Fans

The quality of case fans appears to be getting better. Many are quieter, but still blow a lot of air. One of my recent favorites is the 120mm Scythe S-Flex. It uses a fluid bearing developed by Sony. The "F" model has an air flow rate of 64 CFM and a noise level of 28 dBA which isn't that bad in my book. I recently purchased some Scythe Minebea fans which blow a little more air (76 CFM @ 31 dBA). The Minebea's cost more, but are supposed to last up to 180,000 hours. That's over 20 years! Minebea is a Japanese company and the largest producer of small ball bearings in the world. It's involved in a joint venture with Matsushita Electric to make fans.

Hot

The hot weather has finally arrived in my area. This will be the first real test of my computers that are doing full-time folding. I hate running the A/C all the time. May have to use a few extra 120mm fans to keep the machines running cool.

Testing

I've put together another quad-core system using a Kentsfield and the P5K Deluxe. The mosfets on the board get very hot. Active cooling is a must. So far, no problems. At 3.2GHz and 1.4v, temps are 46-47C (according to Asus Probe) with 100% load. At 3.4GHz and 1.43v, I'm getting 51C. The CPU will also do 3.5GHz with 1.45v. Have not tested any higher than that. Weather is just too hot right now. Using a Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme with fans in a push-pull configuration.

Components:

QX6700 B3
Asus P5K Deluxe
Super Talent DDR2-800 (2x1GB)
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme
Silverstone OP650
Cheap VGA card (for testing purposes only)

Cheap memory

If you're planning to upgrade your computer, now is a good time to do it. RAM prices have fallen dramatically over the past six months because of an oversupply of memory chips. You can find really nice 2GB kits like the Super Talent DDR2-800 modules shown above for around $100. Last December, the same kit would have cost more than $200.

Tomatoes

I love growing tomatoes. They taste so much better than the ones in the supermarket. I have about four plants this year. I like the common varieties like Early Girl. Freshly-picked tomatoes have a lot more flavor and they just melt in your mouth.

A few more iris plants are also blooming. It's always a good idea to select plants that bloom at various times of the year (early spring, late spring, summer). That way you'll always have something to look forward to. The peonies are usually the first to bloom, followed by my Japanese iris, etc.

P5K Deluxe

It's been awhile since I ordered a new motherboard. Going to give the Asus P5K Deluxe a try. The P35 chipset is supposed to be pretty good, though not light years ahead of the P965. Will mate the board with another quad-core and Crucial Ballistix. Stay tuned!