check out section 4.2 here:

http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/zm80a-hp.htm

I use a 900VA Conext, which I believe to be just a rebranded APC. It's completely silent unless it's on battery. It hasn't got all the bells and whistles of the higher-end stuff, but the price was right, it has decent runtime, will put out 500W, and makes no noise at all unless it's running on batte...

Your system sounds identical to mine, i.e., standard ATX tower config, which is listed as a 'good' configuration here, in section 4.2, leftmost example: http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/zm80a-hp.htm This setup works just fine for me. My case also happens to position a side intake fan directly...

I've got a 25ms (Viewsonic VX900), and there is slight ghosting on occasion, typically with black objects moving quickly. It's nothing that really bothers me very much, as my eyesight is the product of 25 years of CRT usage.

The ZM-80 needed quite a bit of paste in the presence of the GPU shim in order to make good contact. The updated ZM-80A has a relief milled around the edge of the GPU contact block, thus avoiding contact with the shim; since this allows for the block to make contact with the GPU, only a thin layer o...

You might want to check out Oregon Scientific's 'Cable Free' line, specifically, the THGR268: http://www2.oregonscientific.com/cablefree/thgr268.html You'd pair a few of these with a central display unit; they have a few to choose from, here's an example: http://www2.oregonscientific.com/cablefree/e...

It's definately not an IDE cable. Best solution I've found for it getting in the way is to route it behind the motherboard.

Hitachi Feature Tool The above worked fine for me (2x120GB CUDA V SATA drives connected to the ICH5 on the Abit IC7-G) Seagate technical support also told me it could not be done :wink: Thanks for the tip, hopester. I'd tried running the Maxtor AAM tool on my Maxtor drives (1 x 120GB on an IDE chan...

If you have the option, you might also check out the 7000Cu or 7000AlCu. I'm running a 7000Cu on a 2.66 in silent mode (fan at about 1400 RPM). My temps are 36C idle, 47C under 100% load. The thing is inaudible at this RPM. Only caveat with the 7000 is that it's a very large heatsink; some motherboa...

Assuming that the soundstorm has a 1/8 inch line in jack, all you really need to perform the hookup is a 1/4 inch to 1/8 converter; these are available practically anywhere. However, without some kind of amp emulator, you're not going to be very happy with the results. I'd recommend the POD products...

Believe the 9800 has the same thermal pad that my 9700 had. Definately worth getting rid of as quickly as possible - it's thick and inefficient; appears principally designed to allow the heatsink to be whomped onto the card by an automated process wihtout damaging the GPU. My ZM80A came with 2 tubes...