TuskenTower on 24 Jan 2008 07:13:05 -0800


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Re: [PLUG] Odd hardware problem


On Jan 23, 2008 11:45 AM, Eric <eric@lucii.org> wrote:
> I now am writing you from the recently revived Linux workstation!  I replaced
> the dead 400W Antec supply with a 650 Watt Antec "truepower trio".  It set me
> back $160 +tax at Best Buy.  As a bonus it's very quiet.  Now I just need to
> quiet down the Zalman CPU cooler fan and my ears will get a well deserved rest.

Eric,
Getting on my green soap box.

Buying a PSU with higher capacity might be bad.  The long story short
is that most people only need a 400W PSU, because 1 their systems peak
at a low wattage (about 200W) and 2 because the sweet spot for most
PSUs is close to their PSU capacity.  Check out Silent PC Review's
recommended PSUs list
(http://www.silentpcreview.com/article699-page1.html).  They go into
great detail about choosing the best silent PSU.  As an added benefit,
your hummer PSU is not sucking down more energy because its not in its
optimal efficiency range.

I bought the Antec EarthWatts 380 for my MythTV machine.  It peaks at
120W (measured with a Kill-A-Watt), idles at 85W and under load at
115W.  Obviously, I could have bought a lower capacity PSU, but my
previous PSU died before I could test the system's power consumption.
Assuming a desktop CPU only consumes ~65W + supports power reduction
and does not have a power hungry video card, the whole machine's power
consumption is a lot lower than most people realize.

Ok, off my soap box.

Amul
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