Search found 161 matches

by Brian
Sun Mar 25, 2012 3:44 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Low power GPU for a little gaming?
Replies: 17
Views: 9701

Re: Low power GPU for a little gaming?

rpsgc wrote:Either way, the Accelero S1 Plus can passively cool an HD 7750.
Yep, and so can my Accelero VM-101. I've ordered the $105 Sapphire HD 7750 (the one with a fan).
by Brian
Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:12 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Low power GPU for a little gaming?
Replies: 17
Views: 9701

Re: Low power GPU for a little gaming?

What is the most powerful non-integrated graphics that you think can be powered by a PicoPSU.... along with a motherboard, a CPU, a hard drive, a fan and a DVD? Good question. I took some AC power consumption readings just now that might answer it. The system consists of an Athlon 64 X2 @ 2.1GHz, 3...
by Brian
Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:46 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Low power GPU for a little gaming?
Replies: 17
Views: 9701

Re: Low power GPU for a little gaming?

CES: His gpu is dying and you want him to replace his mobo? :D. That is so... but still it is an option. Apparently not only is the Ivy Bridge graphics about 50% faster than Sandybridge. Haswell graphics may be triple the performance of Ivy Bridge graphics. Yeah yeah... I know it isn't here today.....
by Brian
Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:04 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Low power GPU for a little gaming?
Replies: 17
Views: 9701

Re: Low power GPU for a little gaming?

CES: His gpu is dying and you want him to replace his mobo? :D Brian: By 5600...do you really mean 5670? Take a look at the new 7750 review . You can compare/contrast to a couple of cards in similar power range. Without knowing the rest of your system and it's limits, it's hard to give much more ad...
by Brian
Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:33 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Low power GPU for a little gaming?
Replies: 17
Views: 9701

Low power GPU for a little gaming?

I need to replace my dying Radeon HD 5600, which has served me well. I'm looking for a low power replacement card. Obviously, I don't need the latest and greatest card, but I'd like to be able to play the latest games at moderate to high settings. My priorities are: *low idle power - system runs 24/...
by Brian
Sat Feb 12, 2011 6:09 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: DIY air purifier?
Replies: 4
Views: 8454

DIY air purifier?

My house is dusty, I have allergies, and commercially available air purifiers probably don't meet my needs. Obviously, I need something inaudible. I'd like to circulate and filter air in the bedroom without hearing it. I also can't have a unit that burns through a lot of electricity, and ionizers ar...
by Brian
Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:08 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Low power, quiet TV?
Replies: 6
Views: 3166

Re: Low power, quiet TV?

It means the EnergyStar tests are very arbitrary, but it appears to be true: http://reviews.cnet.com/green-tech/tv-power-test/ "CNET follows the standards outlined in IEC 62807, the same methodology employed by Energy Star, to test TV power usage. Per these methods, TV power draw is tested in the de...
by Brian
Thu Oct 21, 2010 6:45 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Low power, quiet TV?
Replies: 6
Views: 3166

Re: Low power, quiet TV?

I thought LED-backlight TV's were supposed to draw little power, but the Vizio LED LCD TV is one of the worst TV's on EnergyStar's list. It draws much more power than Vizio's CCFL LCD TV's. Unfortunately, EnergyStar tests with whatever settings the TV ships with. The EnergyStar test is actually perf...
by Brian
Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:55 am
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Low power, quiet TV?
Replies: 6
Views: 3166

Low power, quiet TV?

I'm in the market for a ~40", 1080p television for my HTPC to drive. There's a 37" LED LCD unit from Vizio that meets my requirements, is "Energy Star 4.0 compliant", and has a max brightness of 450cd/m². What I'd like to know from SPCR members: *are Vizio LED LCD's dead silent? How about other bran...
by Brian
Sun Oct 17, 2010 5:25 am
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: No Moving Parts Rig by rkay
Replies: 28
Views: 23020

Re: No Moving Parts Rig by rkay

I like it. How large is the TwinBlock compared to, say, two Ninjas? Your CPU temperatures are surprising - that must be a power-hungry CPU, but your heatsink can handle it. My fanless, caseless systems has a Ninja on the CPU (undervolted X2), and never gets above 40°C. If I could, I would put equal-...
by Brian
Sat Sep 04, 2010 5:35 am
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: Woodbox Mk II: Steelbox
Replies: 5
Views: 4231

Temps are acceptable. I let ambient temperature get up to 28° in here, and down to 16-17° in the winter. At 28°, the northbridge is warmer than I'd like: 55° at idle, 68° under load. With a CPU heatsink like that, the CPU temps are never a concern. I'm at 22° right now, and it's never exceeded...
by Brian
Thu Sep 02, 2010 4:20 pm
Forum: General Gallery
Topic: Woodbox Mk II: Steelbox
Replies: 5
Views: 4231

Woodbox Mk II: Steelbox

A few years back, I built a wooden PC case that was just large enough for a microATX motherboard with a PicoPSU. It only stayed in the case for a few months before I ended up just screwing the wooden backplate to the wall, and having an open-air machine. The wooden backplate was recently upgraded to...
by Brian
Thu Sep 02, 2010 3:58 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: [Poll] What's your system's noisiest parts ?
Replies: 31
Views: 25186

The monitor is the only component I've ever heard make a noise. Most of the time, it's inaudible. I paused just now to try to hear it, but I hear cicadas and an aircraft in the distance. The aircraft has passed and I hear my next door neighbor's air conditioner. And now there's a break in traffic a ...
by Brian
Sat Aug 21, 2010 4:49 pm
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: What's a good OS for a pentium 1 or 2?
Replies: 28
Views: 31607

I used vLIte to strip down a copy of XP beyond recognition, then I replaced the shell (explorer.exe) with some free software whose name I don't recall. It was all very lightweight. I had a mail client, MS Office 1997, and a web browser with no flash and no java. Web browser was "offbyone" for simple...
by Brian
Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:07 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: How hot is too hot for the 760G Northbridge?
Replies: 3
Views: 3853

I suppose since I don't have any expansion cards, I could rotate the motherboard so all the cables attach at the left side instead of the bottom.

I'm trying hard to avoid replacing the stock heatsink. Do I need to worry about temps like 81°C?
by Brian
Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:26 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: How hot is too hot for the 760G Northbridge?
Replies: 3
Views: 3853

How hot is too hot for the 760G Northbridge?

My northbridge sees 81°C - 177°F during 3D rendering. Do I need to upgrade the heatsink or add a fan? :( Southbridge is around 50°C. I've got the motherboard mounted to the wall, with no case. The cables are hanging off the bottom of the mobo. Therefore, the heatsinks have the fins running left-r...
by Brian
Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:23 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Biostar A760G-M2+ - 30W barrier broken
Replies: 119
Views: 142742

I ordered an open box Biostar TA760G M2+ from NewEgg for cheap. 26W at the wall! That's with a PicoPSU, OCZ Vertex SSD, a dual-core Athlon64 X2 @ 1.0GHz, 0.95V, at idle. I haven't dropped the graphics card in yet, and I think I'm going to wait a while before I do. Maybe I'll fire up some old games f...
by Brian
Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:43 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Heatsink fell off; Need recommendations for a new mobo
Replies: 3
Views: 2191

Hello, Neil. The CPU is AM2 or AM3. Vicotnik, it's my only computer nowadays. It used to be my low power consumption computer just for office tasks, but then I dropped in a dual-core and a Radeon 5000-series, and now it does that plus gaming. The onboard graphics will probably never get used, so rig...
by Brian
Thu Jul 08, 2010 3:35 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Heatsink fell off; Need recommendations for a new mobo
Replies: 3
Views: 2191

Heatsink fell off; Need recommendations for a new mobo

My northbridge heatsink was held on by thermal epoxy (or maybe it was just superglue, I don't remember) for two years. Well, it fell off in this heat wave we've been having. The board is scorched, and I guess that means it's time for a new mobo. It's a wall-mounted PC (components attached to the wal...
by Brian
Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:55 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Can you undervolt a Radeon HD 5000-series?
Replies: 9
Views: 11126

I'm leaning towards the Sapphire HD 5670. Is there any way to tell what kind of VRM it has and whether the voltage will be adjustable?
by Brian
Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:32 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Completely passive VS Very low speed fans
Replies: 22
Views: 17370

Brian wrote: If your question is "At what distance does a fan at 300RPM make 0dBA?", then you need a really, really quiet anechoic chamber to find out. Also, I think the answer is "pretty far". Like, 10-100m is my guess. No, I meant to ask: The minimum distance at which it is inaudible for human ea...
by Brian
Sun Feb 28, 2010 12:58 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PicoPSU-80 with 150W brick?
Replies: 11
Views: 8732

I understand the PicoPSU is just a 12V->5V and 12V->3.3V DC/DC converter, and it simply passes 12V through from the AC->DC brick, unconditioned. So I won't get any more 5V and 3.3V capacity, but that's fine. Most of my power draw is from the CPU and graphics card, which is 12V. The only potential pr...
by Brian
Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:05 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PicoPSU-80 with 150W brick?
Replies: 11
Views: 8732

PicoPSU-80 with 150W brick?

I have a PicoPSU-80W and an 80W power brick. If I buy a 150W power brick from mini-box, will I be able to pass the additional 70W through the PicoPSU without worries?
by Brian
Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:02 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Can you undervolt a Radeon HD 5000-series?
Replies: 9
Views: 11126

Can you undervolt a Radeon HD 5000-series?

A quick google search tells me you can undervolt a graphics card nowadays, " when supported by the graphics card ", but there's not a lot of info out there, or on SPCR, on the topic. I was able to roughly halve my CPU's power consumption with a 30% undervolt at stock clockspeed. Does anyone know wha...
by Brian
Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:49 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Completely passive VS Very low speed fans
Replies: 22
Views: 17370

Nomoon's right, it depends entirely on ambient. My PC has an SSD, PicoPSU, and one Yate Loon fan @ 5V. At night, from 3m away, I can hear it faintly clicking away. It's inaudible over the hum of the monitor, which is also inaudible during the day. If your question is "At what distance does a fan at ...
by Brian
Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:27 am
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: cardboard computer case...
Replies: 10
Views: 9531

viewtopic.php?t=30608

Mine never burst into flames. I ran it for a year before I upgraded it to wood. It's also environmentally neutral: Instead of recycling the cardboard right away, I used it for a case for a year, then threw it in the recycle bin.
by Brian
Sat Oct 17, 2009 1:17 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Help me pick a 32-37" computer display.
Replies: 11
Views: 5524

i dont think your gona get a screen that size with <40w. my 32" Hanspree LCD tv (not sure of the model) uses about 150w when playing xbox My 19" HannsG is rated for something like 60W, and it draws 30W at maximum brightness, 10W at minimum brightness. So I'd much rather compare actual power reading...
by Brian
Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:09 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Is it me or have things slowed down considerably?
Replies: 44
Views: 37495

It's pretty easy and not too expensive to build a powerful, zero moving parts PC. Since I did so a while back, I haven't seen the need to stop by and discuss things.
by Brian
Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:01 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Does SPCR seem way too obsessive compulsive about noise?
Replies: 77
Views: 68595

I bring this up because high aural sensitivity could well be an aspect of HSP. It could just be an autism-spectrum condition. However, if it is, and if you're trying to live among neurotypicals and blend in with them, dwelling on the cause of your hypersensitivity isn't going to help you any. Sure,...
by Brian
Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:32 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: Help me pick a 32-37" computer display.
Replies: 11
Views: 5524

Help me pick a 32-37" computer display.

90% of what I do on a computer can be done while sitting on a couch instead of at a desk. In the interest of moving computing out of the study and into the den, I'd like a very large monitor. I think a 32", 1920*1080 LCD television should work fine. I do need: *inexpensive. >$500 is out of the quest...