Search found 71 matches

by fractal
Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:17 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PSU advice for a mini ITX Asus-H87I-Plus + i5 4590T + 2 HD
Replies: 5
Views: 5224

Re: PSU advice for a mini ITX Asus-H87I-Plus + i5 4590T + 2

It is hard to find anything 80+ rated lower than 300 watts. pico's are good if you can find a good brick to feed them. I picked up a Seasonic SS-300TGW last time I needed a power supply for a low power system. 80+ gold rated not that the extra efficiency of gold over bronze will matter much on a 60 ...
by fractal
Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:43 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: x86 with arm like power draw for router/server
Replies: 39
Views: 22156

Re: x86 with arm like power draw for router/server

There is an old saying: "fast, cheap or good, pick any two". You picked all three so are out of luck. The soekris, or other such embedded appliance product, gives you everything you ask for. Unfortunately what you ask for isn't cheap. You can abandon your 6 watt limit and go itx with something like ...
by fractal
Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:02 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Quiet external notebook storage, which interface to choose?
Replies: 2
Views: 1753

Re: Quiet external notebook storage, which interface to choo

The best backup is the one you make. Put another way, don't give yourself excuses to NOT make backups, and having to plug an expresscard into the slot to do the backup is one extra reason to not do the backup. Therefore, my first choice if you really want to carry up a drive is whatever is native on...
by fractal
Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:40 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: I'm looking for a quiet Bluray burner
Replies: 2
Views: 2475

Re: I'm looking for a quiet Bluray burner

I have three LG's. One writer and two readers. None are "quiet". But, all are quieter than any lite-on I have ever owned. Anecdotal comment: I will have to look and see if I even have any lite-on's left as every one I have ever owned has died within two years. All of the NEC's I was buying before I ...
by fractal
Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:35 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: Quiet quality external HDD case
Replies: 6
Views: 3916

Re: Quiet quality external HDD case

I have one of these . It may be big, comparatively expensive, and the fan does make some audible noise, but it does keep the drive much cooler than normal enclosures. It doesn't look or feel too cheap either. The fan could maybe be modified to run slower or maybe even temperature-controlled if it's...
by fractal
Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:00 am
Forum: Silent Storage
Topic: 2011 SSD pricing (for drives >= Intel G2 X-25V 40GB perf)
Replies: 79
Views: 43944

Re: 2011 SSD pricing (for drives >= Intel G2 X-25V 40GB perf

Do you want to fix the title of this thread? It is called a "SSD pricing" but there were 7 (now 8 ) posts with nothing about pricing. Very discouraging for anyone who believed this thread might help in a buying decision...
by fractal
Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:04 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Low Power MB/CPU combo for a small HTPC/NAS ?
Replies: 16
Views: 12560

Re:

The current setup is indeed already pretty efficient with only minor mods and settings (PSU is the original 300W SFX unit) - it ideals at around 45W and doesn't go above 90W even when stressed. BTW - the gf6100 GPU is integrated as part of the MB nv430 chipset - so it is a low powered IGP. The upgr...
by fractal
Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:18 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: 7V mod safe?
Replies: 8
Views: 4302

The concern with the 7v trick is that you are sinking current into a circuit that is designed to source current.

However, as long as the rest of your system is drawing more current off the 5V rail than your fans, you are likely to be fine.
by fractal
Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:33 pm
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: Green Everyday PC Advice
Replies: 28
Views: 21395

I'm not sure what the TDP of the Pentium III's is.... but I would lean toward recommending a low power AMD64 chip.... isn't the 3000+ ~35W? With cool & quiet, or custom undervolting, that goes even lower... the P3 may be more efficient under low loads, I'm not sure. A 650 MHz coppermine s370 is abo...
by fractal
Tue Jun 12, 2007 6:08 pm
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: Power Meters: Real Power vs. Apparent Power
Replies: 4
Views: 5101

An incandescent light bulb is a purely resistive load which has a power factor of 1. Fluorescent bulbs are a different story. If your meter is reading anything other than va = watts for a pf of 1 on an incandescent bulb, then it is defective.
by fractal
Tue May 08, 2007 4:32 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Any mobo for Core2Duo with AGP & DDR"1"?
Replies: 29
Views: 18371

Re: Any mobo for Core2Duo with AGP & DDR"1"?

Hardtailed wrote:Are there any mobo available to run a E6### (or E4### at worse) with regular DDR and AGP 8X?
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Produc ... 44&LanID=9 does
Something at least as good as my Asus.
Now that's a matter of opinion.
by fractal
Mon May 07, 2007 3:10 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: 24/7/365 very low traffic web server components
Replies: 15
Views: 7014

Your solution IS overkill, but about as good as you are going to get with modern components unless you utilize mobile processors. The one improvement would be to use the 45 watt x2-3800 instead of the 69 watt processor. If you don't mind old/used, consider a dell sff p3. My primary email/web/dns ser...
by fractal
Mon May 07, 2007 3:06 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Will 180 watt PS be enough?
Replies: 3
Views: 2240

Your supply has more than enough "watts". My only concern is shared above about the capacity of your 12V rail as your am2 system will be drawing most of the 120ish watts that system will draw at peak from its 12v line. I would suggest you check the label and see if the 12v rail is rated at 10 amps. ...
by fractal
Mon May 07, 2007 2:55 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Possible motherboards/CPUs for a Linux system
Replies: 40
Views: 28318

I consider the *current* AMD X2 hardware to produce more heat than the Intel Core 2 Duo line so Intel is preferable from that perspective. Ever so slightly if any. A 65w AM2 x2-3800 on an ecs 6100 motherboard folding flat out draws 79 watts with 1 stick of DDR2 memory, a single hard drive and a sin...
by fractal
Mon May 07, 2007 1:09 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Cooling a hot CPU in hot weather
Replies: 11
Views: 5400

Are you sure your problem is the heat sink and not the case? My first guidance to anyone in your situation is to eliminate the case by removing the side of the case and blowing a house fan into the case. If this (brute force test only experiment) fixes your problem then your issue can be resolved by...
by fractal
Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:28 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Anechoic room measurements - 0,3 dB over room sound floor...
Replies: 5
Views: 4751

Oh, now you've got me itching to turn my room into an anechoic chamber. Very cool. I wonder if they have those wall tiles at the Home Depot. :twisted: They don't, and they cost a bundle. You can get almost, kinda, hobbiest close with foam rubber packing material, but a true anechoic chamber is a th...
by fractal
Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:47 pm
Forum: Fans and Control
Topic: 120mm fan nightmare
Replies: 9
Views: 5007

Krooton, don't worry about your temperatures -- they're fine! AMD CPUs are spec'ed for temperatures of up to at least 90ºC. My CPU runs at close to 50ºC at idle and almost 60ºC after prolonged gaming sessions (XP-M 2500+ @ 2300 MHz). If you have no stability problems, there is no reason to worry. I...
by fractal
Fri Sep 24, 2004 7:46 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: I blew up my Zalman 300w power supply!
Replies: 23
Views: 9308

Uhh.. What UPS do you have and have you run a diagnostic on it lately? APC Smart UPS have an anoying habit of taking out systems when their batteries get old. I have lost two power supplies and one complete system when the batteries on APC UPS's of mine have failed. Work lost a dozen systems before ...
by fractal
Fri Sep 24, 2004 7:41 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PSU Wattage Calculator
Replies: 5
Views: 2817

Re: PSU Wattage Calculator

I stumbled across this the other day, looks like a decent tool. http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/ Ack. Not only are the numbers it gives wrong, but it is giving the wrong numbers. Get yourself a worksheet that lists the current (startup and operating) on the three rails of interest (+12, +5,...
by fractal
Fri Sep 24, 2004 7:32 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Using an UPS to measure my system power usage
Replies: 5
Views: 2933

Try the kill-a-watt meter

You can get them for 25-30 bucks pretty much anywhere online. I bought my last one off ebay. They measure v,a,va,kw,pf, and kwhr. Great units, well worth the price. Essential for finding "phantom loads" and dealing with "you run your computer 24 hours a day, IT is the cause of our electric bill" arg...
by fractal
Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:32 am
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: What's my "quietness bottleneck"? (hsf, vc, psu, c
Replies: 19
Views: 7940

Here is what I did. Open machine. Listen carefully. Spot fan. Unplug it. Listen carefully. Try to tell if I can notice any difference. Plug fan back in. Yes, you can run your system with the fan on the heat sink unplugged for a minute or so without hurting anything.. Look for next fan. Repeat. Look ...
by fractal
Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:23 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PC power consumtion in idle mode?
Replies: 4
Views: 2406

Your basic home pc draws between 80 and 120 watts. A 17 inch crt monitor about the same. A LCD a fraction of that.

To find the accurate number for YOUR system, I highly recommend a kill-a-watt meter. You get em off ebay for about 25 bucks.
by fractal
Sat Jul 17, 2004 10:15 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: DC Wall Supply?
Replies: 22
Views: 10820

A couple of random thoughts. 1 - It is better to run a higher voltage than a lower voltage. Voltage drop is a function of current and a one volt drop at 120 volts is less significant than a one volt drop at 12 volts. 2 - all modern consumer power supplies are what are known as "switching power suppl...
by fractal
Sat Jul 17, 2004 9:38 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Zippy 460w psu
Replies: 7
Views: 8765

Zippy makes some really great power supplies. They are / were the manufacturer of pc power and coolings silencer line. They are very heavy into redundant failsafe supplies. They have a reputation for making top quality product at a top quality price. They are NOT, however, known for making really qu...
by fractal
Thu May 20, 2004 10:10 am
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: I can't understand why people stick to blowing CPU fans!!!
Replies: 89
Views: 44199

Re: I can't understand why people stick to blowing CPU fans!

Why the hell would anybody use a HS and a blowing fan on the CPU to spread really hot air all over the case? Why doesn't everybody use heatsinks like the alpha, sucking hot air to the outside through a duct? What's the point on using blow heatsinks? I can't understand it! A picture says a thousand ...
by fractal
Sun May 16, 2004 10:16 pm
Forum: The Silent Front
Topic: Noise level reference for the masses.
Replies: 30
Views: 16305

There is a HUGE difference between Silent (what this site strives for) and Quiet (what I strive for). I have been in an anechoic chamber before and .. my gawd .. the silence was deafening. I, like many, couldn't take more than about 10 minutes in that room. It was too blasted quiet. I am VERY happy ...
by fractal
Mon May 10, 2004 12:38 pm
Forum: Video Cards & Monitors
Topic: LCD for gamers
Replies: 26
Views: 15026

I have a princeton vl1716 I bought at costco for under 400 bucks. It is connected with the DVI cable to a gf4ti4200. I use the system a lot for DAOC and WoW. The difference between this LCD and the 17 inch tube are incredible. Everything is so crisp now. No pincushioning due to analog interface. No ...
by fractal
Mon May 10, 2004 12:30 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: does applying too much thermal compound create more heat ?
Replies: 12
Views: 7801

Re: does applying too much thermal compound create more heat

Re: does applying too much thermal compound create more heat ? No. Thermal compound does not create heat. It just aids in the transfer of heat from the source (the processor usually) and the disipator (yoru heat sink). Your processor is what makes the heat.. Sorry. Too picky :) Yes, too much is not...
by fractal
Mon May 10, 2004 12:18 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: The myth of "too much thermal paste"
Replies: 55
Views: 31418

Not enough, too much ... how bad either is depends on what you are using. I don't bother adding more goo when I change heat sinks when I am using good old fashion silicon goo. I just make sure there is still some, but not much, on the core and the heat sink after I have test mated them and removed t...
by fractal
Mon May 10, 2004 12:10 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Good cheap HSF for a Pally these days?
Replies: 8
Views: 4615

Re: Good cheap HSF for a Pally these days?

Any advice? I have an old 1600+ Pally and my brother's damaged Shuttle nf2 board (a few ram slots and the lan doesn't work...but it'll make a mighty fine platform to try Gentoo out on), just not an HSF (...anymore...COUGH!). Quiet would be cool, but I'm look absolutely not a penny more than $20. If...