If its "actually" aluminium (i.e. real metal and not aluminium looking plastic). It might be nice My guess is that it is silver-colored plastic. The current case front is plastic, and so changing just the color is not such a major change (different material or paint, same molds, same overall proces...

The firmware on these drives doesn't expect the drive to be moving, as the housing moves away from the head as it seeks, and this can possibly be a source of confusion. I haven't heard of this effect before. Could you please give us more information about this? I thought the head was just controlle...

IssacKuo's post also reminded me of another program I sometimes use, SyncToy from Microsoft. It is designed to synchronize files using one of several methods. It has no compression. It has a pretty simple GUI.

Info/Download: SyncToy for Windows XP

is it bigger files compress better, or more total files compress better Depends more on the type of file - what it has in it. Files that contain really random data (like WAV files), or are already compressed (like ZIP files and compressed movie or sound files) don't compress much more. Executables ...

so what kind of compression ratio are you getting would my full 300gb fit onto my 120...? I'm getting an average compression reduction of 31%. That's across around 78,000 files totalling around 16GB. These files are my "data" files, and don't include Windows install or any installed applications. T...

Kind of depends on the kind of backups you want to do. I do full, nightly, automated backups using WinZip command line. This is set up as a scheduled task in WinXP. The newest version of WinZip, 10.0, has batch capability and scheduling built-in, which may be even easier. Although I do full backups,...

I've got (2) 74GB Raptors (SATA) in my quiet PC. There is no audible rotational noise, but there is some seek noise. As with most/all 3½" drives, decoupling is recommended. Performance of these drives is very good.

SATA native command queuing has been written off by many as an optimization that only gives a slight performance increase under just a few conditions. I came across this paper that analyzes NCQ and reports its effects on reducing power consumption and noise emission. Regarding power: 1. When operati...

Derek Baker wrote:Am I the only one who thinks that white bezel looks absolutely horrible?

I was thinking (hoping?) the front bezel is silver and not white. If it is silver, I think I'll like it a lot.

Hopefully the new version will be available without a PSU!

That would be a real boon for building quiet/silent PCs! Better performance and totally silent operation!

TomMe wrote:Are you saying the S12 models only have a single rail or just that they don't have any limit? Either way my decision is easily made >> the S12-430!

Yes, the S12's have just a single 12V rail. Mike's review found this, and Seasonic confirmed this to me when I asked them that question by e-mail.

...Also, if you shield, you have to ground the shield (Faraday cage). That also implies you need good electrical conductivity across the entire shield, and of course a decent ground connection... Faraday cages do not need to be earthed to work; it is sufficient that they completely enclose the obje...

If he's intending to design a PCB, he'll need more than just the information on that site. He'll be looking for mechanical specifications for PCI-e. Thus why he was looking for PDFs (all the specs are PDFs).

Interesting idea, but why not just grab power from one of the PSU power connectors? Are you going to run connectors out through the PCI slot openings on the back of the computer?

Not sure if you're aware, but if you design a PCB to mate with the PCIe connector, it should be gold plated.

I know of no way to convert acoustic energy into heat energy, except through the use of fiberous materials. Completely off-topic, but another way would be to connect up a piezoelectric mic to a Peltier cooler. I don't see how that would work - a microphone produces microwatts, while the Peltier coo...

I think a wood case would be nice overall. Shielding it would be valuable IMO, because you don't just have to worry about radio and TV, but what if you want to use your cell phone nearby, a wireless keyboard/mouse, or a Bluetooth device? Wireless is getting more and more prevalent, and these devices...

The existence of AMD is good (insofar as they provide competition for Intel and prevent them establishing a monopoly on the chipmaking industry). The possibility that Intel will become a monopolist company is an evil, or at least disturbing, prospect. I totally agree - and if there were three compa...

Processors are not religion. There is no need to devote yourself to AMD or Intel. There is no need to preach to others to do the same. They are just processors - not a life decision - not something that defines who you are - not something that really affects your life. I think it's fine to have a pr...

From what I currently understand, the only difference is that the PWM's don't give off as much heat and make it so the fans use less electricity. Is that true or is there more to it? Almost true. PWM control circuits are more efficient than analog circuits, and thus waste less heat in the circuit a...

The S12-500 has a bit more room on its rails, I figured that can only be a good thing.

The only possible drawback of having more power in this case is the slight impact on your wallet.

Based on the chart, it "seems" on average the difference is about 1.5dBA. If you can hear that over the ambient room noise, you must really have sensitive hearing. Since the x-axis of the chart is load %, I think the actual dBA difference is a little more than that, as I suggested in my comment in ...

AntecRep, can you please also let us know the technical background behind the problem or incompatibility with the NeoHE's?

I don't know the relative noise between S12-430 and S12-500, but according to Seasonic, the S12-600 is 2-4dbA quieter than the S12-500. That was one reason that I decided to get the 600 instead of 500. If that's what the spec sheets state, they are wrong. The 500 & 600 are basically identical. The ...

I don't know the relative noise between S12-430 and S12-500, but according to Seasonic, the S12-600 is 2-4dbA quieter than the S12-500. That was one reason that I decided to get the 600 instead of 500.

Such negativity! We don't know anything about this thing.

Microsoft recommends you leave it on and I think it's mostly used in the background or for reserved memory. What would be more important would be to disable the automatic harddrive layout with TweakUI and to get a more effective defragmenter than the one that comes with Windows. Can you please prov...

I've got a YL 120mm, and I ran it across a range of voltages and never noticed any different noise in that voltage range.

Thanks - fixed the link.

"External power supply gives users clean power all while remaining silent an outside the PC"

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1310

Looks pretty nice - perfectly quiet, lots of power.

It might be helpful if you can narrow the noise down to the exact source. Are you sure it is the PSU? Is maybe something else vibrating? What kind of noise is it? Can you open the case while it is making the noise? You can stop fans, feel around for sources of vibration, and listen for the source of...