How would you deal with interference noise? When I move the mouse, click, or make the hard drive anything, I get a high frequency noise coming from somewhere. I've unplugged all the speakers and muted both soundcards and it's still there. It sounds like it's coming from the computer itself. When I t...

Sure. Abit's KN8 and AN8, as well as the Asus A8N series.

Pull up Newegg, sort by socket 939. Then use the pictures to determine which ones have heatpipes. Won't take long.

DI

Nick: The likelihood of two failing at once is greater than you would think, particularly if you were to buy all the drives at once from the same place. Wikipedia calls this the 'bathtub effect'; the gist is that drives built sequentially often fail around the same time. Erssa: The probability calcu...

The P150 is not a lightweight case. If you plan to move it around all the time, look into a Shuttle.

DI

Given that the storage cost is already about $1000 USD, the additional cost of the card seems inconsequential. My reservations largely concern software familiarity. Data is too important to trust to unreliable software (Windows), or software with idiosyncrasies in function or GUI (*nix) that you ten...

That doesn't make sense. The only time the CPU affects disk throughput is when that disk is in a PIO mode. Unless something is dramatically out of sorts, the drive defaults to DMA, which uses very little CPU time. Further, the multiplier affects only the CPU, and the chip voltage is independent of e...

Personally, I'd use 5@400 GB instead of 7@250 GB. Specifically, a pile of Western Digital WD4000YR server drives. The cost isn't quite the same; a 400 GB is $0.50/gigabyte, and 250 GB is $0.40/gigabyte. There are two good reasons: 1. 5 drives offer 30% greater reliability than 7. Because RAID-5 can ...

Ares, About the video fan: I'm running a VF700 on a 7800 GT with two Nexus 120mm fans in a very similar arrangment. At 5V, the video fan noise is noticeable. At ~3V through a Zalman Fan-Mate, however, it's even with the two Nexus fans at 500 RPM. I can't hear it at all. The GPU core temperature is 5...

Should I send back the NeoPower HE for a refund? I love the modular cables, the PSU runs silent, cool and the energy efficiency is good. I was thinking of keeping the PSU for another system (one of my home systems - not mission critical). Is the clicking a sign of trouble to come? Should I keep it,...

Athlons prior to the X2 can run tremendously hot. The XP 2600 is rated for 85 C, with perhaps another 10 C of headroom. I wouldn't expect the temperature monitor to be that accurate however, so don't be shocked if it doesn't run well at 85 C. How hot is really a question of your own tolerances. If i...

Man, what a pain the butt that was. The guides I looked at specified 600 grit as a starter value, which was the finest they had at Lowes, so that's what I bought. After an hour of sanding, there's still a dime-sized silver spot right in the middle. It was starting to look slightly sanded, so that se...

You're right, it's not flat. Not even close. I can see light through a straightedge, and it actually rocks on a glass table.

The battle now is finding sandpaper. Lowes and Target don't carry anything more than 600 grit, but at least it's a start.

DI

I attempted to make mine look like the instruction picture, so the heat pipes are horizonal and over my DIMM slots. And yes, TheremalRight paste, btw. I will remove it and check the things you mention. I'm not sure how to lap it though, I've never had to do that in the past. What method did you use ...

Most of the noise will come from the hard drives, followed by the video fan. You may not have to replace the stock 7900 GTX fan. The card automatically underclocks itself in Windows, and the stock number is already 92mm. The best aftermarket option is the Arctic Cooling Accelero. It's about even wit...

Update: After running Prime95 for awhile, the high numbers are 57/66 C . With the fan at 100% (1100 RPM), it levels out at 52/60. WTF. I must have mounted it backwards or something. I'll try bumping the fan. Even overclocked, this thing shouldn't be dissipating more than 80W. Is there something I sh...

Any other opinions?

DI

What's the purpose of the RAID array?

DI

33 C pretty consistently. Idle temperatures for the CPU(s) are: 41/37 C The heatsink that came with the Opteron was a large copper heat-piped setup with an 80mm fan. It's heaver than the XP-120, but both seem to have similar numbers. I guess I was expecting better because the XP-120 review showed lo...

Hiya gurus, I just installed an XP-120 with a Nexus 120mm fan running at about 600 RPM in an Antec P150. I also pulled out my previous Antec Tri-Cool and replaced it with another Nexus, also at low voltage. My CPU is an Opteron 165@ 2.4GHz with a mild voltage bump. After running Sanda Burn-in for ab...

I bought a P150 with the included power supply a month ago.

As of two days ago, it's started to make an intermittent clicking I've narrowed down to the power supply fan. Very odd. Antec offered me an RMA, though, so we'll see how that works out.

DI

If I can fit an XP-120 into my case, it's worth a shot. As far as the fans starting: both are running at a good clip, particularly the one in the back. Makes me wonder if they're actually running at the voltage they say they are. Is there some way to control the fan of an nVidia 7800 in software? In...

I'm trying to see if I can undervolt my fans with replacing the whole lot of them. It seems it's a lot easier to make a quiet system than a silent one. I have: Antec P150; 4 drives, all suspended or soon to be 7800 GT w/ Zalman ZF700 AMD Opteron 165 (@ 2.4 GHz) w/ stock HS @ 800 RPM The rear case fa...

The processor is good if you are on Anandtech and can only think in terms of overclocking and burning out your system prematurely. The amount spent on other things means you could go up a notch in speed, the 4200 is a noticable jump in gaming power, I would head there for very little in heat differ...

You could do that, or something similar. That particular CPU is good to around 90 C. The hard drives are designed to accomodate users who stuff them into a case with no fans. Were I attempting this, I'd start by changing the PSU as you say, then ditching the TriCool for a Nexus. But I'd also throw i...

If you haven't already bought the Seasonic, you might want to consider a modular PSU. It's startling how much it cleans up the case interior when you only use the cables you need. Also, you can buy additional cables with whatever connection you choose. If you want four PCI-e connectors and nothing e...

For my system, I used an Abit KN8-SLI. It's about $110, includes firewire, and is currently running solid with 2 GB of RAM with the system bus at 300 MHz. (Stock is, of course, 200 MHz) Also, it passively cooled with heat pipes. There are many other boards. In choosing this one, I looked at all of t...

Thanks! The cooler is stock, yes. When the fan is shifted down to 1500 RPM or below (interestingly, this is completely adjustable in Windows with 'Speedfan'), I can't hear it in the case. I've heard very good things about the Scythe, but at least in my case (unintentional pun), it offers very little...

CPU temperature sounds a little high for a Zalman 7700. Perhaps you can boost that fan speed slightly while reducing the rear fan?

Either way, I wouldn't fret too much. If the system isn't hard locking under load, it's not in any danger of burning up.

KRT

What I'm about to post is more my experience in building a silent PC than a request for advice. This forum and the main site have been enormously helpful in this project, and my thanks for that! First a little history... some of you may find this alternately shocking or amusing.. The PC I wanted to ...

Boy I wish I'd found this earlier. Your spec sheet is, almost line for line, identical to one I proposed yesterday.

Very few opinions on the Arctic Cooling Silencer 64 TC, it seems.

DI