With regards to the higher power usage even in idle mode in Windows: Maybe Apple underclocks the graphics card in OS X? That's what they're doing on the new Powerbooks ("MacBook Pros").

I doubt it. Your energies would be better spent on silencing that 7900. Maybe you can run it passive when you're not gaming? (With a good aftermarket heatsink, that is.)

Actually, the purpose of aluminium cases is looking good, and thick aluminium performs admirably in that regard.

That sounds nice. You might just have saved me 30 euros!

Thanks! They have that one too, and it's far cheaper (35 euros, same as your price)... so the one I had in mind should be better, right...? Right? Right. Or maybe I'll just get the cheap one, might as well save money when I'm not getting the real thing. Actually, here's a followup question: Where is...

But aren't ATI chipsets undesirable for other reasons? I know they used to a have fairly big issues with USB storage performance. (Of course that doesn't matter if you don't use it...)

Anybody have any experience with the Sharkoon SilentStorm series of PSUs? Unfortunately the store I'm thinking about buying at doesn't have any decent PSUs. Sharkoon's a rebrander, so maybe somebody knows this under another name? This is what I had in mind: http://www.mix-computer.de/mix/shop/produc...

Seems like Die size is same for both cards: "As a big step forward for the 7900 and 7600 GPUs is the lower power consumption due to a die shrink to 90nm" That's not totally correct; 90 nm is the process, not the die size itself. It's a reasonable to assume the 7900 will have a bigger die since it c...

Most of the reasons you state would seem to be irrelevant to me. The 7600 GT draws less power than the 7900, despite being clocked higher and running at a higher voltage. Like I have said two times in this thread, you really only have to look at the input power -- the amount of cooling necessary is ...

I'm sure the 7600 will be easier to cool. Essentially, every watt you put into a chip comes out as heat. Less input power means less power you need to get rid of. It's just that simple, no? As to why the 7600 allegedly runs hotter in stock, I don't know, if the cooling setup and temperature measurem...

If it's running at a higher voltage, shouldn't power consumption be higher as well?

I used to put my computer on the desk when I thought the Lian Li case was too nice looking to stash away. Now that I think it's ugly that's not an issue anymore.

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. I don't specifically need a micro-ATX board, in fact I'd prefer a full-size one, because the case will be full-sized and more room to work with is more comfortable. Also, if the graphics card is in the way of one PCI slot, I'm down to a single slot which would host m...

I'm in the market for a 939 mainboard, and all the choices are confusing to me. ;) Since I'm going the cheap route anyway, the Gigabyte GA-K8NMF-9 has got me interested. Sells for 64 Euros at a large German retailer, and is allegedly nForce 4 based. Gigabyte actually calls the chipset nForce4 4X, wh...

I admit that your falsely claiming Anandtech didn't review the 7600GT at all in single configuration contributed to my saying you were harsh. That said I don't think leaving out the 6600(GT) is too bad, since it's performance relative to other cards that were tested (e.g. 7800 GT) is well known or a...

Ehn. Anandtech did review single 7600GTs. I'd mock you, but I had to look for it too at first. It's on a seperate page of the article, mid-range benchmarks , along with the X1600. The dual-7600GTs were on the high performance benchmark page. The 6600 isn't there - because it's so old. I think you're...

Wow. I think the 7600GT is the card I've been waiting for. Finally a decent and modern mid-range card. I just hope it'll be able to drive TES4: Oblivion at 1680x1040... But if not, I guess this is as close as I'll get. :) I'm tempted to order right now, but I think I'll give it another week - I just...

DFI Street

If you're not going to game, why buy a 6800 GT? Seems like overkill.

Hasn't the whole timing thing been shown, again and again, to result in no or close to no performance gain?

Hm, that's true, 265 Euros isn't too bad. I thought they were going for 280+, but it's been a few weeks since I last looked.

Man, this is annoying. There apparently is no card for me to buy at all. I don't want to spend 300 bucks (or worse, Euros) on a card (7800/7900 GT), and I want to spend more then 150 (6600GT). The only one that sort of fits is the 6800GS, and that's just not very sexy. Bah. Oblivion will be out soon...

Sounds like a laptop in a SFF case. That's okay, I guess.

I'm sure somebody will be around really soon who knows this stuff better than me, and I'm also sure it's been explained in the forums and probably on the site - but: it's probably some sort of variable inline resistor. That is, it changes the voltage, but not by switching between some input voltages...

As far as I know, the problems were limited to Asus mainboards, so you should be fine. Current models are (mostly) fixed, anyway.

Edit: Oh and lest I forget: Welcome to SPCR!

Interesting. The method for joining it to a heatsink in particular. You must go through a lot of zip ties.

Very nice. Please get rid of the floppy, though.

spolitta: Nice rig, and a nice monitor to boot. Hope to get the P150 soon, then my desk will look much the same.

Any Lian Li. A black one if that's what you need, although the silvery ones are more easily available. Lightweight, excellent to work with. You will want to replace or at least undervolt the case fans though, at least I did with my admittedly old PC60something. They're not cheap, though.

mathias wrote:

moritz wrote:Beef Bowl? What! That's just stupid.

It's not much different than "fish cake".

Well at least fish are quiet. Er... I mean I am not having this discussion.