Do the 3.5 inch hard drives block any of the RAM slots? Judging from the photos it looks possible, but not entirely clear. I'm wondering if it is possible to fill all four DIMM slots as long as there are no heatsinks on them. Yes it is possible to use all ram slots, the hard drives limit ram height...

My current PC has a Samsung HD103SJ hard drive in a Growup Japan enclosure. I have it sitting behind the case on a block of foam, connected to an internal SATA header. It's been like that since 2009. After running all day the hard drive is at 26c according to the SMART monitoring. If you don't need...

http://i47.tinypic.com/2nrdkj5.jpg Specs: Xeon E3-1230 V2 | Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe | 16GB RAM | 2GB GTX670 OC | Seasonic S12II 520W | Silverstone SG07 | Samsung 830 Series 256GB | WD Green 2TB (EARX) | Scythe Slipstream 120mm PWM's @ 500-900RPM | Thermalright HR-02 | GUP Smart Drive 2002C :D Click on ...

Re-useable cable tie + twist tie is all you need! Here it is in action for video cards, but same principle for CPU heatsinks:

Thermal paste on the hard drive made little/no difference (48°C instead of 49°C).

There's a tiny gap between the surface of the drive and the copper plates, so I had to use quite a bit of thermal paste. That, plus the drive is in the main hotspot in the case. Was worth a try though.

I'm really impressed. I think I'm going to have to make something very similar to that too. :) One thing that works well with the Growup Japan hard drive enclosures is to get some cheap thermal paste and put a layer of thermal paste between the metal hard drive shell and the copper plates inside th...

That's the way it's designed. It seems that Thermalright "straightened it out" with the HR-02 Macho, but the original HR-02 did have that slight angle, as seen here:

After modding my previous rig about as far as I was interested, I wanted a new challenge. Enter the Silverstone SG07, in a build that is about as small as you can get using [mostly] full-sized components suited to near silent PCs (eg. tower CPU heatsink, regular 140mm deep ATX PSU, dual-slot and up ...

Well now what to do with 4x 120mm antec fan lol. This! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUbpb23yTK8 But you might be satisfied with running them in vertical orientation (4x of them in push/pull on the hard drive cage), undervolted to 5v? With the Noctua fans on the CPU heatsink or rear/top exhaust ve...

1. my first question is if it'll be safe, considering that my cpu cooling is already a passive one? ( i heard an opinion that the p182 is not one of the ventilated cases so it can be risky with 2 of those elements as fan-less). i think i currently use the case fans on low speed. Just put a fan on t...

I can't praise this build enough, but one of the author's comments drew my attention: "It is crucial to choose a relatively high-wattage and an 80-plus efficient power supply. The high wattage is going to provide ample, clean power to all of the components with a great deal of headroom. Such a powe...

You only use one of the connectors. One time I connected both by accident, and when I turned on the PC for a few seconds, it had melted the wiring. At least there was no damage to the other components.

I'm curious about mounting metod of case fans: metal screws or silicon grommets? Judging by how flush the rear exhaust fan is to the case, I'd say screws. At ~600RPM, the Scythe Slipstream hardly vibrates anyway. :) Think what they could achieve (in low noise), if they started to use third-party vi...

This would be the cheapest option, if you don't mind using up the rear USB3 ports on your motherboard:

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6791

Otherwise, you could buy a PCI-e card with an internal USB3 header.

It's actually only 730g -- lighter than an NH-U12P (770g w/ one fan) or NH-D14 (over 1.2kg with both fans)!

http://www.quietpc.com/nof-icepipe

Review of the Noctua NH-L9 just popped up, for anyone interested.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Noctua_NH-L9i

or they use this weird new motherboard mounting configuration (2 holes on top instead of 3). The Zalman doesn't allow for repositioning of the screwholes. :( If I understand you correctly, then that shouldn't be a problem at all. Those motherboards would still line up with the 9 mounting holes used...

It should only be needed for LGA775, since the later Intel sockets already have an integrated metal plate (not a backplate though) behind the CPU socket to fill that gap.

You could just plug the Noctua fans straight into your PSU, or use a manual fan controller, or use a splitter to control them with your motherboard/Speedfan. You don't necessarily have to plug them into the video card.

Scrooge wrote:This little guy, unfortunately, seems to have been discontinued. Hard to find something else this small and effective.

I wonder if the Noctua NH-L9 can be a good replacement? Need to see a performance comparison though.

Yes, I've also been using that method for a while now. Although mine is a bit different: Gigabyte 1GB HD6950 OC (3x Windforce cooler, excellent noise quality). The fans stay at 27% (1250RPM) from 0 to 70C, then rise linearly to 45% (2150RPM) at 90C. Playing TF2 the GPU temp only gets up to ~73C (28~...

HFat wrote:edit: what are optical drives even for? I thought this thread was about the *future"!

They've come full circle back to their original use -- as cup holders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crZJCqKuXCk

My CP-850's did that as well, both the one I originally bought, as well as an RMA replacement. I'm thinking that it's normal.

When using sewing elastic (something like this ) should the elastic be tight or somewhat loose? Could a very tight elastic suspension transmit vibrations? Old question, but for the benefit of anyone reading this thread... In my experience: Tight elastic or sewing cord: A tiny bit of vibration is tr...

That's a shame. By the way, sorry for not making my reply clear to begin with. Must've been half asleep. :D I had tried that method with my humming Dell SP2309W. However, like you, over time I found it to be too bright. Even after extensively tweaking Nvidia/ATI colour settings, the monitor still ha...

If you've already got the standard Antec TriCool fans on low (~870RPM IIRC?), then you'd be nuts to leave the CPU heatsink fanless. Adding a quiet 120mm fan to it wouldn't make a pinch of difference to the overall noise level. At the very least, make a cardboard duct going from the heatsink to the t...

Methinks coming up with a decent VGA cooler support of some kind should be easy for any PC enthusiast capable of swapping out a VGA cooler or installing a CPU cooler. An insulated piece of wire from the top of the PC to "hang" the back end of the cooler, or a little piece of wood wedged in under w/...

Add the Fractal R3 and Silverstone FT02/RV02 to your list. :) However, I'd strongly urge you to consider modding the P180 for better airflow and lower noise. Use my rig for ideas: Link 1 , Link 2 The most important ones would be: * Modding the plastic spoiler with cardboard and acoustic foam, to sig...

Another vote for option #1. And it wouldn't conflict with the airflow direction at all. In through the front 180mm fan, through the hard drive cage, CPU heatsink, 120mm CPU fan, and finally out the back of the case.

Logitech Illuminated, Logitech K800, Ducky Shine.

I've used these keyboards and know their backlighting to work very well, particularly the Ducky Shine, which could light up a room on maximum brightness.