I left the fan edges of my BQE jagged 5 months ago. I forgot about it recently and sliced my thumb trying to open my case. In 5 more months, it's likely I'll forget and reslice my thumb.

It's worth filing it down. I plan to soon.

This is something I've never truly gotten a straight answer to, so I'm hoping someone that really knows the ins and outs of hardware/software raid can speak to it. 1 - If I understand them correctly, the onboard RAID controllers of most motherboards aren't really implementing hardware RAID. They do...

RAID 1 is defined as a mirrored array, i.e. no striping. Some RAID controllers (minimum 2 channels for IDE, 4 channels for SATA) allow RAID 0+1. This requires 4 HDDs but allows mirroring and striping (2 mirrored stripe sets of 2 HDDs each). There is also RAID 5 which gives striping with redundancy ...

Hm. I'd get the AMB too but all my drives are black and that'd just look weird in a bronze case.

SR's noise measurements show the 7k250 to be relatively quieter than the Maxtor and WD: Hitachi Deskstar 7k250

Also it's the reigning 7200 RPM performance champ apparently.

A late Happy birthday! I kind of skip this forum a bit. Here's the old SPCR look if you feel nostalgic: Mar 29 2002

I too am having trouble finding a quiet PSU. The trouble is, we're limited to finding EPS 12V PSU's and there isn't a lot of choice in that area. The primary issue is not just the PSU having to delivery a lot of power to the CPUs, but also the heat radiated by the CPUs being sucked back in through t...

How odd. It isn't on Toshiba's site, is it? Anyway, model # is MK5024GAY. There is some info in this well hidden pdf on page 2 which indicates the rotational speed.

Also interesting is this link, mwave, that says discontinued.

Excerpt from review: The inconsistent results obtained with benchmark tests seemed to suggest that the Toshiba is faster than even an IBM/Hitachi 180GXP 120G 7200 RPM 8MB cache 3.5" drive. I was not prepared to accept this result; the IBM is a very speedy drive, still tops among 3.5" 7200RPM drives...

Hah, well the Quantum Atlas 10k II is noisy even for SCSI. SR's measurements seem to indicate this drive is one of the quieter ones: http://storagereview.com/articles/20020 ... 8LW_6.html

Do you have any benchmarks you can cite to support this "substantial" reduction in load times with the 10k Raptor versus a 7200rpm, 8mb cache IDE drive? Sounds to me like a massive increase in noise and heat for a modest, incremental improvement in load times. Maybe it is, but I can live with it. I...

herosformula wrote:I have an Enermax EG651 that I am using in a dual Intel 2.8, as soon as I got it, I yanked out the 92 mm fan and taped over the hole. The 80 mm fan on the outside moves very slowly and produces little noise.

I've seen that PSU go for up to $200. You are either brave or rich.

I tried the Antec TP 550. It was a little too loud and I left it stock. I now have an Ahanix Silenx 550W and it's much quieter ( for same price, too ). All I've done is remove the fan grill. The fan makes a low quiet purring noise. Bearings I suppose. I may open it up, swap the fan, and mount it on ...

I agree w/ geordie's suggestions. An X5DA8 would require a case that supports an EATX form factor and that would limit your choices somewhat. However, the X5DAL-TG2 fits in a SLK3700 BQE just fine. I chose the X5DAL-TG2 for stability but I've heard great things about the PC-DL. It has a utility call...

Thanks for the review, rjm. I'm beginning to hear a lot of good testimonies about IBM Thinkpads. No laptop vendor is perfect, and I think customers are more abusive to their portables than they might think. But I've heard less "horror stories" about IBM than I have about Dell/Gateway/Compaq etc.

Thanks for the good info, Gooserider. I did notice that silver stuff at CompUSA and wondered if it had similar properties to AS.

They all look like decent cases if it's these you're talking about: 630 http://www.antec-inc.com/us/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=80632 635 http://www.antec-inc.com/us/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=80637 660 http://www.antec-inc.com/us/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=90662 Some of the folks h...

Ah, sorry to hear about your PSU.

Quick question: Did you hear any noise from the machine prior to the meltdown?

There was a thread about this in the PSU forums, here, and they talked about some noise they could hear as sort of a warning sound that the PSU's about done.

Well since all the other kids were doing it, I figured I'd get in on the melamine craze so my good buddy McMaster hooked me up and now I got a 2'x4' slab. One corner looks like this: http://members.arstechnica.com/subscriptors/x/raidzero/foam.jpg Am I supposed to take off the outside layers or do i ...

You've named the only 2 I know of as well, and the Toshiba is fairly recent. I upgraded from a 4200 to the Hitachi 7k60. I can feel the laptop vibrating and I can hear a low hum now. The only increase in noise is due to that vibration. There was no difference in idle noise for me. If it's speed you'...

Which would raise temperatures more, putting too much or not putting enough? I'm guessing air is a much poorer "conductor" of heat (it would be convection at this point, but anyway) than thermal paste.

Yeah, sounds like you should isolate using some method. Check the first sticky post in the Storage forums.

OT: trodas, what kind of digital camera is that? Did you touch up that photo b/c color looks awesome!

Interesting. Every review of this product I've seen has been mildly positive to positive. Silent PC Review is the one exception, and it in fact was not tested; only an opinion was given. Consequently, it gets a knee-jerk bad rap all over the forums. I think it may be more effective than Mike gives i...

Ok then, for those of us who can't live without SCSI I guess the question is Which SCSI drive is the quietest? Seagate Cheetah x15?

lightforce wrote:Ok now I've read the review here on SPCR and from what I understand is that you wont do with the psu alone you will never an additional fan because of the airflow.

I've read this 3 different times and I'm still trying to parse this sentence.

I have not been able to get the 603V down below 46c idle 55c load. What processors do you have? Are you using the stock Intel attachment mechanism? What thermal compound? p4-xeon, 2.4B using the retention brackets that came with the Supermicro board. I recently bought Arctic Silver Ceramique. Idle ...

I tried this a little while ago. I used a Thermaltake ducting mod , pointed it at my rear exhaust fan and reversed the fan to pull air off the HS. CPU1 temps saw no gain or loss. CPU2 temps rose by perhaps 10C. Almost all HSF combo's have the fan pushing air rather than pulling for a reason. I have ...

FWIW, they fit on an x5dae and x5dal-tg2. http://members.arstechnica.com/subscriptors/x/raidzero/st603v.jpg It's close. Some of the pins intermesh, but sub 40C temps seem to indicate the mating is solid. As someone else said, if Tyan followed the Intel specs for motherboard design and socket placeme...

FYI, someone over at SR says you'll hit the bus limit if you RAID 0 two Raptors. This is with the new, non-Beta sample they just tested, and it runs faster (and louder) than the previous 2nd gen sample.

I should be banned from SPCR for even mentioning 2 Raptors in a single post) Mmm dunno why you say that. If it's b/c they might be loud, it's still worlds away from SCSI loud. I definitely like performance, that's why I'm looking into the RAID 0 option on my Intel D875PBZ motherboard. The Storage R...