Raptors run cooler than some 7200 rpm units, I wouldn't be afraid of using a smart drive if I could just find one cheap.

Yeah I've searched the previous posts, just looking for more opinions.

Alright, I finally replaced my annoying GF4 cooler with a zalman heatpipe, replaced my vantec stealths with panaflos at the same time as well and I'm very happy with my current sound level. It's not silent when everything is at full, but it isn't bad either. Ok, given this system. Antec truepower 43...

My last two cards have been a GeForce 2 and a Geforce 4, but if I was buying today it would be a 9800 non pro, with a zalman added on. Or maybe that saphire ultimate 9700 pro, it's just sweet.

Woot, bonus fan screws, lucky day!

Yep, if you can get a decent deal the saphire ultimate series with pre-installed zalman heatpipe coolers are fantastic. Otherwise it's pretty easy to add a zalman to a 9700 or 9800. I wouldn't recomend it for the new nvidias though, they appear to need more powerful cooling, and I'm not sure they us...

I think it's been quite civil. Really the difference of opinion is fairly small in this thread. I know some that would consider anything shipped to them to be theirs, and it probably is legally speaking in most circumstances. But I think we can all actually agree in this thread that if it's somethin...

I remember that article. Theory looked ok, but really it struck me as more of a reason for why their thermal interface material roundup was so poorly done than anything else. They tested each compound for 8 hours, when several specify several days of use is needed for the compounds to cure etc. And ...

We're going waay OT here but ok. I don't think on a small thing like that it is stealing at all. I've worked at places selling shipping and recieving items such as this. And I am fairly sure most of them would rather not even have to take the time to find out about the difference and almost certainl...

They sell it seperately, here's their sales line. Seems it's a mesh, made of a plastic material in this case! With window kits and acrylic cases being so popular, modder's like to keep their PCs and the wires clean. Wire sleeving is one of the most popular ways of keeping the PC wiring in order. 1/2...

Yeah, though it's not necessarily pvc tubing, a cloth mesh material is quite common.

I would tend to say save some cash and buy the 128 MB card. If you're playing a game that needs 256 MB you'll want to get a faster GPU anyways. And the info on bandwidths etc can be found here http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1812&p=1

The leadtek cards don't run the fan at all in 2D mode, but are supposed to be louder (and cooler) in 3D. I like the idea, but 60 db in 3D mode on their 5900 is just ridiculous.

I saw somewhere, can't remember where atm.. But I believe it was a post by a reseller that they expected the case would run at least over $300. If I run across it again I'll link it.

Well my gainward Ti4400 is the loudest fan in my system. Louder than 80mm vantec stealth fans, or my antec true430. IF you can find a good deal on them saphire sells ATI cards with zalman heatpipe heatsinks pre-installed. The problem is I've never seen a good deal on one of those models yet.

The cost of exchanging would be more than the price difference in the models. From what I've seen it is $2-$5 depending on the retailer. So I would just use the Cu, unless you really want to go through the hassle of getting it fixed right. By the time you take the cost of employee time, and shipping...

That case is being advertised at directron for pre orders. Very expensive, some will pay if it does the job of silent high performance cooling well enough though.

Are you sure that's a micro atx power supply? It looks like a standard atx to me, but it's hard to tell in those pics. And I've never seen a matx supply over 230 watt, and I think they may have been optimistic in that rating.

You might try using an adapter and powering the 120mm fan from a 4 pin molex connector rather than the motherboard header.