Andrew Lentvorski([EMAIL PROTECTED])@Sat, Aug 09, 2008 at 02:50:49PM -0700: <snip> > > The more problematic issue is what is going to become my home desktop. > If it's effectively going to be a remote server, it probably needs to > have a bit more oomph than my current laptop. > > So, I'm staring at a desktop again. Sigh. > > My primary issues are: > > 1) Quiet -- fan/drive whine drives me nuts > 2) Display resolution -- 2560x1600 LCD monitor > 3) Memory -- 4GB with the ability to go beyond > > So, a Mac Mini is close to what I want, but ... > > It's limited to 1920x1200 display and 2GB of RAM. That's *not* acceptable. > > Obviously, I'd like the graphics to have open source drivers, but I > think that the 2560x1600 probably precludes that as none of the Intel > integrated chipsets seem to do that resolution. Sigh.
Getting my boxes quieter was the tough part, so I'll focus on that aspect. The ASUS mobo I bought recently has been pretty good for noise reduction. It has heatpipes to draw heat off the northbridge and southbridge, and even some optional heat pipes for the ram. The one I got was for AMD64, but I saw comparable Intel models from them. Mine is the M3A32-MVP. This mobo holds up to 8GB of ram. This is an "overclocker's mobo", but they have been coming down in price since they're not so new to the market anymore. You might find a better fit for budget or purpose. Seasonic has a reputation for making quiet PSUs. I have one and am pleased with it. Other fans in the case can be quieted down by a rheostat or resistor, but it helps a lot if you get a fan that is quiet in the first place. The quietest fan I have is a Noctua 1200 140mm fan. Can't testify to its longevity, yet. Loudest fan in one of my PCs is the one on the CPU. I really need to get a new one. The other PC is liquid cooled. I did my research and got the ddc-1 with a replacement acrylic top from xspc. The top gives it more pressure, plus reduces vibration. I only have water blocks on the video card and the CPU. There are reservoirs out now that have fins. So, you can keep a decent volume of fluid in the system, and it will help cool it off without adding extra fans. Liquid cooling was mostly just an experiment for me. I had never done it before. But it is nice and quiet, and I am enjoying that quite a bit. Setting it up was a fair amount of extra hassle, though. For video I went with a high-end ATI card. Since AMD bought ATI, the information seems to be moving more freely. I expect support in Linux to improve, instead of stagnating as it seems to with Nvidia. I didn't look into the Intel cards. Oh.. The case I got has some sound damping features, too; foam on the large side panels, rubber screws to attach the fans, and rubber washers that can be screwed onto the side of the hard drives. The drive cage has slots that you wedge the rubber washers into. Even if it doesn't make it quieter, it's still the easiest way I've seen to install hard drives in a consumer-grade case. The case is a Lian-Li, but the foam, etc., was added by the vendor. I used silentpcreview.com, and frozencpu.com among other sites to gather information. syntaxman Wade Curry -- KPLUG-List@kernel-panic.org http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
