ELASTOMERIC silicon rubber mounts are great for quiet mounting hard drives, and can be found in some of the better cases. I have 50+ of these, happy to sell as a whole, or in packs of four at US$0.99 plus shipping. Shipping costs will be minimal. More info on manufacturers website . Approx dimension...

Good review, thanks. Mike, I saw your comments on the Aluetia blog: Monitors with external power bricks have been around for ages… We’re looking for a low-power monitor with external power adaptor, as we aim to move to solar DC at home. Could anyone point me to a site which identifies which moni...

I've an unused BorgFX VGA heatpipe cooler kit, for the mCubed passively cooled cases. These cases provide a top-end silent PC and have been reviewed by SPCR, for instance here and here . Full details on what the kit contains is on the mCubed site here . There is also an additional GPU copper heatsin...

Enhance ENH-1120 power supply Hardly used, quiet and compact, Flex-ATX, a good replacement for small form factor systems. 200W 195mm x 81mm x 42.5 mm 70mm fan draws air into the power supply, exhausting at the rear panel. 20-pin 12V ATX connector and 4-pin additional 12V connector 3 x Molex connect...

Very frustrating ntavlas, you buy a lovely compact mainboard and then the case fills with a mass of cables! In my book, Intel loses points for changing the specs without telling anyone... Always amazes me that some of the mini-itx, nano and pico boards came with a mass of cables and chunky connector...

Email from LinITX in the UK:

"Due to Intel changing the Molex power connector on the D945GSEJT to Male
on the latest batch, you will need to use the power cable included with
the Board and use our adaptor RB413 to convert one of the Molex
connectors to SATA."

So Intel changed the spec...

Very pleased so far with this mainboard, although I'm not using the Morex case. But I'm a bit frustrated as the supplied SATA power cable has a 1 x SATA and 1 x 4-pin Molex outputs, which means you need another cable to add a second SATA drive. And there's a male 4-pin Molex connector on the mainboa...

So the Intel Z5xx series plus US15W chipset seems to be a winning combination. So why so few mini-itx boards using this...?

I know of the Kontron KTUS15/mITX series...

Some Pico boards by Axiomtek and Kontron

Any more...?

The Via SN looks an interesting option, more info on the Logic Supply blog with some useful feedback from users. A problem may be chassis compatibility, due to the CF and mini-PCI on the underside of the board... Another option is the IEI KINO-690S1 ... with a low-end Sempron you'd get low power but...

so is the 690G chipset good for efficient power consumption...?

Hi sap, how did you get on with the KI690 S-1?

Wondering about getting this board and use a low power Sempron, but how does the efficiency of the 690 chipset compare to the new Atom and Via offerings...

Looking back at this thread as am interested in the Albatron KI690-S1 (which is the same board as IEI Kino690 S-1).

I'm looking at using a low power Sempron, but wondered how this board now compares to the new Atom and Via offereing, especially the power efficiency of the chipset.

cheers...

Been many posts here looking for review of 2.5" hard drives, be great to see one soon...

Toms Hardware has done a review of next-gen 7,200 RPM notebook drives . [quote]#4 Samsung’s Spinpoint MP2 is a good performer.... it’s as power-hungry as first-generation 7,200 RPM drives by Hitachi and Seagate. In terms of efficiency, Samsung is simply not yet where it could be. #3 The Hitachi ...

Thanks for the advice, and seems the WD Green Power are much quieter and cooler than most 3.5" drives...

But in general are 2.5" drives still better than 3.5" in terms of noise and power? and are there any recent reviews of 2.5" vs 3.5" drives?

thanks

Thanks m0002a...

but I'm still interested in finding out whether there are still general benefits of 2.5" over 3.5" in terms of noise and power...

Thanks Mats, yes I know, I just don't want to buy something I'm going to throw away...

More interested in the general benefits of 2.5" over 3.5" in terms of noise and power...

I agree too, any info on best 2.5" drives would be very welcome! Do they still really offer that much advantage over 3.5" drives in terms of noise and power consumption? I've looked through recent threads for sources: Techreport reviews seven drives , and some good comparative reviews at http://www....

It would be great to see am updated SPCR review of 2.5" hard drives. I'm interested in low noise and low power, especially idle power, rather than performance. Do 2.5" drives offer that much of an advantage? I've looked through recent threads for sources: Techreport reviews seven drives , and some g...

Hi suzyj, what model 500Gb 2.5" drive did you go for, and are you pleased with the performance?

It would be great to see an updated SPCR review of 2.5" vs 3.5" drives... I am only really interested in noise and power draw.

Are 2.5" drives really that much better?

Now on eBay: HERE!

This Jetway mini-ITX board is the low power 12W version , 1.5GHz Via C7. Model # is J7F2WE1G5-OC , also known as J7F2WE1G5-OC-LF HYBRID. Has fan control software utility called Myguard, so I've been running using near-silent 80mm case fan... CPU fan rarely kicks in. Sells at Newegg for $149, happy w...

If you have no luck, I have a Cubit 3 for sale on eBay in Australia, along with a Lex 120W silent power supply. See: this thread

thanks

Hoojum Cubit 3 and Lex 120W DC-DC for sale on eBay in Australia. This is good for Mini-ITX fans in Australia, as the shipping costs for Hoojum are so high, and the Lex PSU fits the case perfectly. On eBay: Hoojum Cubit 3 here Lex 120W PSU here Can ship internationally, but please email/PM me for shi...

Would love to find the Panaflo 80x15mm fan (#FBA08T12L) in Australia, or the Sanyo Denki for that matter... PCCaseGear only has the 80x25mm.

Be grateful to hear of any sources...

I'm trying to compile info on which mini-itx boards work with Speedfan . Many boards do not work with Speedfan -- it depends on hardware control capability on the chipset being hard-wired into the board. There do not appear to be any mini-itx boards that work with Speedfan. If the board does not app...

I've been trying to get an 80x15mm fan in Australia, but Atech charges $40 for shipping, and the others don't ship over here and are not answering emails to make a special case. I'd really like the Sanyo Denki fan, and was going to buy Atech's thermal fan speed controller too. Any advice on retailer...

Hi, I've just got a Socket 479 board as well, still looking for a processor but prob go for 1.6 or 1.7 GHz. But just to confirm: Socket 479 can use standard Socket 478 coolers no problem...? If this is so then strapping on a standard Intel heatsink without the fan may be enough, assuming good airflo...

Interesting, but now that the DC-DC boards are reaching 95%, the focus could turn to the power brick itself. My Lex 110W is almost certainly much less efficient than the MiniBox models, but the power brick itself stays warm even when the PC is not turned on, and gets hot when the PC is powered up. I...

Hello all, had a reply from Webfire about producing some more of these. Concerning the etching and selling, well it's tempting =) But it's quite time consuming and the problem is getting the ICs. I contacted a dealer here in germany and the IC costs 5,09€ +16% tax. So it's quite expensive already,...