I think it's worth saying that although in the raw benchmarks the D510 doesn't seem that much faster than previous Atoms it certainly feels a lot quicker.

It lags in raw number crunching but having two hyperthreaded cores seems to make responsiveness and general desktop use it performs quite well.

An interesting review, especially as I am considering replacing my current Thinkpad X32 at some point. A few thoughts: - For H.264 playback try CoreAVC. It's much faster than other decoders and allows my Pentium M 1.8GHz Thinkpad to play back 720p with only very occasional dropped frames. On an Atom...

It's hard to judge noise levels as it was set up in a workshop and installed in a shop front so the ambient level was quite high. In that environment even a crappy Dell SFS system seems fairly quiet so I really can't make any useful comment here.

One other thing. I have set up an Acer Aspire Revo based access point which also uses an Atom. I get about 22W idle, higher than I expected by still okay. It runs pfSense and provides a captive portable and general net access for customers in a shop. It works very well, no load issues what so ever. ...

*old topic* What did you go for in the end, Mojo? I'm quite interested in your experiences with the Atom based NAS. Also, what raid level did you settle for? I'm researching the same thing, basically, I want a powerful yet energy efficient NAS solution, with some bandwidth for more. I got an Intel ...

namaku0, I have set it up and tested it. Unfortunately there is no way to make the on-board video the primary one in the BIOS. Once booted to Windows it can be done, but the BIOS will always show on a PCI graphics card if one is attached.

He didn't call you an idiot, like you are making out. Please review the thread. I never suggested that he was calling me an idiot personally, that is entirely in your head. I understood it was a general comment, I just felt that his already weak argument had turned into an off-tangent rant. I don't...

fjf is right, that is why I have stopped responding to whiic. He's just ranting off on some tangent now.

Actually if you can find a suitable connector then you can make an extension cable with the resistor to avoid voiding the warranty.

You could cut into the fan cable and install a resistor.

You could also try the stock 5870 BIOS instead of the Sapphire one.

whiic wrote:IDIOT.

I have no further interest in discussing this with you.

Anyone find power consumption measurements for these drives?

No-one seems to have measured them yet.

I too am eagerly awaiting news on this :) I think it will be a winner either way though, because if you look at that heatsink you could just remove the shroud and stick a 120mm Nexus on there if it was too noisy. The reported 18C temperature drop compared to the reference card suggests that you coul...

The 5770 with Vapor-X is apparently pretty good so fingers crossed... Even if it isn't though, it looks like it would be ideal for just removing the shroud and tacking on a 120mm Nexus. Of course I don't know if I can get a Vapor-X cheap, but plan B is get the 5850 or maybe even "just" the 5770. Quo...

Based on my little experience adding another video adapter to a mainboard (AGP or PCI-E based (non SLI/CrossFire)) that already has an on-board video; my understanding is that the one that will be used is depends on the BIOS setting which one to use or take priority. The other video adapter on the ...

I doubt using both Intel and nVidia/ATI graphics will ever be officially supported. I wouldn't hold your breath for Hybrid Power on the desktop either. In the mean time get a board with on-board ATI IGP. Then get a discreet card of the same generation. You can the just power down and install the car...

Should be possible, yes. Check the BIOS, see if there is a setting for Primary Graphics Adaptor or a way to force the on-board video to remain on even with a PCI video card plugged in.

I have one of these boards now so can probably answer your question for certain next month if you want to PM me.

Ah, thanks flinx. That is a shame about the 5870 because I could get one for the same price as the 5850 normally sells for. I will have a look around and see if I can find any 5870s with non-standard heatsinks, but so far they all seem to be of the stock cooler variety. Saying that people have had s...

So what is the best option for the RAM and VRMs? Use the original base plate or the heatsinks supplied with the TTP?

I have always disliked the after-market RAM/VRM heatsinks. The screwed-in baseplate seems like a much more robust option.

You seem to define 'failing' as drive with a very large number of loads/unloads reported. To me a drive is not failing unless it's actually something wrong with it. A rouge SMART value is not ideal, but since we here no reports of non-functional drives I feel the problem is not that great. Don't mi...

Link to the claims? I'll go one better. Here is the Western Digital support article on the subject: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3263&p_created=1232125802 They acknowledge the problem and provide a utility to disable the offending feature. It's not just WD...

There are loads of reports of the drives failing. It was worst with Linux systems. The drive reaches the SMART programmed limit for load/unload cycles and reports a SMART parameter failure after just a few months. It might be fine for desktop use. Might even be fine for NAS or a Linux server. Why ch...

Presumably the VRMs don't need much cooling since they don't even have heatsinks on this card. That would seem to make it ideal for heatsink replacement.

I think a card with a proper baseplate that could be left on might be a better candidate for replacement.

ATI support it in laptops IIRC, but there is no desktop support. One trick which does work is to get a low power card (or on-board video) and a paired up high end one to use in a Crossfire configuration. You can use on-board video with Hybrid Crossfire. The low power card is your main one. Then just...

I have been considering WD drives too but like almost everyone else the early death due to repeated head parking puts me off. The drive will be used for bulk storage in a low power NAS/download box (not as the main drive) so I will just use the built-in power saving with a 1 hour time-out. Far fewer...

I have a couple of 500GB WD drives in my main system. The AAKS one has got more noisy over time, the other KS one is still quiet. The drive itself is not making more noise but it vibrates more, causing the case to vibrate too. I have checked it and it does not appear to be failing, just vibrating a ...

The "Go Green" version is probably just a hand-picked card which happens to work at a lower voltage than most. I'd be wary of cards like that. How well have PowerColor tested the card? Can you imagine the fun you would have trying to a) diagnose a card which is failing at idle and b) trying to expla...

Wow, that is pretty bad. Doesn't seem worth it for what you get over the D510M0, and it's a lot more expensive (~250UKP). My plan was to use HDD power management or maybe hot-swapping. I think it'll just use USB instead. You can completely power down a USB device and disconnect it from the mains, wh...

Spotted this Supermicro low-power server board in a shop today: http://www.supermicro.nl/products/motherboard/ATOM/ICH9/X7SPA.cfm?typ=H Atom D510 (dual core, hyperthreaded) based with dual Intel gigabit LAN ports. Also has 6 SATA ports and a 4x PCI-e slot. Only thing is that it's ICH9R chipset based...