Search found 333 matches

by meglamaniac
Mon Sep 26, 2005 7:02 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: 34 PSUs reviewd. 34!
Replies: 6
Views: 3848

34 PSUs reviewd. 34!

Over at Hexus they may not be silence orientated, but they certainly do a thorough job!

There is some interesting info in there, and also some intriguing results.
Worth a quick look.

[edit]
It might be a bit slow right now as it appears to have been posted on slashdot as well...
by meglamaniac
Fri May 27, 2005 1:47 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Cool'n'Quiet unstable? nVidia chipset? hmm...
Replies: 15
Views: 8300

I already have an airflow solution, as I realised at the start that trying for totally passive cooling would probably not work. I have a GeForce 6600GT in this system, with the Zalman ZM80D-HP on it. Rather than buying the optional fan, I managed to rig up a system to attach a normal fan instead. I ...
by meglamaniac
Thu May 26, 2005 10:08 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Cool'n'Quiet unstable? nVidia chipset? hmm...
Replies: 15
Views: 8300

Ah, I wasn't aware the AS5 required a particularly high pressure.
I don't have much on this weekend so I may try removing the heatsink yet again and using the Zalman supplied TIM instead.
by meglamaniac
Thu May 26, 2005 2:28 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Cool'n'Quiet unstable? nVidia chipset? hmm...
Replies: 15
Views: 8300

Cool'n'Quiet unstable? nVidia chipset? hmm...

When I built my system (Asus A8n-SLI Deluxe, Athlon64 3000+) one of the first modifications I made was to replace the active cooling on the nVidia chipset with the Zalman ZM-NB47J . Recently, as the weather has been heating up, the system has become unstable when the processor load is at a point whi...
by meglamaniac
Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:11 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Enabling Temp Sensor on 6600GT
Replies: 10
Views: 6127

It still beats me why they'd disable it in the first place.
What possible purpose does it serve?

Oh well...
by meglamaniac
Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:52 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Silent DX9 card with proper macrovision support
Replies: 5
Views: 3300

I've never had a problem with TV out on my nVidia cards so it looks like you maybe got unlucky with your model.
Then again I've never bought the budget ones.

The ones I have used (including current) for DVD playback on a TV are:
GeForce 3 Ti200
GeForce 4 Ti4200
GeForce 6600GT
by meglamaniac
Tue Mar 29, 2005 2:57 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: SPCR and Aluminum Anti-Bias?
Replies: 41
Views: 17941

Wow, somebody knows how to get lots of replies to a thread...! Rusty has covered it all anyway so far as I can see. Let me just chip in with this: My case is aluminium, the LianLi PC6070B. LianLi market this as a quiet case - it might be if you have a JCB parked and running in your room all the time...
by meglamaniac
Sun Mar 27, 2005 5:12 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Leadtek 6600GT PCI-e: cooling options?
Replies: 12
Views: 6669

Looks like it worked then, because that's pretty much exactly what I get with the same graphics card and motherboard, but with the card in slot 1 (x16).
From memory I may get a couple of hundred more, but that's more likely to be due to the fact I run the card slightly overclocked.

:)
by meglamaniac
Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:09 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Leadtek 6600GT PCI-e: cooling options?
Replies: 12
Views: 6669

Hi. I have the Zalman ZM80D-HP on a PCI-e 6600GT. Whether you would describe the installation as time consuming depends on your definition - I would say it took me about half an hour, which I think is more than worth it for the results I've had. The card idles at around 50C just like yours already d...
by meglamaniac
Fri Mar 18, 2005 7:44 am
Forum: SPCR Article Discussion
Topic: Seasonic S12-430: Beyond the Super Tornado
Replies: 200
Views: 232160

Well it looks like Seasonic are holding on to the quality end of the PSU market then. I was pretty impressed with my ST400, so if this manages to beat it even by just a little bit then it must be a very designed and made. Nice to see another quality product roll out of Seasonic, and the usual high q...
by meglamaniac
Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:51 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Using hardware fan panel to control CPU cooling!
Replies: 6
Views: 3173

I use the Asus Q-fan feature on my A8N-SLI Deluxe to control the fan, because that way I don't have to worry about remembering to turn it up myself.
The other fans in the case are wired to a fan controller at the front though.
by meglamaniac
Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:49 am
Forum: Cases and Damping
Topic: Antec 3000B: TAC and Athlon64
Replies: 17
Views: 8281

The only question I can think to ask at this point is why would you turn it off?
by meglamaniac
Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:47 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: AMD & Intel Fanboiz Rejoice!!
Replies: 26
Views: 14029

Heh - I can see no practical use for that motherboard whatsoever. I work in a software development department, and of course we need to test software on AMD and Intel machines alike so we have an AMD and an Intel machine sat next to each other. Each machine has a removable harddrive caddy and 5 diff...
by meglamaniac
Mon Mar 14, 2005 2:48 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: About to buy -- need sanity check :-)
Replies: 37
Views: 17690

Unfortunately I only have 80mm exit/intake vents. I have two 80mm one at the front, which I have fitted two Nexux 80mm fans to. I have one 80mm vent at the back which also has a Nexus fan on it, and then there is the power supply which has a 120mm fan in it. I also have a 120mm Nexus fan covering th...
by meglamaniac
Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:41 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: About to buy -- need sanity check :-)
Replies: 37
Views: 17690

You can replace the chipset fan after the system is set up, but be advised that you will need to remove the motherboard so it will be a lot of hassle.
Just a word to the wise.
by meglamaniac
Sun Mar 13, 2005 3:12 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: About to buy -- need sanity check :-)
Replies: 37
Views: 17690

Yeah I'd have got that one if only it had dual DVI. I don't see why more manufacturers don't do this, as it's very easy to include an adaptor to convert a DVI-A signal to a VGA signal, while it's impossible to convert VGA to DVI-D.
Oh well at least I got the stock overclocking.

:)
by meglamaniac
Sun Mar 13, 2005 8:44 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: About to buy -- need sanity check :-)
Replies: 37
Views: 17690

The exact 6600GT I have is a Gainward one, as shown here . I have dual DVI-D displays so I needed a card with dual DVI outputs, and this one has the advantage of being "over engineered" - both the GPU and the memory run at a higher than the nVidia reference design out of the box and are guarunteed t...
by meglamaniac
Sun Mar 13, 2005 2:18 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: About to buy -- need sanity check :-)
Replies: 37
Views: 17690

Well Carl, I have the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe board, A Geforce 6600GT, a Zalman ZM80D-HP passive cooler for the graphics card an NB47J passive cooler for the chipset.
As it happens, I'm going to try and fit them this afternoon, so I'll let you know.

:)
by meglamaniac
Sat Mar 12, 2005 2:21 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: About to buy -- need sanity check :-)
Replies: 37
Views: 17690

Carl, The chipset is the bit that "does the rest" on the motherboard - storage controllers, expansion slot control, control any onboard devices like sound, networking etc. On the board you first mentioned, it is directly to the left of the CPU socket in this photo - the silver thing with a fan in it...
by meglamaniac
Sat Mar 12, 2005 9:36 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: About to buy -- need sanity check :-)
Replies: 37
Views: 17690

Looks good, just a couple of things really: 1) This is just my opinion, but I went for the 3000+ rather than the 3200+ because the difference in speed is negligable while there is quite a steep difference in price. Also, although I won't be doing so, the 3000+ will overclock to the levels of 3200+ q...
by meglamaniac
Fri Mar 11, 2005 3:44 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: How can I see my memory voltage in Windows?
Replies: 3
Views: 2568

Ah interesting, I'll give that a try next time I see him

Thanks.
by meglamaniac
Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:09 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: How can I see my memory voltage in Windows?
Replies: 3
Views: 2568

How can I see my memory voltage in Windows?

I'm not sure this is the right place to post it, but it is to do with cooling... sort of. One of my friends is having some intermitant crashes and I'm not entirely convinved his motherboard is setting the memory voltage correctly - I think it might be overvolting it and causing it to overheat. It ce...
by meglamaniac
Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:00 am
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: Quiet Blue LED Madness
Replies: 15
Views: 11677

Nice!
How did you attach the fan to the zalman btw? Does it come with mounting equipment or did you knock something up?
by meglamaniac
Fri Mar 11, 2005 12:53 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: AMD64 3500+ / GF6600GT system - Does this sound ok?
Replies: 8
Views: 4025

Regarding your RAM: You may find Crucial Ballistix is cheaper, and it has constantly come out on top or in the top 3 in memory benchmarks on the AMD64 platform. There's just something about Athlon 64 chips that Ballistix really likes. http://www.crucial.com/ballistix/ Regarding RAID: I was consideri...
by meglamaniac
Thu Mar 10, 2005 2:08 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Which DVD Burner would you get?
Replies: 59
Views: 33209

Has to be the LG GSA 4163B.
I just got it, it's pretty quiet playing DVDs at 1x which is all I'm concerned about, and it has excellent format support etc.
If you're concerned about noise you can always use Nero Drivespeed (free software) to keep it under control.
by meglamaniac
Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:20 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Spinpoints and high pitch noise at idle
Replies: 36
Views: 13833

Glad to see no-one's suggested IBM yet. I had a fun day at work today as one of their infamous Deathstar* drives (real name: Deskstar) which my predecessor had installed died in one of our servers, making it the third one to do so in 9 months. Much fun rebuilding RAID arrays followed :) I've been re...
by meglamaniac
Tue Mar 08, 2005 12:58 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Spinpoints and high pitch noise at idle
Replies: 36
Views: 13833

I heard someone mention that www.kustompcs.co.uk have nidec stock in, although they are rather expensive compared to other places.
I've bought from them in the past though and they are very helpful, if you email the sales address and ask they will give you a quick response.

Good luck.
by meglamaniac
Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:47 pm
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Spinpoints and high pitch noise at idle
Replies: 36
Views: 13833

JVM: Don't know yet, still building it! I tested the harddrives by connecting them up and shorting the correct pins on the PSU to start it - there was no motherboard or anything. I expect temps may be higher than I would like as the intake is quite restricted, and of course the Acoustipack is a grea...
by meglamaniac
Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:05 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Spinpoints and high pitch noise at idle
Replies: 36
Views: 13833

It's a LianLi PC6070B, which is the reason I got Acoustipack in the first place: it's aluminium so is far from quiet without it.
by meglamaniac
Mon Mar 07, 2005 7:36 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Spinpoints and high pitch noise at idle
Replies: 36
Views: 13833

Doesn't sound like a very realistic answer from the WD guy. As far as I know that drive spins just as fast as it's PATA counterpart doesn't it? Unless he's trying to say that the extra capacity on the SATA bus contributes to the noise, which would make me laugh...! As for the acoustipack: One side o...