Good review. Thanks. I'd also like to thank you for reviewing Intel boards in this part (as well as the previous part). I've never understood why all review sites don't review Intel boards so they can have a baseline to compare other boards to. Anyway, the review was very interesting and highly usef...

Thanks. That's (unfortunately) what I expected. The kicker is that my drive cage is entirely empty (my SSD is just lying on the bottom of the computer case). If I could remove the cage, life would be easy. But, to cut a chunk of it out would mean I'd have to remove the motherboard (to prevent damage...

Everything I see says the GTX 570 and GTX 580 are the same size (10.5" long). That also appears to be the maximum length video card my Antec Solo case will accommodate without modification (maybe even a smidge shorter). Has anyone here actually put one of these cards into an Antec Solo? Did it requi...

Ditto to what both HFat and Neil said. The absolute first thing he needs to do is go spend about $50 for an external USB drive (easiest solution, not necessarily the best) and back up his data. After he does that, then continue messing with the computer. Then turn off the Intel graphics in the BIOS....

You might be able to recover at least some part of that Word document. See the following link for locations for Autorecover/Autosave documents:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/107686

In our 2600 square foot (195 square meter) house here in Florida, we used 2100 kWh last MONTH (air conditioning). Back in February, our low point was 669 kWhs for the month.

From the list at the top of the article, I set up a Wishlist on Newegg for a system with those components. Without the "Quiet Case Fans Upgrade Kit," "AcoustiPack Acoustic Composite Sheets," and warranty/labor/odds and ends, I come up with a roll-your-own equivalent price of $1,580.90. I tried makin...

danimal started a thread on that Indigo Extreme here:

viewtopic.php?t=57188&highlight=

Probably worth your reading.

I don't know anything at all about Indigo Extreme. But, I'm sure it'll work fine (just follow their instructions). As for the 70% isopropyl alcohol, you should be ok there, too. AFAIK, both of them (70% and 91%) are made from pure alcohol that's been diluted with distilled water. The difference woul...

Before you stick that Intel heatsink in there, you might also consider the mounting mechanisms for the heatsinks. It's highly probably that your aftermarket heatsink will REQUIRE you to remove the motherboard to install it (i.e., unplug all the motherboard connections/plugs (including those pesky pl...

Looking at the picture of the card with the Scythe Musashi mounted to it, it looks like the Scythe overhangs the card by about an inch. I assume that means this combination won't work in smaller cases (for instance, the Antec Solo has only around 10.5" of space available for the card). Is that overh...

Hi, An interesting CPU -- I wonder if the graphics will support the GPU Folding@Home client? I am also curious -- the PS/2 port has split colors green and purple? I would guess that you can plug a keyboard OR a mouse into it? This might answer the Folding@Home question: http://techreport.com/articl...

It sounds like you're having trouble at both the operating system level and with reading the discs. Just to make sure, are you saying that in many of your attempts the drive, itself, fails to even show up in Device Manager? Or, is it just that nothing happens when you put a disc in the drive? If the...

I agree. The drive's probably being listed as IDE because you're in the default non-AHCI mode. If the boot error goes away with the cable swaps, I wouldn't worry about it. You might get a bit better performance in AHCI mode, but it might be at the expense of boot-up time (AHCI adds about 10 seconds ...

Just for grins, I'd also recommend exchanging where you have your CD and your HD plugged into your motherboard (just the data connectors). Right now, it looks like your CD is on SATA1 and HD on SATA3. Swap those plugs so the HD is on SATA1 and the CD is on SATA3. What hardware do you have and do you...

Specific to the Toolbox: Microsoft* alerted Intel to an issue with the Intel® SSD Optimizer tool and Intel is working on a fix to the issue. After the SSD Optimizer is run, the SSD Optimizer renders all previously set Windows* system restore points unusable. However, user data is not affected. The ...

Another update: Previously I had increased Graphics Detail from Medium to High in the game without problem (9600 GT). I've now moved it from High to Very High (the highest setting) and still have no problem (I don't know why it defaulted to Medium -- I assumed that running its Configuration utility ...

Just an update: I raised the Graphics Detail from Medium to High and the game still runs fine (looks a bit better, too). Definitely try the 9600GT. I can't image there'd be a problem with it.

Before you buy anything new, try that old GeForce 9600 GT. I'm running Dragon Age on one without problem at 1680x1050. Outside of the resolution (which didn't default right), I've left all the settings at their defaults: Graphics Detail: Medium Anti-Aliasing: Off Texture Detail: High Play in Full-Sc...

Well, this morning, I temporarily replaced the SSD with my old WD6401AALS (WD 640GB Caviar Black) to test the noise. I left the drive out of the machine, set it on one pillow and stuck another over it to muffle the noise. When I booted up and ran a virus check, sure enough, I had the same noises com...

No. I started noticing the noise before I applied the TRIM-containing firmware update. I'm pretty sure it'd been there since I first installed the SSD: I just didn't notice it (it's only during heavy disk use and is quiet enough that, if the air conditioning or heat was on at those moments, it could...

Interesting. There sure appears to be a link between the various energy saving states and that noise. On this GA-EP45T-UD3P, there are four energy state options in the BIOS: EIST C1E C2/C2E C4/C4E I had all of those on. If I turn them all off, the bursts of noise seem much less loud than with them o...

At some point, I might try under-volting the system to see if that helps. But, I think I'll start with the C1E and EIST settings green recommended from his link. I'm almost positive I turned those on at some point. Thanks.

I've got an Intel 160GB SSD in this computer. At first, I found it dead silent. But, I've now linked a sound to the SSD. When there's a lot of disk activity going on (for instance, during a virus scan), I hear faint, high-pitched, whining or scratching "bursts" of sound which vary with that disk act...

Since XP is no longer being maintained, I doubt you'll ever see support for TRIM added to the OS. But, you can schedule TRIM run in XP, Vista, and Windows 7 with Intel's SSD Toolbox software: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18182 That assumes you have the G2 version of...

If you're going to review monitors, you need to specify the panel type right up front. Since both of these monitors have viewing angles less than or equal to 170 degrees, they're probably TN panels. The color shifting you saw is a function of TNs. Here's a summary of the panel types from: http://for...

I assume that motherboard is resting on some kind of non-conducting material (I can't see any, though). I don't know what the shelf is made of. But, even if it's not metal, the paint might be conductive. Just for safety, I'd find something a bit bigger to go underneath that motherboard.

JVM wrote:Why would AHCI slow boot time? ?

During boot, the system will look for devices to manage under AHCI. My systems here add about 10 seconds enumerating those devices (at one point, I had a computer that added 45 seconds doing that).

Installing windows onto a blank hard disk with upgrade media will be a pain, because you'll have to install the old OS, then do a clean install. T Can you please share where this info comes from? thks- If you go here: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/GettingReadyforWindows7/threads ...

To do a clean install from the Windows 7 upgrade media, all you need are: 1) an installed and activated OS that qualifies for the upgrade (there's no option to enter a key -- it just checks for that installed and activated version), and 2) in the Setup process, choose a Custom installation instead o...