SPCR

Hello

I'm still running XPSP3 (don't have the courage to reinstall all the apps on a brand new W7 host). When I choose "Stand By", I notice that the fans (CPU + PSU) don't stop spinning, which means the host isn't really silent, although it uses less power by shutting down the hard drives.

I have a few questions:

1. Are there affordable fan-cooled PSU's whose fan does shut down when the computer is put in Sleep/ShutDown mode? Fanless PSU's are pretty expensive
2. Is the fact that the fans (CPU + PSU) don't shut down due to my using XPSP3 due to the motherboard, or is it due to the components (CPU + PSU) themselves that just won't allow their fan to shut down?
3. Would the fan problem be solved by using more recent components + Windows7?
4. I leave my PC on 24/7 because I fear that shutting down/restarting hard drives increases the risk of mechanical failure: Is this fear confirmed by experience?

Thank you.

I'm no expert but in S3 sleep only the RAM should be powered. It's not a property of the PSU or the fan if the fans stays on or not, it depends on what state the system drops to during sleep. Check your BIOS, sometimes you can choose between S1 and S3 in the settings there.

Thanks for the tip. For "Suspend Mode", my Asus mobo uses "Auto" by default, with the options of setting S1 or S3. I'll play with this and see how it goes.

littlebigman wrote:Are there affordable fan-cooled PSU's whose fan does shut down when the computer is put in Sleep/ShutDown mode? Fanless PSU's are pretty expensive

If you look at SPCR's reviews, you'll see that there are fairly affordable PSUs whose fan only starts when they work hard.

littlebigman wrote:I leave my PC on 24/7 because I fear that shutting down/restarting hard drives increases the risk of mechanical failure: Is this fear confirmed by experience?

Not really unless perhaps you shut them down twenty times a day or something. Drives fail in any case and most failures are unpredictable. Do your backups properly and you'll be fine.

Thanks for the infos. I'll check what silent PSU's are recommended on SPCR, and come up with a better backup solution so that it doesn't matter if I can lose one or both drives.