Hi, I'm in the process of building my first quiet PC and have hit a bit of a stumbling block... The Belkin 3.5" to 2.5" IDE Adaptor which I bought in order to use a 2.5" WD Scorpio isn't missing the usual keying pin - it has all 40 pins, and so won't fit into the socket (which has the keying pin hol...

Thanks, Tibors - I'm glad to see I probably haven't wasted my cash!

Hi, I've already purchased a standard NoVibes HDD suspension kit which I was intending to use with a 3.5" Samsung Spinpoint P120 200GB HDD. However, having read a number of articles and forum posts regarding how much quieter 2.5" HDDs can be, I am now considering buying one of these instead. So I'm ...

Hi all, Having put it off for ages, I've finally decided to take the plunge and build my first quiet PC, and would welcome your advice before I part with any cash... I'm planning to use this system mainly for software development, and also for the usual web browsing, office apps, etc. However, I am ...

Tibors - I am after a full size ATX mobo, rather than a micro-ATX one - it just so happened that the guy I spoke to only knew the price for the micro-ATX version. To be honest, I'm still very confused about what I need to be looking for... The guy I spoke to said I should be able to get a very cheap...

Thanks for the advice, Ralf

Gavin.

I have been recommended this card: EQS A58K9-MLF . It is a PCI-e mobo but it has good onboard graphics (Radeon X300 PCI-e 128MB) so I would not need to buy a separate graphics card. The Micro-ATX version retails for £89, and if the full ATX board is not too much more then it seems to me that it migh...

Thanks for the reply Shriek. The Asus A8V Deluxe sounds like it should meet my needs pretty well. Are there any other mobos I should be considering? I note that the Asus A8V Deluxe is a VIA K8T800-based mobo. I seem to remember people recommending nVidia nForce3-based mobos a few months back when I ...

I'm looking to build my own PC for the first time, and I'm planning to go for an A64 Winchester 3000+ CPU-based system. However, I'm totally confused as to which motherboards would suit my needs best, so I'd be really grateful for some guidance... I'm planning to use the system for software developm...

I've got an old PIII 800Mhz PC which has recently started making a real racket... It was never quiet, but I think the fan bearings are starting to go so there are now some fairly unpleasant squeals and a lot of vibration coming from it. It's driving me crazy, so I need to do something about it in a ...

I'm looking to replace a noisy graphics card in an old Pentium III PC with a passively-cooled one. I'm not bothered about 3D performance at all as I won't be be using this PC for games - I'm basically just looking for something silent and as cheap as possible (but it must have DVI output). (The moth...

I'm after a quite (and reasonably priced) pre-built A64-based PC that is available to buy in the UK.

Has anyone got any ideas?

No need to apologise, hydroxyhydride... Your posts have been most helpful. You (and the others who have taken the time to post) have probably saved me many hours of experimentation and frustration!

Thanks again,
Gav.

Thanks jojo4u. I hadn't realised that the Speedfan fan-speed algorithm was so poor... It is a real shame that Speedfan isn't (as another poster in the other thread suggested): a) open-source b) split into 2 distinct levels with a low-level hardware abstraction/control layer, an end-user apllication ...

What benefits does SilentTek offer over just using an application like Speedfan or Fanspeed (apart from allowing you to set fan-speeds at boot-up)?

nick705, I love the opening quote on AOpen's SilentTek web-page that you linked to: AOpen's SilentBIOS/TEK is by no means a flawless execution of an embedded thermal fan control system in a motherboard Now that's the way to sell a product!!! Thanks for the link though - SilentTek certainly sounds li...

@hydroxyhydride: Thanks ever so much for your help - I have finally got it! (Sorry if I was a bit slow on the uptake...). It seems a real shame that the AMD CnQ driver / motherboard software does not allow you to set up custom voltage/frequency/multipler configurations for each of the CnQ states - a...

Jan, I am running Windows Server 2003 and the CnQ driver doesn't seem to work properly I'd presumed this was why hydroxyhydride had been forced to use ClockGen, and, I must admit, I was more than a bit confused by hydroxyhydride's initial post in http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?p=1070...

Jan,

But if CnQ gives you the option to set voltage, frequency & multipler ratios for all modes (even the 100% CPU one) then you have the ability to overvolt as well as undervolt.

I'm just not sure whether it does, although some people seem to be suggesting that this is, indeed, the case...

Gav

Cool and Quiet only lowers the voltage to the chip while the cpu is idling. What you say would seem to contradict what hydroxyhydride has been saying... If I understand correctly, hydroxyhydride is saying is that, on at least some boards, CnQ allows you to configure voltage for ALL CnQ modes (inclu...

Just thought people might be interested in this email I received from Thermalright in response to my query about when the SP-98 was going to be launched:

SP-98 had been replaced by a whole new product which are coming very soon, stay tune.

Sincerely,

Jim Wei
Thermalright Inc.

jojo4u Cool'n'Quiet has no use when the CPU has to work really hard. From what hydroxyhydride says it sounds like it has: if CnQ allows you to specify voltage at the various CnQ levels then you can potentially undervolt your CPU even when it is running at 100%. But this is the question I am trying t...

hydroxyhydride, Do all motherboards allow you to configure CnQ to the same extent that your K8V deluxe does? There seem to be a number of posts on these forums from people asking whether a particular mobo, which they know supports CnQ, also supports undervolting. E.g.: http://forums.silentpcreview.c...

Anyone???

I've seen lots of posts regarding Speedfan, MBM, Fanspeed, etc, but these all seem to be Windows only.

Are there any similar utilities for Linux?

Thanks,
Gav

Well, the title says it all really...

I'm a bit confused as to whether having undervolting support on an A64 motherboard will ever be useful on a motherboard that already fully supports Cool'n'Quiet. Can anyone illuminate me?

Thanks,
Gav

Thanks hyperslug - the nose cone from a remote-control prop plane sounds ideal.

I'll have to hunt around to see if I can find a UK supplier.

hydroxyhydride, Now I'm confused - I've had a look at the topic / articles you mentioned but I'm still a bit unsure about things... Can you just confirm that I don't need worry about undervolting support on A64 motherboards because ALL boards that support CnQ will allow me to change voltage from CnQ...

Thanks everyone. Although I'm sure I could probably find out all the info I'm after if I hunt all around this site (and others), it would be incredibly useful to have all this information in one place... Perhaps it would be possible to add a table of A64 motherboards in the recommended section showi...

Although I've had a good search through the forums and found several threads that touch on this subject, I've not been able to find a concise (and up-to-date) answer to what the best A64 motherboard is... Ideally I want to find a motherboard with the following features: 1. Cool'n'Quiet 2. Undervolta...