Even though AMD budget dual-core is not that powerful by enthusiast's standard, ATOM is still too weak for decent gaming. With a good GPU, AMD X2 245 can still give you most bang for the bucks if you'd like to tune down game setting to medium. That said, despite ATOM's energy-efficiency, integrated ...

Well, I'd ditch Samsung F3 in favor of slower/quieter 5400RPM models like WD Green, Samsung EcoGreen, or Seagate LP. Just pick one the you trust most. After all, you've a speedy Intel G2 80G which negates the the need of a faster 7200RPM HDD compared to 5400RPM HDDs. Btw, switch from 7200RPM to 5400...

If you don't plan on overclocking, you can undervolt Phenom to a degree, but you've to experiment the potential by yourself. Generally speaking, 1.35V~1.25V is doable depending on your luck&patience. Pairing it with a decent tower cooler, you won't hear the sound coming from CPU fan. That said, Ninj...

I've a WD10EADS and a WD10EARS running in my P182 which are very quiet. I didn't perceive any sound characteristics that you described WD20EARS before. Maybe a bad sample in your case?

It's impossible to tell unless you try it on your own. After all, Intel only guarantees that CPU would be within a certain range of TDP ratings. Given the nature of variance of mass production, there's doomed to be a better CPU and a worse CPU in the production in terms of power consumption. Also, n...

Low power ram is only meaningful if you've a board that supports DRAM undervolting. And far and few boards support this feature. You've to make sure whether Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB has this feature or not. Otherwise, it's a waste of money given low-power DDR3 memory would run at higher voltage, 1.5V, ...

Frankly speaking, Antec's foray into cooler market is a wonder for me. Cooler market are already crowed with me-too products. These coolers doesn't impress me. Why do they want to sell coolers? For brand image?

Yateloon's ball bearing 80mm/120mm used to give me a bitter taste regarding vibration and bearing noise. They weren't that bad compared to many lesser fans, but they were still inferior to its sleeve brothers like D12SM-12/D80SM-12, let alone top-notch fans. Try to find Yateloon sleeve bearing fans ...

Why don't you consider Katana 3 if you really want 80/90mm fan tower design cooler in Scythe camp. Frankly, I wouldn't purchase these slim coolers like Scythe Katana 3, Coolermaster TX3, or Xigmatel 963 if budget is not a concern. Unless you're limited by space, why not get a 120mm fan cooler for th...

Here's another review of the HR-02 which is hard to read lol http://www.xfastest.com/cms/tid-46239/ You've to take the result with a grain of salt as it is engineering sample rather than final retail product. Also the final package, accessories, bundle fan, retail pricing still remain to be seen ti...

Wow, you're so creative that I can't help but applaud your modding! Please share your knowledge with average people like me!!!

How do they determine that max RPM? The data says 3800 for the Am3 - and just yesterday while I was playing mass effect, I took off my headset and wondered if my girlfriend had left her laptop running since there was a high fan noise - then I saw that the RPM measurements from PC Probe II was showi...

Were I you, I'd sell Samsung F1 and get a 5400RPM HDD like WD Green or Samsung EcoGreen. To further reduce noise and vibration, I'd change HDD AAM value to max. Frankly speaking, that's what I'm running my system now. 1x Kingston 64GB SSD 1x WD10EADS, 5400RPM 1x WD10EARS, 5400RPM Btw, it looks like ...

Franklying speaking, no. The dampening cushion is too thin, too weak for serious HDD suspension. Just use elastic strings to suspend HDD and you'll get the job done.

Wow, nice job with your PWM/Voltage fan controller. It would be a godsend for enthusiastic silencers.

I'd try to save a few bucks and watts by purchasung MSI 785G boards. Usually, MSI tends to draw less power at idle compared to ASUS, Gigabyte and costs less as well. And use the saved money to buy guaranteed dual cores like X2 240. That's what I'd do under your circumstance.

Silverstone TJ-08 is a normal M-ATX case which can fit most 120mm fan coolers like Thermalright HR-01, Xigmatek 1283, or Scythe Mugen 2. That said, Big Shuriken is no match to 120mm fan coolers and better suited for space-limited circumstances such as HTPC or Mini-ITX.

Thank you. The review reflects my view of Intel & AMD stock cooler: AMD is quieter than Intel, and 65nm CPU's stock cooler is better than 45nm CPU's counterpart in terms of cooling efficiency across the board.

Listing taiwan's scythe, yateloon fans' price for your reference. If you're still interested, I'll tell you where/how to purchase these fans in taiwan. Scythe: 330~450NTD=10~14USD depending on models you like. Yateloon: only D12SM-12 available, 100~110NTD, 3USD. Or a few Enermax MAGMA fans? 450NTD, ...

Maybe a few fans for your CPU cooler and case? I'd recommend Nexus, Scythe if money weren't a concern. Otherwise, Yateloon is a safe choice for those on a tight budget. That said, I'm testing Enermax MAGMA DC/PWM variety of fans, and they performs wonderfully in my system in terms of acoustic. Also ...

http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... l=ro&tl=en

It looks like you've forgotten the link. Btw, it's an interesting review with regard to HDT coolers.

Why? Scythe fans performed wonderfully in SPCR review, especially their 120mm fans.

I'm worried about its stock fan choice -- after all, a fan rotating at 1900RPM stands no chance of being quiet. At least, they ditch push-pins mounting in old Ninjas in favor of more secure backplate.

The 775 entry-level boards that I've worked with were ASUS, Gigabyte, ASRock, MSI, ECS, and these boards didn't allow user to lower DIMM Vcore below 1.475V. To complicate the matters, the reviews across the web that proved Low-Voltage DDR3 is beneficial in terms of power consumption were mostly test...

Ohh, I've answered similar questions in the past. Go and read it.
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I'd recommend ASRock's low-end motherboards as they served me very well in the past. ASRock has ample undervolting/overvolting options in the bios, regardless of Intel/AMD platform, which is a bonus for their low-end boards. And their bios save profile, bios built-in flasher are all very useful for ...

I doubt whether we can really find a lowest power sound card in the real world. After all, a discrete sound card draws so tiny power consumption, making the argument of power consumption meaningless. For example, my Onkyo SE90 PCI draws 1 or 2 watts at idle, so why bother with the trouble? That bein...

Yes, as Lawrence Lee said, 212 Plus's fan is pretty mediocre in terms of sound performance. It spins too fast and loud by SPCR standard.

I've summarized a list of AMD correct orientation for myself, and I think it will give you a hand as well. Noctua NH-U12P Zerotherm Zen Scythe Ninja 2 Scythe Mugen 2 Scythe Katana 3 2PCOM 1264U OC3 Red Sea JP 1366/1366S Coolermaster 212PLUS Coolermaster TX3 Arctic cooling Freezer 64 Pro PWM That's w...

At first, even Intel itself can't standardize mounting holes -- there're Socket 775/1156/1366 in the market and they require different mounting clips. Second, AMD has managed to continue using AM2 mounting clips across the AM2/AM2+/AM3 boards, so why do they must ditch consistent, successful mountin...