If the fan is attached to the built-in header, you can use the ATI Tray Tools to adjust the fan speed. Check out the "Overclocking Settings". http://www.guru3d.com/article/atitraytools/189/ Ironically, I use it to turn the fan on all the time since my fan clicks at lower voltages. A Fanmate would wo...

I don't know if the newer Samsungs are any better, but the older models vibrate like crazy. That's my experience anyway. The drive resonance was very audible.

Look into soft mounting if you consider a Samsung drive.

Just got a SU1000RTXL2Ua at work. It has a fan so it's not silent - not obnoxious but definetely audible in a quiet environment (which unfortunately my server room is not once the servers start up). Plus the fan never seems to turn off.

I have no exeperience with the Eaton unit.

It uses a Nidec motor. I can't tell you exactly what model Nidec motor it is since I have returned the drive - the vibration drove me nuts. I would of given Samsung a second chance but, unfortunately, Microcenter was sold out of 250GB SATA Samsungs (they only had PATA models). Right now I have a 60G...

The Samsung is definitely the source of the vibration. However, the odd rhythmic pattern of the vibration seems to be due to its interaction with other components. I bought the drive at Microcenter. They have a pretty liberal return policy. I'm sure they will let me exchange the drive if I tell them...

I've had two drives in my system(s) for nearly a decade, this is the first time I have ever encountered "beating." Although to be perfectly fair, I currently have three drives in my system (60 GB Barracuda IV, 60 GB Barracuda V and the Samsung). I always intended to retire one. My plan is to have th...

Looks like I am suffering from the "beating" phenonmenon. The Samsung is fine as long as I disconnect my Barracuda IV. I don't know if I should try exchanging the drive and hope the new one vibrates in tune with my system. It is a shame that Seagate lost their silent mojo. Also, I'm certainly willin...

IsaacKuo - the samsung vibrates even if it isn't mounted in the case. I don't have any drives soft mounted although the drive cage of my Compucase LX-6A19 has some (hard) rubber grommets. Furthermore, my case is insulated (with cheap Akasa Pax.mate, but I used a lot of it - nearly 2 boxes worth). Pl...

My motherboard (Asrock K7S8XE+) doesn't support SATA-II although it has no problem detecting the drive. My power supply is a Seasonic Super Silencer 350 watt. I have checked the 5V and 12V power with a multimeter and they aren't sagging. I currently have two Seagate Baracuda 60GB drives in there wit...

Just bought a 250 GB Samsung Spinpoint SP2504C. Unfortunately, it has a very strong rhythmic vibration that is audible. It will vibrate for a second, then OK for a second, then vibrate again, and so on. You can feel the pulses when you put your hand on the drive. While I have had drives that vibrate...

Simply put, there's nothing out there, aside from Soundstorm (motherboard exclusive) that can encode things to a DD signal for your reciever. Any other sound card you can get will give you 2 channel only in all applications that don't have DD or DTS encoding. You did bring some good news in letting...

Looking at this picture: http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/11-108-293-10.JPG The plastic cover that has a red/black wire coming out of it has a round thingy attached. What exactly is this thing? Can I safely detach it from the motherboard and remove the entire plastic cover? I have an Inwin S...

It's all just ballpark guessing anyway. :lol: :lol: True. In any case, it should give off less heat than my old Palomino 1700+ which wasn't *that* hard to cool. Still, I would like to lower the overall power consumption of my system to well under 100 watts (~80 watts maybe?). It uses slightly more ...

Thanks for the answers guys! I do have a follow up question though. I've been running some numbers I noticed something strange. For example, if I take a 2500 Barton and overclock it to 2600 speeds, it uses more watts than if I take a 2800 Barton and underclock it to 2600 speeds. This is odd to me si...

I noticed several people posted that their CPU uses x watts. How do you guys know that? Are you going by what is on spec sheets? Or is their a (simple) formula you use to calculate the power consumption? The reason I ask is I know about the spec sheets. But what happens if you change the voltage? Th...

The ZM400B-APS does appear to only be a slightly tweaked version of the ZM400A-APS. The difference spec wise is that the "B" adds: 1) 3A on the 12V rail (18A max). 2) 2 SATA connectors. Also, in the Xbit labs review, the "B's" fan runs slightly slower than the "A's". It is not clear if this is inten...

I too am interested in the new Zalman power supply. Here are a couple of reviews that I dug up: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/zalman-psu.html http://www.cooltechzone.com/reviews/cases/z400baps_001.php They are positive reviews although I have to admit none of the them are really wri...

First post. I am interested in buying a Zalman power supply (or Fortron Source equivalent). I currently own a FSP300-60BT which doesn't have PFC (passive or otherwise), a thermally controlled fan or effciency above 65%. It is, however, stable and reliable. I used to be interested in Seasonic's Super...