Damnyankee
Honest Abe
Some people i know are getting therm., they are not exactly getting a supercharged non-pentium processor machine. Comments
Thermaltake Overrated
- Thread starter Damnyankee
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Thermaltake are the "bread & butter" of branded cooling products. You can find their heatsinks in almost every highstreet and electronics catalogue.
Some of their products are good, especially if compared to the generic products with which they share shelf-space. They are probably the only common brand to provide highly conductive copper heatsinks (generic products use aluminium alloys), but Thermaltake are still pretty ordinary when compared to more expensive niche-market overclocking products.
I guess their success could be that they are sometimes mistaken for ThermalRight; one of the most expensive niche-market brands.
Some of their products are good, especially if compared to the generic products with which they share shelf-space. They are probably the only common brand to provide highly conductive copper heatsinks (generic products use aluminium alloys), but Thermaltake are still pretty ordinary when compared to more expensive niche-market overclocking products.
I guess their success could be that they are sometimes mistaken for ThermalRight; one of the most expensive niche-market brands.
Strontium_Dog
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I very nearly bought one of their ally cases, but changed my mind and got an Antec one instead.
Getting better cooling is always helpful, but if you're not overclocking, or running your CPU flat out, there's no need to go nuts.
Copper heatsinks do work better, and look nice, but you have to watch the weight. They can go way over the maximum your board will support, and can crack the board if the comp' is moved.
Getting better cooling is always helpful, but if you're not overclocking, or running your CPU flat out, there's no need to go nuts.
Copper heatsinks do work better, and look nice, but you have to watch the weight. They can go way over the maximum your board will support, and can crack the board if the comp' is moved.
I prefer the look of copper-aluminium heatsinks, and they cost less tooStrontium_Dog said:
The copper insert absorbs heat from a small area, and spreads into a larger area of aluminium with performance similar to all-copper solutions.
Strontium_Dog
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stormbind said:I prefer the look of copper-aluminium heatsinks, and they cost less too
The copper insert absorbs heat from a small area, and spreads into a larger area of aluminium with performance similar to all-copper solutions.
The thermal effeciency of Coppor isn't that much better than Aluminum, really. It is better, but not by that much. It really depends on what you're after.
I put one of these coolers in mine,
It allows a 92mm fan to be fitted. (same airflow, less row). Coupled with a new case, that has 120mm fans front and back, I got a 10 degreeC drop in running temp's, with less noise.
Noise? My box sounds like a Boeing 747 preparing for take-off 
Actually, it is better now that it was a week ago, because I just cleaned the CPU fan and replaced the graphics card - the old one had a worn out fan. The biggest remaining culprit is a damaged HDD
Actually, it is better now that it was a week ago, because I just cleaned the CPU fan and replaced the graphics card - the old one had a worn out fan. The biggest remaining culprit is a damaged HDD
Strontium_Dog
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stormbind said:Noise? My box sounds like a Boeing 747 preparing for take-off
Actually, it is better now that it was a week ago, because I just cleaned the CPU fan and replaced the graphics card - the old one had a worn out fan. The biggest remaining culprit is a damaged HDD
That's exactly how i used to describe mine
My PSU turned out to be the main culprit. I'd got a dodgy, cheap unbranded effort in there, and it's fans were rather loud. Bought an Antec Truepower, much quieter, works much better too, voltages are much more stable.
I'd replace that noisy drive, if I were you. If the bearings get too worn, the heads can crash into the disk surfaces (known as a head crash). Dead drive, irretrevable data. Or the motor might be packing in. Just as bad.
It's an old Quantum 13Gb ATA66 HDD, and it's not the bearings.
My case is an AOpen full tower, with a snug removable HDD cradle above the PSU. Dunno if the description is enough for this to make sense...
Years ago, I had that cradle out, and a screw became trapped between the Quantum HDD and the wall of it's cradle - but I didn't notice.
I slid the cradle back into it's slot where it became stuck - and like a fool I tried forcing it all the way in. It took a while before I realised the cradle was definately wider than it's slot!
Took it all apart, found the culprit, and put it together properly. But by now the damage was done. The walls of my lovely Quantum drive (it was brand new at the time) had been dented by an idiot, and ever since, the drive has made a scraping sound while spinning.
Before that event, the same HDD was dead quite!
As for my PSU, it is still serving me well. If I were to change anything, I would only replace it's fan, not the whole unit.
Click here for image (not the same model, but the same layout)
In the above picture, the 4x HDD cradle is behind the fittings for 2x fans immediately above the PSU. The lid comes off for easy access without needing to remove the side panels. It can house another 3 or 4 HDD deep inside, and then more in the 4x 5.25" slots - somewhat overkill for a home user with a maximum of 4x IDE devices
My case is an AOpen full tower, with a snug removable HDD cradle above the PSU. Dunno if the description is enough for this to make sense...
Years ago, I had that cradle out, and a screw became trapped between the Quantum HDD and the wall of it's cradle - but I didn't notice.
I slid the cradle back into it's slot where it became stuck - and like a fool I tried forcing it all the way in. It took a while before I realised the cradle was definately wider than it's slot!
Took it all apart, found the culprit, and put it together properly. But by now the damage was done. The walls of my lovely Quantum drive (it was brand new at the time) had been dented by an idiot, and ever since, the drive has made a scraping sound while spinning.
Before that event, the same HDD was dead quite!
As for my PSU, it is still serving me well. If I were to change anything, I would only replace it's fan, not the whole unit.
Click here for image (not the same model, but the same layout)
In the above picture, the 4x HDD cradle is behind the fittings for 2x fans immediately above the PSU. The lid comes off for easy access without needing to remove the side panels. It can house another 3 or 4 HDD deep inside, and then more in the 4x 5.25" slots - somewhat overkill for a home user with a maximum of 4x IDE devices
Strontium_Dog
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I took the opportunity to get a decent PSU. It used to get quite scary, watching the voltages, put a disk in the cd-rom and they'd go a bit fluttery, nice and stable now
A mate built a comp' into a full tower, a few years ago, he swapped it out though, finding room for it became a problem as it did'nt fit under his desk It also did'nt help the noise, as it's somthing of a big echo chamber.
, I have a RAID mobo though, which, essentialy add's 2 more ide channels, so I can have up to 8 with that.
The there's always a nice SCSI card. The same guy who did the full tower is using one, with a little drive as a boot. Nice and fast, plus, apparently, he can daisy chain up to 36 devices through it. Might slow it down a tad though, be rather expensive (SCSI drives aint cheap), and I wouldn't want to try powering it all
A mate built a comp' into a full tower, a few years ago, he swapped it out though, finding room for it became a problem as it did'nt fit under his desk
It also did'nt help the noise, as it's somthing of a big echo chamber. I have 5, and I'm distinctly average
, I have a RAID mobo though, which, essentialy add's 2 more ide channels, so I can have up to 8 with that. The there's always a nice SCSI card. The same guy who did the full tower is using one, with a little drive as a boot. Nice and fast, plus, apparently, he can daisy chain up to 36 devices through it. Might slow it down a tad though, be rather expensive (SCSI drives aint cheap), and I wouldn't want to try powering it all
When I bought the case, my intention was to add a RAID controller but it never happened. At the time, striping (RAID 0) 2x 13Gb 66Mb/s drives would have translated into extraordinary performance. How times change
SCSI was never on my shopping list because as you noted, the cost is a little high. There are also hidden costs in the form of expensive cables and those plugs that go on the end to close the chain.
Today, SATA does all of the above.
SCSI was never on my shopping list because as you noted, the cost is a little high. There are also hidden costs in the form of expensive cables and those plugs that go on the end to close the chain.
Today, SATA does all of the above.
Strontium_Dog
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Yea, SCSI does get a bit pricey, put's me off too.
All things get superceded by something better. Which is why I don't pay silly money for comp' stuff, the depreciation is horrific (actually, I remember when cpu clocks were in single figure mhz, and a mb of ram was pretty special, god I'm old )
SATA had just come out, when I got my mobo. Part of my 'next one down' policy, which I posted about in another thread here
All things get superceded by something better. Which is why I don't pay silly money for comp' stuff, the depreciation is horrific
(actually, I remember when cpu clocks were in single figure mhz, and a mb of ram was pretty special, god I'm old )SATA had just come out, when I got my mobo. Part of my 'next one down' policy, which I posted about in another thread here
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