CA_Steve wrote:newsletter

So, the brand new SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MBis only $47

Sadly, no reviews out there, yet.

And another 10% off that if you go through Bing cashback... not shabby.

-Dan

Interesting post as I find myself in a similar situation. So your 500w is fairly quiet? I think it's really quiet, and what noise it makes is pleasant - more of a whoosh than a buzz. That big fan is nice, compared to the 80mm fans I've used in the past. Kinda wish it was a straight-through cooling ...

Just got one - my 2 Antec power supplies were getting flakey to the point of not being usable anymore (my NEO430 wouldn't power on 9/10 times due to low-amperage CPU, and my EA380 had a short or something in it - would cut out randomly, not worth tracking down). http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product...

Wow....That is impressive. But I don't really get how downsizing the drive increases performance.... :? Wonder if there would be even more of a performance boost if it was downsized more....150gb or even 100gb for example.... :D Or what's the "breakeven" size - Can you get 500 GB and EQUAL a Veloci...

Just popped in a Banias 1.7 GHz Pentium M into my wife's old Presario laptop - it had a Celeron M 1.4 GHz that was always revving the fan since it doesn't have SpeedStep - really annoying. Got a Banias for $20 shipped off eBay, brand new, undervolted with RMClock at .7v @ 600 MHz, an 1.084 @ 1.7 GHz...

That's what I thought. I realize that TDP is a black art / black box / whatever, and I'm sure they "batch" TDP the chips - the 2.4 GHz has the same TDP as the 1.6 GHz chips in a family, which doesn't make sense to me at all logically. Sounds like "worst case scenario" type of stuff.

-Dan

I'm considering getting a new (used) laptop. I've got a Pentium-M Banias Thinkpad, and it undervolts really nicely in RMClock - down to .8v @ 600 MHz or so. I'm considering getting an X60 or X60s - the only difference is the processor. An L2400 and a T2400. From Intel, the differences are: L2400 is ...

I opted for the NSK2400 (back in the day) because 1. Didn't want to pay the premium 2. Had an IR remote solution (external) already 3. Thought the know was going to get in the way of my cabinet (1" sticking out) 4. Who uses the knob!?!?! Everything is remote controlled these days, sure it looks cool...

I'm converting an old C2D computer into a NAS, but the problem is it has no onboard graphics, so I need to find a cheap GPU to use. Does anyone have recommendations for older fanless/quiet GPUs with low power consumption/heat? There's usually a fair variety of secondhand cards on sale locally for a...

Son of a gun! I'll eat crow on this one for sure - yeah, the old one was the Turbo Module, with 2 fans, not the new Twin Turbo cooler. Great marketing, guys! :-) looks like it really is a smaller cooler. Would it fit in an NSK2400 / Antec Fusion?? The PDF doesn't show a height, but it looks consider...

Thread revival!!! :P Just wanted to remind people that there's an alternative to bending and it's called Accelero Twin Turbo . Pretty much a S1 with lower height and two fans, and a slightly shorter distance between the fins. I guess the fans are removable. Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Twin ...

and I think the Hitachi is still considerably cheaper ( $88 ). I got my WD10EADS for $89 when it was Newegg's "shell shocker" deal a week or so ago. At $105 its value is debatable. But for $89 this purchase was a no-brainer for me. Comparing apples to apples, in the streaming read I/Os per Watt, th...

I just replaced my Neo HE recently after a few years of use. Over time, it developed a resistance to cold boots or reboots in general. Since it was on my Asus Nvidia 6150 chipset HTPC, it wasn't too much of a problem until I dinked around with Vista Media Center and various plugins (reboots galore)....

doing all I can to resist that one - it's the 3 platter 32mb cache one, usually not on sale.

-Dan

just recieved my passive HIS 4650. In addition, I also installed an HVR-1800 tv tuner. My idle power usage went from 53W to 75W after the two cards were installed. CCC reports the 4650 at 165mhz/500mhz(GPU/RAM) at idle. Does this imply powerplay is working? A jump of 22W was unexpected, since the t...

I'll get pictures if anyone wants them. I just finished upgrading my HTPC for no good reason than it's Winter, so I have some good parts to get rid of. Make me an offer, go to good home, etc. Sapphire HD3450 video card - passive, 256 MB DDR2 memory. Athlon X2 3800+ EE AM2 processor - 65w version, 2 ...

Thanks for the advice. That certainly helps budget-wise, but isn't their a risk of instability when undervolting a processor? Are the X2's more stable than say the Intel equivalents when undervolted? Yes, there is, but in my experience, it's easier to test for than overclocking. You undervolt in .2...

loimlo, In RBE 1.18, my HIS HD4670 IceQ Turbo BIOS does not display anything in the Fan Settings page. I think my BIOS might have the fan fixed at one speed because I have not noticed any real change in the speed of the fan after stress testing the card. Would you be willing to upload your HIS4670....

I thought the backlight lamps are replaceable because it's the first thing to go, and the color temp changes as they age. I guess if ViewSonic sells no parts, they are disposable, though they're designed for ease of service and there's oodles of ViewSonic parts on ebay. I tried replacing the CCFL i...

Is there a non-passive cooled version of this card that's near silent when idle? The only passive cooled version of the card on newegg is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161266 Newegg lists this 512 MB card as "quiet": http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16...

Well, the HIS just hit free shipping at Newegg, along with the sale and free shipping on the Earthwatts 380 that I kinda need (who wants to JUST replace a PS? That's kinda boring! :-)) So, I can finally pull that smokin' hot 3450 out of the machine and see what's-what. Thanks for the tips and all! -...

Can anyone confirm or deny whether the HIS, Powercolor or MSI cards have editable (down to .9v?) PowerPlay states? I'm going to pull the trigger on one of these cards, and don't want to get stuck with a high-voltage idle mode. Powercolor AX4670 Powercolor 4650 w/ SCS3 HIS 4670 IceQ Turbo HIS 4670 Za...

doh! I was so focused on the video requirements that I completely forgot about separate audio streams for each display. In the short term we could live with a cloned display but eventually they'll need to be independent. I didn't get as far as researching the front-end limitations but a media exten...

I'm waiting for a the price cut now ! Bet it takes a while to filter through :( I've been tracking the 4650 and 4670 at Newegg, and they seem to have fallen $10-40 over the last few weeks, and there's lots of $10-$20 rebates being slapped on all the Radeon 4xxx series cards - I'd bet that's the "tr...

"- MUST HAVE SUFFICIENT POWER TO DEINTERLACE 1080i mpeg2" If you find such a card, please post the info! I've read and read on avsforum.com and elsewhere, and there's no real consensus as to what works well for that - most people just aren't doing ATSC w/ DVR, unfortunately. I have a Radeon HD 3450,...

The table at the bottom shows : GDDR4 1GB & PCI Graphic External 2 x Power(2x3Pin) ! I think that's a mistake (reused table from old review?) - the photo doesn't show any connectors at all, and it's clear enough to see coolers on the memory, and solid caps. Looks like a nice board, actually! That, ...

There are a few wireless mouse/keyboard replacements in the iTunes store. I bought AirMouse (http://www.mobileairmouse.com/press.html) and it works really well. Though in reality I usually either VNC in or use my Ultranav travel keyboard (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-45849.html) m...

You haven't said what you want it for, so I doubt anyone can give you good advice. For me, Vista was more stable for my HTPC, and I thought it would have a ecosystem of HTPC add-ons (false). Vista Media Center is a real PITA to configure and tweak, even worse than MCE 2005. For an HTPC, it's margina...

My CrystalCPU settings for Athlon X2 5400+ BE 1.35v 3.0ghz 1.275v 90W idle 141W load 2.0ghz 1.100v 82W idle 109W load 1.0ghz 0.800v 75W idle 83W load These numbers are measured with a Kill-a-watt and visually averaged after a few seconds of stability from Prime95 2-core. The MB is an Asus M2NPV-VM,...

Supposedly the Core i7 can acutally completely shut current off to most of its cores. They aren't idle; they are flat off. That's interesting- isn't that something that AMD has promised for a while (independent C'n'Q for each core), but I think still has to deliver. Maybe on the newest Phenoms? I w...