thx for the graphic... gonna print it out now :)
1mil for the team... glad I could help...
now I just need to find a way to get to 2mil faster than i got to 1mil :)
keep on crunching guys!!!
go team!!

Hi Marysduby
I have not heard how your wife is recently
I hope she is feeling a lot better

In November 2002 I bought a ASUS A78NX - deluxe motherboard the first of my nForce2 boards (There are now 5 in the house ). This was one of the first in the country and cost me £132. It's been great value starting off with an Athlon XP 2100+ with a 266FSB then a 3000+ with a 333FSB and then a 3200+ with what should have been a 400Mhz FSB unfortunately because is was one of the first of these boards it would only reach 386Mhz reliably.

So the other day I saw a special offer at overclockers.co.uk - the very same board for £41.50 +vat. How could I resist a spare for the existing PC just in case for just £41.50 + vat !!

I've recently become a big fan (no pun intended) of the CPU coolers from ARCTIC Cooling. After the whine from a coolermaster they are almost silent. This lead me to their website where I discovered they make PC cases. Again at overclockers a bargain price for a case (a T1) with a difference....

The case is sat on a plinth with an outlet and an inlet for air. The power supply which is very efficient and generates little in excess heat sits at the front of the case at the base and 2 of the extremely quiet ARCTIC fans blow the heat out through the bottom of the case through the plinth. The air coming out of the front of the PC is only lightly warmed.(Cuts down on teh electric bill)

At the back of the case in the base is a grill which allows air from the back of the case up through the plinth. This is then drawn past the CPU and Graphics card and the warm air is expelled from the top of the case with 2 more extremely quiet ARCTIC cooling fans. My 3200+ is now crunching flat out at 46C with an ambient of around 26C. I say now because I fell once again for that silver based heat sink compound - DON'T USE THIS STUFF - the only way I could get a stable system with it was to run my 3200+ as a 1900+ not exactly what I had hoped for with my new motherboard. After lots of diagnostics it had to be the heatsink so I scraped off the silver compound and replaced it with the standard Silicone white gloop and bobs your uncle I'm now running my 3200+ as nature intended.

To make things even quieter the Hard Drive is enclosed in an Aluminium Case and suspended on 4 short rubber bands. So there is no seek noise from the hard drive.

All in all a major improvement I can now hear myself think.

Now what to do with that old case and motherboard........

I'll get some pics on the website

Dave

p.s. I can heartily recommend the NVIDIA 6600GT It might not add to my WCG score but it makes me smile when I can run 3DMark2005

Graham.........my Dad thinks your creative skills are awesome.......he's just too jealous to say so

Hi David
Well Sir, if you start playing FarCry we wont see you for about a week as it is quite exceptional
I completed it about 6 months ago and I can recommend it very highly
F1 GranPrix is still one of my favourite games, so we are gonna have to hook up and have a race in the near future when you get on top of things again