amd vs. intel

[Ed]

Look seriously at the Antec cases. The "silencer" is getting great
reviews by the folks here (I didn't listen and bought the SLK1040).

SLK1040? hmmmm don't see it on Antec site.

I got an Antec SX1040BII about 2 years ago, it's definitely a well built
case, nothing like those $40-$50 cases I used to buy! ;p
First thing I did was get rid of the included case fans and replaced
them with thermal fans, the PSU is silent even under loads.
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81046I

Ed

 

[Ed]

I haven't looked recently but there were PCI cards with serial ports and
usually with a parallel port too. Most mbrds still include at least one
serial and one parallel, though some notebooks are dropping them as well as
parellel.

My friends note doesn't have a serial port, he uses a USB to serial
convertor, works for what he does. (smart card programmer).
Ed

 

[George Macdonald]

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 22:26:03 -0500, George Macdonald


My friends note doesn't have a serial port, he uses a USB to serial
convertor, works for what he does. (smart card programmer).

Apparently some of them, Belkin's included, do not handle all the RS232
lines prroperly. - DTR & DSR would be kinda important for, e.g., an
external modem.

 

[Keith R. Williams]

SLK1040? hmmmm don't see it on Antec site.

I got an Antec SX1040BII about 2 years ago, it's definitely a well built
case, nothing like those $40-$50 cases I used to buy! ;p
First thing I did was get rid of the included case fans and replaced
them with thermal fans, the PSU is silent even under loads.
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81046I

Oops. That's the one (I used an SLK-2650 on a friend's system). I do
like the case, but it sounds like a neutered Sikorsky. I gotta do
something about the noise and it's certainly cool enough.

 

[Rob Stow]

Anything specific?... I'm on the verge of getting one. There are always
places with "problems" for any mbrd - apart from real problems, there's the
overclocking crowd who are often reluctant to reveal their clock speeds and
then those who have err, ventured beyond their capabilities.

nVidia has denied that anything is wrong, but Asus, MSI and DFI
have all reported that their nF3 and nF4 motherboards will not
post with the new E0 stepping processors without a BIOS upgrade.

 

[George Macdonald]

nVidia has denied that anything is wrong, but Asus, MSI and DFI
have all reported that their nF3 and nF4 motherboards will not
post with the new E0 stepping processors without a BIOS upgrade.

Seems like an odd thing for a mbrd supplier to say, given that they provide
the updated BIOS themsleves and therefore should be able to specify exactly
what is different. Apparently a temporary problem anyway and not unusual
with any newer rev CPU.

 

[Tanya]

Look seriously at the Antec cases. The "silencer" is getting great
reviews by the folks here (I didn't listen and bought the SLK1040).

hi Keith,
is there any functional improvement (or advantage) in having a quiet system?

also read that heat-activated fans are quieter (are these better though -- i'd think that a
continuous fan would not allow the temps to get too high to begin with (which imho would be
better for all the components)
also that fans made with (???)ball-bearings vs. another mechanism (cannot recall where i
read this) are quieter / sturdier... (better)
plus heard that the fans that come with the cpu (especially intel) are loud fwiw
thanks!
sincerely
Tanya

 

[Tanya]

SLK1040? hmmmm don't see it on Antec site.

I got an Antec SX1040BII about 2 years ago, it's definitely a well built
case, nothing like those $40-$50 cases I used to buy! ;p
First thing I did was get rid of the included case fans and replaced
them with thermal fans, the PSU is silent even under loads.
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81046I

Ed

i've heard antec mentioned quite a bit -- i guess they're a safe brand...

 

[Keith R. Williams]

hi Keith,
is there any functional improvement (or advantage) in having a quiet system?

Sure. I function better. ;-)

also read that heat-activated fans are quieter (are these better though -- i'd think that a
continuous fan would not allow the temps to get too high to begin with (which imho would be
better for all the components)

If the temperature gets too high the fans speed up, dropping the
temperature.

also that fans made with (???)ball-bearings vs. another mechanism (cannot recall where i
read this) are quieter / sturdier... (better)

Sturdier, but not quieter. The sound from fans comes from the blades
through the air. That's why larger/slower fans are better/quieter.
They move as much air, but are at a lower RPM, so don't screech.

plus heard that the fans that come with the cpu (especially intel) are loud fwiw

Could be. That's all I use though; boxed retail processors. Well, at
least that's all I've had since I had to buy my own. ;-)

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Sturdier, but not quieter. The sound from fans comes from the blades
through the air. That's why larger/slower fans are better/quieter.
They move as much air, but are at a lower RPM, so don't screech.

There's also a newer class of quiet fans which also blow more air at
lower RPM, but instead of increasing the diameter of the blades, they
increase the width of the blades.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Tanya]

:

Sure. I function better. ;-)
lol


If the temperature gets too high the fans speed up, dropping the
temperature.

Sturdier, but not quieter. The sound from fans comes from the blades
through the air. That's why larger/slower fans are better/quieter.
They move as much air, but are at a lower RPM, so don't screech.

are there any brands to look for (i.e. well known ones?)

Could be. That's all I use though; boxed retail processors. Well, at
least that's all I've had since I had to buy my own. ;-)

i guess the warranties are not voided if one replaces the *include* fan with a quieter one...

thanks,
sincerely,
Tanya

 

[Tanya]

There's also a newer class of quiet fans which also blow more air at
lower RPM, but instead of increasing the diameter of the blades, they
increase the width of the blades.

Yousuf Khan

can you post the brand(s)?

 

[George Macdonald]

:


are there any brands to look for (i.e. well known ones?)


i guess the warranties are not voided if one replaces the *include* fan with a quieter one...

For a CPU yes, it's my understanding that if a "boxed" fan fails you're
supposed to get it replaced with an identical or same spec from Intel or
AMD. If you change the fan just because you want to, the CPU warranty is
voided - hasn't happened to me so I can't say if they'll be "flexible" on
that.

On the recent boxed A64 3500+(90nm) I got the fan is not obtrusive at all
and with Cool 'n' Quiet, it is very quiet when the CPU is idle - haven't
done a side by side comparison but I believe it might be quieter than the
one I got on a 3500+ (130nm) for the office a few weeks before... so AMD
may have improved this.

 

[keith]

For a CPU yes, it's my understanding that if a "boxed" fan fails you're
supposed to get it replaced with an identical or same spec from Intel or
AMD. If you change the fan just because you want to, the CPU warranty is
voided - hasn't happened to me so I can't say if they'll be "flexible" on
that.

....or even be able to tell, one way or the other. I'm a rather
conservative type, so buy Retail boxes and use their cooling solutions.
I've been through these issues, and don't pretend that I can do a better
job than the engineers who do it for a living. Indeed my K6-III still has
the original boxed fansink on it. OTOH, if the fan fails, I think I'm a
tad beeyond the warranty period. ;-)

On the recent boxed A64 3500+(90nm) I got the fan is not obtrusive at
all and with Cool 'n' Quiet, it is very quiet when the CPU is idle -
haven't done a side by side comparison but I believe it might be quieter
than the one I got on a 3500+ (130nm) for the office a few weeks
before... so AMD may have improved this.

I gotta do some work on mine. Both systems whine louder than a
Democrat in November. ;-)

 

[Rob Stow]

I gotta do some work on mine. Both systems whine louder than a
Democrat in November. ;-)

Could be worse - you're lucky you don't have Prescott systems or
they would be louder than a Republican after someone says "gun
control".

I've stopped buying the retail box Opterons and switched to
buying OEM chips so I can buy the heatsink/fan separately -
purely for noise reduction reasons. I've been mostly using the
Zalman CNPS7000A but I plan to switch to the CNPS7000B.

(I've been using only the AlCu versions, not the Cu-only ones.)

I've also tried the CNPS7700 twice, but I've found that in
subjective tests users can immediately tell that a dually with
pair of the CNPS7000A's is much quieter than one using a pair of
AMD's default fan/sinks, but they can't tell the difference
between a dually with two of the 7000's in it and one with two of
the 7700's in it.

By contrast, when trying the CNPS7700 in a single cpu system the
users do notice that it is a little quieter than CNPS7000A. ???

The small price difference between the 7000 and the 7700 is not
an issue - the 7700 is simply so heavy that I am very nervous
about hanging two of those 600 gram beasts on a single
motherboard. The 7000A is 451 grams and the 7000B is supposed to
be a few grams lighter.

 

[keith]

Could be worse - you're lucky you don't have Prescott systems or
they would be louder than a Republican after someone says "gun
control".

LOL! Good comeback, though not even Democrats use words like that in
mixed company here, or there would be yet another red state faster than
you could say "Pat Leahy". ;-)

I've stopped buying the retail box Opterons and switched to buying OEM
chips so I can buy the heatsink/fan separately - purely for noise
reduction reasons. I've been mostly using the Zalman CNPS7000A but I
plan to switch to the CNPS7000B.

I've not used an after-market cooling solution for some years, though the
noise is pushing me that way. The Zalman 7000B apparently does everything
from P4s, to Socket 462, to 940. How does the differing mounting work?
The prices (newegg) seem reasonable.

The small price difference between the 7000 and the 7700 is not an issue
- the 7700 is simply so heavy that I am very nervous about hanging two
of those 600 gram beasts on a single motherboard. The 7000A is 451
grams and the 7000B is supposed to be a few grams lighter.

Yikes! Over a pound?!

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Yousuf Khan wrote:




can you post the brand(s)?

Well, the one I picked up was the Vantec Stealth.

Yousuf Khan

 

[George Macdonald]

...or even be able to tell, one way or the other. I'm a rather
conservative type, so buy Retail boxes and use their cooling solutions.
I've been through these issues, and don't pretend that I can do a better
job than the engineers who do it for a living. Indeed my K6-III still has
the original boxed fansink on it. OTOH, if the fan fails, I think I'm a
tad beeyond the warranty period. ;-)

I usually use boxed as well if available, just for sake of warranty...
which I had to use once on a K6 - weird one that: suddenly started giving
the "Pentium FPU Bug" (really) on two different compiler libraries. Maybe
it's no longer a problem but there was a time when OEM CPUs could be flakey
and of dubious origin, with the odd bent pin etc.

I gotta do some work on mine. Both systems whine louder than a
Democrat in November. ;-)

Seems like there's always something - GPU fans are not always of best
quality IME. My current one is making a noise like a pigeon: whoo...
whoooo... whoo... whoo. The first time I heard it I went to the window to
see if there was a pigeon in the tree outside the window - I hate those
vermin bastards and that noise. Seems like there's just so many fans in
a system now that one of them is bound to be less than perfect.

Then there's the question of dust and how often you have to clean things up
- those fine pitch fins are a perfect dust trap. BTW the Antec front
filter does next to zero from what I see - maybe reticulated foam like we
used to have in our minicomputers would be better but then there's all the
cracks around drives anyway.

 

[Rob Stow]

LOL! Good comeback, though not even Democrats use words like that in
mixed company here, or there would be yet another red state faster than
you could say "Pat Leahy". ;-)




I've not used an after-market cooling solution for some years, though the
noise is pushing me that way. The Zalman 7000B apparently does everything
from P4s, to Socket 462, to 940. How does the differing mounting work?

What do you mean by that last question ?
Difference between P4 and AMD64 mounting or differing from other
AMD64 mountings ?

For the latter - because IIRC you have an Opty dualie on a Tyan
board - it is an "if you've seen one, you've seen them all" type
of situation. /s/seen/installed

At http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=142&code=005
there are (small) pics of all the parts plus a how-to movie.

 

[Rob Stow]

Yikes! Over a pound?!

The systems I ended up putting those in have removable/rotatable
cages for the 5.25" drive bays. That let me re-orient the cases
so that the motherboards are horizontal rather than vertical. I
have read lots of reports of people using that fan/sink in a
normal tower configuration, but having the motherboard horizontal
was sure good for my peace of mind - and for the owner's too.