Search found 79 matches

by patord
Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:43 pm
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: Finished my Antec P150 build, with spcr duct mod *56k AVOID*
Replies: 28
Views: 21898

Keep the floppy as is. I think it gives the case a sexy retro look :) Old Skool style!

I still have floppies in all my Antec cases.. more for practicality (testing purposes, etc) then looks at this point for me.
by patord
Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:36 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: lloyd case's extremetech article on a silent pc
Replies: 10
Views: 8874

Sites that TRY to write about silencing PCs should just put a blantant mention to SPCR and just concentrate on the stuff that matters more to them. eg, "extreme" bleeding edge hardware that apparently some people have lots of dough to blow on. It constantly amuses me to see sites like that just REPE...
by patord
Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:20 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: SpeedFan Not Picking Up New Drive
Replies: 6
Views: 5118

xen - no, sharing a power cable should absolutely no effect on SMART. lenny - I am typing this reply via an Epox 8KRA2+. I have a 7200.7 as HD0 and a WD drive as HD1 on the SATA connectors. Both are read fine with speedfan polling SMART attributes normally. I have two other similar Epox and an Asus ...
by patord
Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:08 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Thermalright XP-120 vs SI-120
Replies: 18
Views: 7757

One thing I noticed is that there are two cooling paths with the SI-120. 1. the top finned section which is cooled directly with a 120mm fan 2. the base plate that mounts to the CPU which is a few from the top fins. The air, even if warmed from the aluminum fins at the top of the hs, can provide sec...
by patord
Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:34 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: SpeedFan Not Picking Up New Drive
Replies: 6
Views: 5118

Actually I've had more trust and faith on the VIA SATA implementation then the continuing crap I've gone through with SATA on the nForce4 boards I have (of which I have 4 different brand boards). I have a few VT8237 systems still in use, all with pairs of SATA drives. All of them are read by speedfa...
by patord
Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:19 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Thermalright XP-120 vs SI-120
Replies: 18
Views: 7757

Go to jmke's website (madshrimps.be) to see his results of the SI-120 to the XP-120. He saw a 4-5c diff in favor of the SI version in a closed case environment compared the open test setups most other reviewers did (which show only a 1c diff). I have both versions as well, and had similar results as...
by patord
Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:55 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Thermalright HR-05 chip(set) cooler
Replies: 46
Views: 25145

Shucks! I delayed my order for one of these things as I wanted to see what it looks like on a nforce4 board (the positioning, etc)....

Hurry!! :)
by patord
Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:52 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Can a CRT screen be noisefree?
Replies: 9
Views: 7037

CRTs can eventually have atleast two sources of "noise": 1. power inverter coil noise (either from a low end monitor with crappy filtering/shielding components or a very old monitor with severely high usage hours) 2. high frequency noise due to high refresh rates See: http://www.sceptre.com/Support/...
by patord
Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:30 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: iram = silent storage
Replies: 15
Views: 5319

So how much did you fellas blow on an I-RAM setup? I looked around and... $120-135 shipped for I-RAM card $60 shipped approx per 1gb DDR400 So for a 4gb setup, one is look at a minimum of $360... that's one expensive way to go for silence. When Gigabyte first announced this thing, they estimated $50...
by patord
Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:21 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: T-balancer and Speedfan
Replies: 2
Views: 2425

The speedfan ability is indeed in the 2.7+ versions of the tbalancer software. On a side note, I had to go back to 2.6 because 2.7 looks like it broke a few things for me. Maybe I'll start a separate thread to see if anyone else is seeing what I am before I email the mcubed folks. But like what was ...
by patord
Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:12 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Best 92mm Fan for Thermalright XP-90
Replies: 5
Views: 3351

Like Felger said, overheating should be the least of your worries given you are using a XP90 and Pana92... assuming your have decent airflow setup in that HTPC case you are using. I had a XP90 with the same Pana92 and another with the Nexus. I spun BOTH of them down around 1000 RPM. Sacrificing slig...
by patord
Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:54 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: s-12 500 making noise
Replies: 3
Views: 2194

Are you plugging your seasonic directly into a power outlet or some kind of filtered power strip/surge suppressor? Try using something that filters line noise (eg, a decent surge strip) or a middle level UPS unit. This is just a thought as we don't know the power environment at your house/site. If n...
by patord
Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:43 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: TR si-120 vs Scythe Ninja
Replies: 15
Views: 6541

On a Gigabyte nForce4 system I have, I tried both the Ninja and a SI-120 using a 120mm YL spun down to 7v. I ran CPUBurn for 1 hr with each heatsink on a A64 Venice @1.4v. With ambient temp +/- .5c throughout the testing, I used an IR thermometer aimed directly on top of several of the MOSFETs that ...
by patord
Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:14 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: According to Anandtech, Conroe beats FX-60
Replies: 145
Views: 86635

I'm not sure how important it is who beats who - consumers (and silent PCers) can only benefit whatever chip is best. At least AMD forced Intel to up it's game and if Intel takes the performance per watt lead, I'm sure the opposite will occur. It's a win win situation either way. Bingo! The technol...
by patord
Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:49 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard follow up
Replies: 8
Views: 5554

Agreed. The space bar is peculiar. Its not as bad as I get use to it, but I guess MS had to cheap out on figuring out if they should allow varying pressure through the curvature of that key... The zoom toggle is useless to me at the moment. I refuse to load MS's intellitype junk drivers. I had probl...
by patord
Mon Jan 23, 2006 5:28 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Dead mCubed T-Balancer
Replies: 11
Views: 5733

Hmm. I own a bunch of these t-balancers, and wondered if I ever had to get warranty work done... how much of a pain it would be to ship it off to a distant far off land (with me being in the USA). Did it cost any of you an arm and leg to get it shipped to Austria, enough to justify just buying anoth...
by patord
Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:39 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Seasonic s12 getting noisier -> maintenance?
Replies: 16
Views: 7617

Greetings, Seasonic recently switched from ball bearing to sleeve based fans in their S12 PSU's. I think it was the other way 'round, my friend. The earlier S12's (and the Super Tornado's before them) used Yate Loon medium speed sleeve bearing fans. Now they use Adda ball bearing fans. I guess I wa...
by patord
Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:10 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard follow up
Replies: 8
Views: 5554

I have found the larger footprint of the keyboard to be of concern in certain environments I am trying to use it in. eg, cramped desk. Otherwise, because of how "weird" the keyboard is I am finding that it deters people from wanting to use my workstations and/or servers I have these keyboards on now...
by patord
Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:56 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: US Source for TBalancer?
Replies: 2
Views: 1808

As far as I can tell 3dcool is the only one in the USA to carry sufficient quantity of mCubed stuff. Especially the tbalancers. I've bought many tbalancer's from them, and they have fast turnaround on orders. mCubed really needs to update their website, because none of the retailers - except 3dcool ...
by patord
Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:46 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Seasonic S12 REV.A2 really QUIET as they say?
Replies: 48
Views: 34745

Re: Seasonic S12 REV.A2 really QUIET as they say?

As far as I remember, the two main diffs from A1 to A2 are 1. switch to Al caps 2. switch from sleeve bearing (a1) to ball bearing fans (a2) I have both revs for the S12-500. The A2 to me is different in terms of the outbound airflow acoustics and every so slight bearing chatter. I do not notice any...
by patord
Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:40 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Seasonic s12 getting noisier -> maintenance?
Replies: 16
Views: 7617

Seasonic recently switched from ball bearing to sleeve based fans in their S12 PSU's. I have a couple of them. Since I bought most of them when the S12's first came out, all of them use ball bearings except one. Can you tell if the one you have is ball or sleeve based fan? If the bearings are starti...
by patord
Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:29 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard follow up
Replies: 8
Views: 5554

Ok. I'm a dork. When I searched for "Microsoft 4000", GHz's thread did not show up in the results... Microsoft was apparently abbreviated. Apologies for starting another thread. My observations thus far: 1. for those that like the Natural style of keyboards, especially the original wired ones... thi...
by patord
Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:18 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Anyone using Benq x120 keyboard?
Replies: 5
Views: 3358

I have one. It is extremely similar to the UltraX. I'd hazard a guess to say the same factory makes both keyboards in China or Taiwan. To me the UltraX was too loud for my tastes so the Benq is the same. Any of these keyboards claiming to use some "X" structure mechanism to "reduce" noise from typin...
by patord
Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:07 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard follow up
Replies: 8
Views: 5554

Microsoft Natural 4000 keyboard follow up

Since acaurora's original thread about the 4000 is now locked because of questionable posts... I am starting a new one FOR OWNERS (current and former) of this keyboard and those that *are* interested in it. Dvorak lovers and Micrsoft haters need not apply. Just curious, if you own (now or before) a ...
by patord
Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:22 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Why No Yate Loons?
Replies: 22
Views: 9216

Yate loon is the manufacturer. Usually they sell to places like ODMs, eg power supply companies, vs the retail channel. Or to companies that may rebadge then like Nexus. Since they sell only in HUGE quantities, you'll likely never see them at a retailer like Newegg since Yateloon does not package th...
by patord
Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:15 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: "Set & forget" child-proof fan controller
Replies: 10
Views: 5261

Given the cost of the tban, to maximize its potential one should really use fans with RPM signal to monitor for blockage or use the RPM pass through to wire the signal to your motherboard then utilize something like speedfan/mbm to monitor the RPMs. One of my main points for spending the money on th...
by patord
Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:20 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: Are the Vantec Stealth fans any good?
Replies: 12
Views: 5619

Re: Are the Vantec Stealth fans any good?

I have an older Lian Li case with 5 80mm Vantec Stealth fans running at 5V. I was wondering if it is worth replacing with Nexus or Panaflo 80mm ones. If the noise difference isn't too great I might just save the money on upgrading until I get a better case that uses 120mm fans. The major issue I've...
by patord
Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:14 am
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: "Set & forget" child-proof fan controller
Replies: 10
Views: 5261

I would recommend the TBalancer XL instead of the SL4. You have more placement options with the XL. I have 3 of the XLs running in various XP and Win2003 boxes. I have not tried them under Win2K. I have them connected directly to USB2 internal ports on my MSI, Epox, and Gigabyte nForce4 motherboards...
by patord
Thu Sep 08, 2005 9:12 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Anyone else have heat issues with the Seasonic S12 series?
Replies: 66
Views: 42062

The whole idea of having some venting holes in the front of those Seasonics is for pressure reasons as Frank pointed out in his post links. Think of it this way. When you put a hole in can of oil, you make a hole at the other end so that air pressure can equalize when you pour it. The holes in the f...
by patord
Thu Sep 08, 2005 9:02 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: ATX PSU with 4 SATA connectors ?
Replies: 4
Views: 2685

I would go to each manufacturer's website and review any pictures available of the SATA plugs prior to purchase. Depending on how far you need to pull those SATA power lines down, the orientation of the plugs may not be in the direction you need it... I've had a few top brand PSU's whose's first att...