Hmmm, I'm looking for a quiet DVD burner, but around here the only Asus is the DRW 20B1LT. According to reviews, it definately seems quiet - but the burn quality is very bad.

speedkar9 wrote:Why couldn't they just put the power button on the front panel rather than have me sticking my fingers in the intake vent to turn the computer on?

Agree !!!!

I think SPCR have done very well with graphic cards reviews within the last year or so - many of the interesting cards show up in a review. Though, I think the VGA reviews in general can be improved - if SPCR choosed an aftermarket cooler or two, to try out with each reviewed card, it would be super...

Thanks for your input. Yeah, it's a challenge when everything is new - I can make plans today, which are outdated tomorrow, because he discover something new. On the other hand, how much money should one sacrifice on the "just to be sure alter"? I think it's good to go the AM3 / DDR3 route - not muc...

GTA4 is no longer on the list - so now the list goes like this: Phenom II X4 810 4 MB (AMD Processor in a Box (PIB)) Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P OCZ 2 x 2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ( PC3-10666 ) CL6 ( 6-6-6-18 ) ASUS EAH4850/HTDI (512 MB) WD Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640 GB Cooler Master Centurion 590 FSP BLUE STO...

Hmmm, I somewhat liked the holes on the black P180 Mini - worked well with black and the top vent in same style. But here, no, I dont like them. Regarding the holes from a practical perspective: I believe they improve airflow, but I think they make a noise path at the same time. This is of course sp...

Thx everyone. The shopping list so far: Phenom II X4 810 4 MB (AMD Processor in a Box (PIB)) Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P OCZ 2 x 2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ( PC3-10666 ) CL6 ( 6-6-6-18 ) ASUS EAH4850/HTDI (512 MB) WD Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640 GB Cooler Master Centurion 590 FSP BLUE STORM II 400 Is there any s...

Three of the games listed require a bit of gpu and cpu performance to run at the higher quality modes. Getting a fast dual core is better than a slower quad core at this time. Something >2.5GHz like the e7400/e7500. If you want to spend more, get the e8400...if you want to spend less, get the e5400...

Kids play games on their phones, watch movies on their ipods, and have gotten so used to poor mp3 compression that they like it's sound better than lossless music, and you are worried that he's so much of a quality expert that he'll scoff at the 22" LCD? Thanks for the humor w/ my morning coffee. :...

With respect to the original questions, if you scratch the horribly ported GTA4 off the list, then a 4850 will be more than enough to run everything at high settings @ 1680x1050. Supposedly, AMD's got the new 40nm cards coming out soon so if you hold off for a few weeks, you can probably grab one o...

Thanks for the suggestions :D I've read about GTA4 and it's content, and I'll definately have a serious word with his dad. I assume you are concerned about the violence in GTA4? This happens to be one of my research areas -- a lot depends on how mature your nephew is and the context in which he pla...

Thanks for the suggestions :D I've read about GTA4 and it's content, and I'll definately have a serious word with his dad. Okay, 4850 is on the shopping list now, and I'm diggin CPU's now. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure he'll get the cheapest 22" with good response times, he can find. I suspect such a s...

My nephew is 14 years, and in a month or so, he finally got the money for a stationary PC. He wants to plays those games: Counter Strike Source Grand Theft Auto 4 Need For Speed. Undercover Call of duty and since I dont know much abot those, I would like to hear some advises for CPU and GPU. Also, d...

when i 1st saw teh sidewinder i said that was one WEIRD mouse. Shaped odd and i thought would be weird to hold. Then i got it and it was actually more comfortable than my old intellimouse. The intellimouse hurt my pinky cause the way i hold it. So far the sidewinder has been a good solid mouse I re...

I've had the Microsoft Habu (more or less a Razer Deathadder). No whining at all. The blue LED could be turned off through the included RAZER driver, but each time I booted the machine, the mouse forgot all settings and ran back to mama default. It was with the lates drivers and firmware. Urgh !!! I...

I think you're right - a single Scythe Slip Stream 12cm 1900 rpm, draws 0,53 A and since Gigabyte dont know which fans the user will mount...

Hi there I want to connect 2 12 cm Scythe S-Flex 1200 rpm fans in parrallel to the CPU fan header on my Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H - but Gigabyte dont specify how much power they can handle, neither in the manual, nor their website. The fans in question is rated to 0,15 amp each, making a total of 0,3 a...

Thanks, you comment + the lack of post reporting problems, made the difference - my brother will RMA it

My brother have had two Antec SU-380 failing - the first one, lasted a couple of months, the second one lasted about 1½ year. I did a search here, and didnt found reports of significant problems with this unit... Is there problems in general with this PSU, or has he just been unlucky? He do conside...

erilun, nice idea ! Never thought of that...

I had a generic case once, which got a very restricted front bezel... The photos below, shows what I did. Cant remember the results anymore, but it helped quite a lot. http://henkov.dk/PC-Tek/IMG001.jpg http://henkov.dk/PC-Tek/IMG002.jpg http://henkov.dk/PC-Tek/IMG003.jpg When the PC was on the floo...

Sounds great with the PWM fans at low RPM's

Your PSU sits nicely at the buttom, helping keeping it cooler. That's a good start. If it's noiser than you like, a fan swap might do wonders. Antec and Seasonic often got good PSU's at reasonably prices, but you're right, it's not cheap

Hi there, and welcome to SPCR :-) I agree with most of the above. I would like to supply with a few of things :-) First, get speedfan or something to read your fanspeeds. Also try stopping your current fans one by one - this way you can determine where the noise comes from. Simply open the case, and...

I'm learning. I slowly translating the messages, but in any event have a comment about post of the portuguese user: hahaha you know how here in Brazil is very hot, especially in the summer :wink: so I want a good cooling, but not drop silence! thanks Have you tried Yahoo's Babelfish online translat...

Since you need more air in the CPU area - have you tried removing the small inner door(s) in front of the intake fans? Doesnt look pretty, but when the main door's closed... You might get surprised by the result :wink: If you like the result, you could paint the metal area around the intake fan blac...

What input :? NTNgod was the one who knew something about this I just listed cards I like and wasn't really helpful :( ... but you tried and spent some time on it. Besides, your confirmation on TerraTec was helpfull, I found a recent review (in danish), which conformed they work great on danish TV ...

The less said about Pinnacle drivers (under ANY OS), the better. Nice irony 8) and if it's anything close to the things I've seen with Pinnacle Studio, I can only agree. I found out, that I also need a new antenna for DVB-T, so I've put the TV Card considerations on standby. I'll wait and see what ...

I believe you're right about prices and MPEG4... I dont want to pay much, afterall it's a temporary solution. I searched on the Pinnacle cards, and apperantly software installation problems are quite common. That's also my experience with their Studio software, so I've discounted Pinnacle. Hauppage ...

I consider adding a TV PCI card to my PC, for DVB-T. Basically, I would prefer a dedicated HDD recorder, but the local standard will soon be MPEG4. Those machines are hard to find, though. So this PC card will be a temporary solution - unless I'm so happy with it, that I build a HTPC later :-) But w...

Cases and dust filters comes in many incarnations - on some, it takes less than 30 seconds to un-dust them, dismantling included. And if done properly, impact on airflow is reasonably low.