TJ08-E / i3-3225 / HD400 / mATX GA-B75M-D3H - low power

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thierry.
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:07 am
Location: Vienna - Austria

TJ08-E / i3-3225 / HD400 / mATX GA-B75M-D3H - low power

Post by thierry. » Mon Nov 25, 2013 3:33 am

It's only been 10 days that I opened my forum account, but I was reading SPCR reviews since July 2012, when I was building my new PC.
At that time, I was looking for silence and found all the great info here, with the review of casing and PSU, etc.
And it's time, to post my build in the Gallery.


I wanted something as much silent as possible, but keeping low budget (for passing the "wife's approval" :wink: )

I went mATX, because it was cheaper than mini ITX and I did not really need the smallest build.
I was also convinced at that time, that mATX case would give me a better airflow, thus less heat and less noise.
(This thought completely changed, now that I am planning my next one, ITX size.)

I got the Temjin TJ08-E, because of it's review here, as one of the best in it's category.
I took a silent PSU from Be Quiet.
I removed the HDD cage because of anoying vibration from the HDD. And I suspended the HDD on the top. (also after reading info on SPCR and looking at new ideas)

Image

My usage?
Basic internet, mail, family small videos and thousands of pictures to keep in the right place. No heavy processing, no gaming.

I remember, back in 2004, I had this little noisy box.
Image
A Shuttle with P4 and small PSU fan that was running like crazy, on hot days. It was even less noisy with the case opened.

This is how it looked on the first day.
Then, below, after I removed the cage and cleaned a bit the cables.
Temjin TJ08-E Thierry core i3-3225 HD4000 8GB SSD 128GB BQ Straight E9 400WQ.jpg

CPU stock fan:
Yes, I am still running the stock CPU fan. :o
That's a shame for a guy on SPCR forum, I guess. :mrgreen:
I only hear when it get out of idle 1.6Ghz, and wakes from 1200rpm to 1400rpm.
I wish I was able to tweak my steps, like Abula explained to me. But my motherboard has a very limited Bios setup.

Case fan:
I had problem with the front 180mm fan, because it would not run correctly from the motherboard fan header.
On the TJ08-E, there is a switch on the side for low and high flow. If I switch to low, it just stop spinning.
On "high", it runs at 600rpm. And I still hear a nice "woosh" airflow.

At that time, I had a replacement sent from SilverStone, thinking it was a fan problem. Nope, it was not.
Then I bought an adapter to connect directly on PSU, but it was not more silent.
I left it like this.

(Now, I understood from my forum readings, that I could have use a FanMate, to try a bit better.)

PSU
The PSU is very silent, almost no spin.
Yes, it's overkill. 400W for a small i3, SSD + HDD. I can't get 80W drawn from the plug, at full load. :mrgreen:
At that time, I thought it was the best model for my need and for silence. (Sure it's silent! for what I use)

HDD noise
The annoying vibrations from the drive were forgotten, after I suspended in the top of the case.


After last week readings and talkings on the forum, I ran some test for temperatures and power, without the front fan.
I am thinking of my next build, with smaller ITX, possibly passive cooler, etc. So I was curious to see how it could go on this case.
I need to put all in a table, and I'll post here.


After 13 months of happiness with this enough-silent build, I realized how big size and big power I was "wasting".
I could have gone other ways, for more silence.
I am still learning a lot here, for a better next one.
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Last edited by thierry. on Mon Dec 16, 2013 1:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

Abula
Posts: 3662
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Re: TJ08-E / i3-3225 / HD400 / mATX GA-B75M-D3H - low power

Post by Abula » Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:53 am

Like the simple build. =). Maybe you could upload a pic of your suspension hdd, maybe it would be useful for others to get idea on their builds.
Yes, I am still running the stock CPU fan. :o
That's a shame for a guy on SPCR forum, I guess. :mrgreen:
I only hear when it get out of idle 1.6Ghz, and wakes from 1200rpm to 1400rpm.
If you were to buy an aftermarket heatsink like Thermalright HR02 Macho, you should be able to run it fanless (or use the fan if you feel it doesn't add noise on your setup), the frontal fan even at 600rpm should be enough to cool it and still maintain pretty good idle temps, and it should be well with in margin on load. One thing that im not sure if the gigabyte would boot without a fan though, some motherboards have options to overwrite this feature, but i have no experience with gigabyte.
(This thought completely changed, now that I am planning my next one, ITX size.)
For the future, consider Fractal Design Node 304, pretty nice Mini ITX case that allows the installation of big tower and a standard ATX PSU, more in line with your old build. Or if you feel like building something very small, Antec Mini-ITX Case ISK110-VESA, pretty nice small mini itx case that already comes with 90W Energy Level V brick, and can hold 2x 2.5 hdds, now that drives like the Hitachi 5k1500 + ssd, you should have a very good setup in a small factor.

thierry.
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:07 am
Location: Vienna - Austria

Re: TJ08-E / i3-3225 / HD400 / mATX GA-B75M-D3H - low power

Post by thierry. » Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:59 am

Abula wrote:Like the simple build. =). Maybe you could upload a pic of your suspension hdd, maybe it would be useful for others to get idea on their builds.
I think I have some pictures, but it's so ugly done. Bit shame to put.
But hey, we are doing a lot of silencing with what we have. :mrgreen:
I'll try to find it and put here.

For the case, I was looking at the Node 304, but too expensive.
and then, for now, it's the Lian Li PC-Q07 that is on top of the list.
(Discussed over there. And you already tried to "sell" me the Node. :wink: )

Edit:
I would love to try a hr02 in my current build. But it's now for sale to finance the next. So I can't spend more on it.

Abula
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Location: Guatemala

Re: TJ08-E / i3-3225 / HD400 / mATX GA-B75M-D3H - low power

Post by Abula » Mon Nov 25, 2013 9:37 am

thierry. wrote:(Discussed over there. And you already tried to "sell" me the Node. :wink: )
Im pretty bad with names and keeping up with my previous post, I just recommend what i feel strongly, and in most cases what i have tried (not always as there are way too many). I like its size factor, and the hardware it lets it put in, and try to have users check it out if they are perusing an ITX build, but if i were good with names and tracking i would have remember you were already wouldn't have suggested it again.

thierry.
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:07 am
Location: Vienna - Austria

Re: TJ08-E / i3-3225 / HD400 / mATX GA-B75M-D3H - low power

Post by thierry. » Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:39 pm

I hope you did not take it too serious. It was really with the joke smiley what I said.

I really liked your recommendations. It's not just "take this it's the best". You give the idea and the why / how. Which is very useful.

It looks really great anyway.
And I still have a long search ahead to define my final list.

thierry.
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:07 am
Location: Vienna - Austria

Re: TJ08-E / i3-3225 / HD400 / mATX GA-B75M-D3H - low power

Post by thierry. » Wed Nov 27, 2013 5:19 am

Here is the way I suspended the HDD in the top of the case.
I don't use any optical drive.
suspended hd in TJ08-E sideview.jpg
I did not use the round (camping?) rubber bands, like we can see on the SPCR article. I could not find thin ones, here.
I used some flat elastic bands (from my wife's sewing box.)

I passed through the holes. 2 on top and 2 on bottom of the HDD, with crossing them to stabilize it.

This is the bottom view. We can see all the extra PSU cables.
suspended hd in TJ08-E.jpg
If I was doing it again, I would put the HDD in a silencing enclosure. (I did not know about it, last year)
And then, suspend the HDD.


And this is my test of the temperatures, last week end, after reading the forum.
stress test and temperatures - TJ08-E with core i3-3225.png

I wanted to see what's happening if I stop the front fan.
Each reading was done after waiting stabilisation of the temperature.

Conclusion: it's much more quiet. (of course :mrgreen:)
but the heat is rising in the case, and the HDD are getting hotter (from 20 to 41°C), since they are placed to the top of the case. Not ideal...

At full load with no airflow in the case, the CPU stays below 60°C. Is it good? risky?

I think an easy improvement would be to have a good heatsink (and not the intel stock).
It is currently running at 1200rpm all the time.
And also, I could run the front fan a bit lower rpm, for less noise. (I would need something like a FanMate)

Do you have any comments, on these temps and the test? Do I miss some interesting conclusion?
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flyingsherpa
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Re: TJ08-E / i3-3225 / HD400 / mATX GA-B75M-D3H - low power

Post by flyingsherpa » Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:37 am

thierry. wrote: Do you have any comments, on these temps and the test? Do I miss some interesting conclusion?
I'm surprised your idle power consumption is 44W with that setup. I've seen some others here with similar configs (no discrete VGA, only 1 spinning platter, i3 or low i5) idle at 15W. Wonder what the difference is?

thierry.
Posts: 126
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:07 am
Location: Vienna - Austria

Re: TJ08-E / i3-3225 / HD400 / mATX GA-B75M-D3H - low power

Post by thierry. » Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:35 am

I saw also some other htpc in the forum that are running at 10-15W idle, but I thought they were with different component.

When I say "idle", it's when I am running no programs, just the computer is on, plugged to the 2 displays with HDMI and DVI.
I am running on SSD. The 2 HDD are usually on standby, not spinning.
Could it be because I have the 2 screens plugged?

44W is on the AC plug, of course. But even with the efficiency factor, it doesnt get me close to 15W.


I was thinking I had a good consumption, but now you make me realize the opposite. :D

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