I just built one for the same purpose with this spec: Arctic Cooling AC-ALP-7 Alpine Socket 775 CPU Cooler 105996 £4.24 Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 Socket 775 (1.8GHz) 1MB L2 Cache OEM Processor 135919 £37.37 Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2 iG33 Socket 775 onboard video 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard 1322...

1. If you have excessive swapping, get more RAM first. The first and best way to improve swap performance is to eliminate the swapping. 2a. Per your idea, get a small separate HD and dedicate it to the swapfile. Make the partition just big enough for the swapfile, and place it next to the head parki...

I just got a LG GSA-4082B. It's definitely quieter than my Liteon LTD-165 reader - in fact, I can't hear it burning CDs at 32x from 75cm away. It does all 5 formats - I wanted DVD-RAM because it's much more reliable than any of the packet writers. It doesn't do bitsetting or Mt Rainier. RPC-1 firmwa...

I just got one of these (£60+VAT from eBuyer for the retail model which includes 1 DVD-RAM). Writing a CD at 24x, I can't hear it running from 75cm away. Reads and writes all formats. About the only things it doesn't do are Mt Rainier and (afaict) booksetting. RPC-1 firmware from http://tdb.rpc1.org...

I'm running a 2500 Barton as a 2800 with no problems - 166x12.5 = 2.08GHz. AIDA32 and even AMD's own CPUID say it's a 2800, so I guess it's physically identical. It will go faster, but then it gets a bit warm for my taste.

I noticed these on eBuyer. They have the following interesting features (depending on model) :
- hardware monitoring
- variable fan speed
- explicit support for 3rd party heatsinks

There's more info on the Tyan website including lots of detail on the TGM monitoring utility. Anyone tried one?

Mine doesn't look like the picture. The perforated area is much larger, and it's possible to position the internal vent at various places within it. Not quite directly over my CPU fan - too low - but I've offset the fan down anyhow to get some aitflow over the NB, so it pretty much fits. http://home...

Sorry for the late response but I'm looking at the 4252 now and have a question on the side duct. Did you not have a problem lining up the cpu to the side duct? Not a major one, there's some choice in where you put it within the perforated area. Front-to-back is OK, I couldn't quite get it high eno...

Maybe I can clarify the Seasonic situation. The new line of these PSUs, including the 120 mm fanned units, will not be in the UK until Q4 - that is the fourth quarter of this year. That means any time from the beginning of next month. The distributor could be no more clearer than that. As soon as t...

I think it's an open-collector output, so in theory the answer is yes - but you'd need control over the design of both sensing circuits, which you probably won't have. Better to put it through a buffer and drive 2 separate OCs from that. Or just try it and see.

These seem to be a bit hard to find in UK ... the usual suspects (Dabs, eBuyer, Simply, etc) don't carry them ... I found these ... - Kool 'n Quiet (a bit expensive compared to US) - Pars ("trade only" - I thought that nonsense had disappeared years ago) - CTL Computer Technologies Ltd (no prices gi...

Don't forget to look if there's a patch to turn off RPC before getting a DVD drive. One day you'll want it.

DryFire wrote:the 9600 will support 1600x1200
I'm not sure if the 9200 will.

My 9100 does, so I assume the 9000 and 9200 will too. I think you can get fanless 9000s.

More CPU speed at any cost is not good for anything or anyone. This is the same attitude that's led to excesses like 300hp family sedans for 60mph roads. If Intel wan'ts to have 4G 150W CPUs, let them. They can play with them all by themselves in their own sandbox. :lol: Why is it that casemodding ...

This sort of problem is more fundamental than you might think. See for example Physics Signal entropy and the thermodynamics of computation. I don't think entropy is the source of Intel's current problems, but it is the fundamental limit and may be a practical issue quite soon.

The rumor is true ... Intel document confirms Prescott dissipates 103 W.

Overclocking aside, the 2500+ runs at 166 x11; the 2800+ at 166 x12.5; the 3000+ at 166 x13. If the labels were "proportionate", they would be called the 2500+, the 2840+, and the 2954+. So the 2800+ is under-rated relative to its label, and the 3000+ over-rated. In the UK, the current prices for OE...

Apparently Bigwater will use 3GIO, now called PCI Express.

britannica wrote:

futureweaver wrote:Mc Master Carr, vendors of fan mounts, grommets, and other useful things, will ship to the UK.....

Useful info, - thanks. Did you get stung for import duty/VAT etc ??

No. That doesn't happen unless the declared value exceeds £18, so you're usually ok under $25.

DryFire wrote:I prefer Aluminum because i don't break my back every time i lift a case.

Well that's a good reason, but it's nothing to do with cooling - of the PC, anyhow. Presumably with a steel case you'd install liquid cooling for yourself .

I'm noticing that the poll distinguishes between steel and ali cases. As far as I know there's no engineering reason for ali cases as far as cooling goes. Convective cooling from the case exterior, and temp gradients within the skin material, are of no significance unless you do something like put f...

How well do you like the 24V M1As? Just fine. Others say they click badly, but I've not found it so - clicking seems to vary as much by sample as type. Airflow @12V seems to be about the same as an L1A @7V. I have one on an SK7 and CPU temps running f@h 24/7 have been acceptable (to me, maybe not t...

You can make ghetto ones out of the regular HD screws and mobo standoffs.

UK version ... This fabric is what we put under roofs - bitumen hasn't been used in the UK for many years - but it's probably too thin to be any use for sound treatment. However there is an alternative. Plastic DPC as used here is - er - plastic, like Dynamat, not bitumen, and pretty effective for d...

Yea but zalman video heatpipe (zm80a's) dont work upside down I believe. They work right side up and sideways but not upside down. I loooked at the Zalman diagrams. It seems to be to do with the relative position of the CPU, because of the need to get cold air over the GPU sink. The sink needs to b...

If you abandon the non-geometric constraints of ATX, all sorts of possibilities open up.... If you move the PSU to the bottom of the case you could put a plenum at the top for ducted CPU cooling. Not according to the ATX spec, but it might work very well. You'd need a baffle across the bottom of the...

I have this one , which is the same without the ports (my case has them already) in a 3.5in bay. It's a useful combination of functions for experimenting with fan voltages and measuring temperatures. The sensors are the thin-film beads, which will fit under the CPU HS - they're thinner than the core...

Halcyon wrote:Ah, but they are in the US as well
I don't think I can get the postage cheaper from them.

McMaster Carr will ship to UK & I think most of Europe for $5. See here for details.

Mc Master Carr , vendors of fan mounts, grommets, and other useful things, will ship to the UK by USPS Global Priority . It takes 4-6 days and costs $5 for a small bag (10in x 6in), $9 for a large one, weight up to 4lb. This is competitive with UK mailorder charges and makes them quite usable. You ...

I think the door should be optional. It is quieter, but can be inconvenient.

Whether optional or not, it should be reversible, ie easy to switch between LH and RH hinges.