I`ve been looking for a wireless htpc keyboard too, this is what I've come up with so far: A Dell branded keyboard with trackball, doesn`t seem to be available through normal channels yet a store in my country (of all places) seems to stock it.. http://ormooge.com/?p=36 A Logitech with a nice big to...

I was referring to the EVGA board where the first pcie slot is close to the cpu leaving little space for a third heatsink. The boards you posted have fewer pcie 16x slots leaving enough space in between for the chipset heatsink to breathe plus some of them connect it to a third heatsink in between t...

Such boards are designed to take multiple video cards so airflow around the chipset heatsink can be poor. On top of that, a few high end gpus can radiate a fair amount of heat so I think the use of a fan is justified in this case. While they could have used heatpipes to move the heat away, with so m...

Building a case yourself is certainly not cheap, especially if you factor in the time spent. But it can be lots of fun and more rewarding than building a computer the normal way. After having built a few cases on my own I though I`d share a few tips: Case design can be a significant factor when it c...

I had to resort to the same solution when I installed a tower cooler on my socket A cpu :) http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w173/ntavlas/pc/DSCF2741.jpg http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w173/ntavlas/pc/interior.jpg The improvement was phenomenal, the temps of my 2ghz barton got lowered by 18 deg...

Keeping the fans at 900-1000rpm could achieve just as much as filling the front of the case with blocks and would still be enough to cool any drives installed (even 20 if you add a forth fan). Don`t the Noctua fans come with LNA and ULNA adapters? You could use those to permanently slow down the fan...

I wonder how the midrange keplers will compare against the 560 in cuda applications. There`s no doubt that the keplers will be a lot more efficient in games but in other applications, who knows. I think I would prefer the phantom to the palit card for one reason: the heatsink of the phantom is flat ...

exactly. unfortunately, i dont have 19 unuseable old hard drive. How many hard drives have you got installed then? It sounds as if there`s only one (perhaps along with a 2.5 inch boot drive?). You could dial down the speed of the fans producing most of the noise as long as temperatures remain satis...

A few old hard drives could make a pretty effective sound barrier and would require no further work to fit in.

Would a Scythe low profile with heatpipes work better? the optical drive already sits right on top of the heat sink fan, so air flow might be constricted too. how effective is underclocking? the i3-2100T is 2.5Ghz - do I reduce it to 2.0Ghz? would that be too much, too little? my case has the optic...

I'm wondering if that missing component means a broken circuit. Whatever was filtered by this capacitor will probably not reach it`s destination now anyway, or would it?

I`m also wondering, would a skilled pen-modder be able to put it back?

68 c with the top panel removed is a bit too high indeed. The intel stock cooler can be a pig to install correctly, I would double check to make sure all 4 push pins are securely attached to the motherboard. Unfortunately, to be 100% sure, you would need to remove the motherboard and visually inspec...

4 pin fans can tick too, an arctic cooling pwm I was using in my htpc did that. Now fans can tick for other reasons too, but I think it was the working frequency of the pwm circuitry that did that as the ticking went away after I plugged it on another motherboard. Overall, the main reason for using ...

I guess I'm just a bit leery of the whole DH61AG thing because there must be a catch to paying $25 extra ($80 for a basic H61 ITX board vs $105 for the DH61AG) for $40 worth of DC/DC conversion circuitry. This is probably because the built in dc-dc converter has a lower rating (there is no gpu slot...

Regarding the Intel D945GSEJT, I`m using one and got exactly the same power figures as in the SPCR review: 12 watts idle and 18 at full load (including a 2.5inch drive, 1gb of ram and a low speed fan). So, it`s not the most efficient but it should be pretty good value and easy to find. It cost me 85...

I find the only thing that i dislike is the frontal fan on the TJ08-E, even at the low settings is very loud, ... Getting some sort of automatic fan control could help keep the front fan quiet, at least when the pc is idle. Ideally, the front fan would be controlled according to both cpu and gpu te...

If the fins of the existing heatsink are rigid enough and with the right spacing its possible to attach the replacement fan using screws. A little easier to do than using zip ties etc. A 80mm fan permanently running at 1000-1200 rpm should be more than enough for your card and very quiet too.

Generally you should: -1- test your system and record the results -2- make a change -3- retest and compare the results I second that plus it would be a good first step to record your temperatures. This will help you decide in how to setup your fans so you can get adequate cooling as quietly as poss...

If the motherboard is unable to set fan speed to your liking you could manually adjust it using a fan mate like Abula. Or you could get a 3pin to 4pin pwm converter (this will essentially turn a 3pin fan into pwm). Yet another solution would be to get the Silverstone ps 07 case instead. It`s almost ...

It sounds good so far. A Llano machine is a good fit for the silverstone case since the later is very good at cooling the cpu. A tower cooler would work great in the tj 08 as long as it be installed facing the general direction of airflow.

Do you reckon dropping down to 2x2gb would see no drop in performance?

I don`t think you`ll need any more for internet and office apps. By the way, zacate has a single memory channel, so a single 4 gb stick will do.

The fan bundled with the cooler does not have one but if you buy a stand alone AC pwm fan it will have a splitter built in. This is what it looks like: http://www.google.gr/imgres?q=arctic+cooling+pst&start=488&um=1&hl=el&sa=N&biw=1680&bih=935&tbm=isch&tbnid=_G0h0WWOFZCsoM:&imgrefurl=http://hardvera...

Arctic Cooling pwm fans have a built in Y splitter. You plug one of the fans to the motherboard then, connect the second fan (in your case the cpu cooler fan) to the header provided by the first fan. If you get your hands on one the manual should make it pretty clear, it`s quite easy really. The tak...

The last picture posted is a very good example of how you could setup a p183 build. It contains most of the advice posted in this thread.

I have to agree with HFat. If I were to build a zacate pc it would be in a mini itx case, powered by a pico psu. The next step up in performance is either a llano or a sandy bridge motherboard. In this case, the Solo II and Seasonic psu are more reasonable choices but still a little overkill (full a...

Idle power consumption does seem a little high but the temperatures look fine to me. If the motherboard can`t throttle the fan you`ll have to resort to manual control. You could do that quite cheaply with a zalman fanmate. You could also get an Arctic Cooling pwm fan which features pwm sharing. Then...

If I want the most quiet mechanical HD storage, is it 3.5 WD green or 2.5 ? Notebook drives are really quiet when seeking but I`ve come across a WD green that was quieter than any notebook drive I`ve owned when idle. Right now, I`m using a couple of scorpio blue drives and they`re not too bad. Thei...

I'd save the money and put some fans in.

It`s true that in most cases a few slow moving fans can be inaudible making passive cooling redundant. I doubt this project was purely about silence though, it`s likely that he also did it for fun and I can certainly relate.

A bit like a tower speaker... depending on the kind of fabric used. What comes to mind is vintage speakers where the fabric often had stripes or other simple patterns. http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w173/ntavlas/quad_esl.jpg Using a fabric cover could involve some extra work though. Some sort o...

I like the idea of dressing it with cloth. It`s probably one of the best solutions regarding acoustics but I mostly like it because it would end up looking quite original.