90W or 120W FSP/Fortron power brick for this fanless PC?

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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resistante
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2018 6:28 am

90W or 120W FSP/Fortron power brick for this fanless PC?

Post by resistante » Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:53 am

The pc:
i3 3245
2x4GB DDR3L
Intel 730 SSD
Gigabyte B85TN thin mini itx
USB audio interface, mouse & keyboard
It's a fanless machine (akasa euler) powered by a laptop power brick.

I've been running this since I bought it 3 to 4 years ago. The power brick I used was a used HP 90W efficiency level V one that I bought together with the mobo, it recently broke, I don't think it made any issues until it broke (I only remember one unexplained bug, which happened very recently, calculating space taken by files/folders would take ages and some linux backports got installed by themselves (I downgraded them by hand), but the bug is fixed now, again for unknown reason). The computer would just turn off by itself daily, then after few hours of use, then few minutes.

I decided I'd buy a new unit from a respected brand this time.
I have two options, FSP/Fortron FSP-NBV3 PNA0901909 90W (efficiency level VI, quieter when pc turned off, louder when turned on, normal size) and FSP/Fortron PNA1200175 FSP-NB120 120W (efficiency level V, louder when pc turned off, quieter when turned on, very big, more expensive). Both get similarly hot.
There's also FSP/Fortron FSP-NBL90 Lite 90W PNA0900600, this one is smaller than the first 90W one, but it gets hotter, efficiency level V, a bit more expensive and Seasonic SSA-0901D-19 19V/90W, NAEC-EK-S90, it's cheaper than all of the other options, efficiency level V, but the right plug for my machine is not provided (7.4mm x 5.0mm HP one). I'm not sure if it's possible to buy such a plug/adapter anywhere.

I really care about stable, problem-free computer use as this is pretty much my only machine and I do the serious stuff on it. I don't care about 'future-proofing' as currently the case-heatsink is already reaching the temperature limits at summer, I will rather choose more power efficient parts in future than more power hungry. What I'm planning to upgrade to in the future is a 4-core i3 (Coffee Lake or later), 2x8GB DDR4 and a 1TB SSD (either an Intel DC SATA3 or an M.2 PCIe one).

Do you think I should buy the 120W FSP/Fortron power brick given the drawbacks or will 90W unit be equally good for my system?

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: 90W or 120W FSP/Fortron power brick for this fanless PC?

Post by Abula » Fri Jun 22, 2018 10:39 am

I have ran a 4770K on a picoPSU 150XT + 150W brick for 4 years now without any issues, this is a much higher tdp than your dual core. On idle it runs at 20W, usually on the normal load around 50W, if i prime it it reaches close to 150W.

I think you should be fine with either brick. I would probably go with the quietest and the highest efficiency. In my case my PC runs 24/7 so that would be my optimal decision, but you seem to turn off?

Im intrigued about your comments about
quieter when pc turned off, louder when turned on
louder when pc turned off
Given that all electrical components produce some noise, to me my brick is never audible, at least where i sit on, you can hear yours?

resistante
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2018 6:28 am

Re: 90W or 120W FSP/Fortron power brick for this fanless PC?

Post by resistante » Fri Jun 22, 2018 12:19 pm

Abula wrote:Given that all electrical components produce some noise, to me my brick is never audible, at least where i sit on, you can hear yours?
When I use the pc during the day, only when my ear is near it. When the pc is turned off and it's night (it's quiet in the room), I can hear it anywhere in this room (it's not some very big room). Normally though I put the brick on the floor behind the desk and can't hear it.

I've had complains though from a person that slept in my room once that they heard the noise coming from the brick which was 2-3 meteres aways from their head, this was in HP brick times, but I think they all produce somewhat similar levels of noise, these are small differences.
My monitor is currently the loudest part of my setup as I can hear it (just a bit) next to the desk even during the day. Sometimes when I leave the pc on overnight and lay on bed before falling asleep, I know that a notification came, because I hear the monitor's hum (it turns on to show the notification). When you work, you forget about it, it's really barely audible.

If anyone is interested, I've made more noise tests and FSP/Fortron PNA1200175 FSP-NB120 120W is significantly louder than FSP/Fortron FSP-NBV3 PNA0901909 90W when the pc is turned off, it can be heard anywhere in the room, when it's turned on, the ear has to be near. FSP/Fortron FSP-NBV3 PNA0901909 90W is comparable in terms of noise to the broken HP 90W efficiency level IV power brick, I don't think there's a meaningless difference loudness and annoyance wise, they can be barely heard anywhere in the room when pc is turned off and it's night, and when it's on, the ear has to be near, . These are the only bricks I tested from those I mentioned in the first post. Another brick I have is a 40W efficiency level V tiny brick from my Acer netbook, it's significantly quieter than the HP 90W and FSP/Fortron 90W.

Vonstalee
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:04 am

Re: 90W or 120W FSP/Fortron power brick for this fanless PC?

Post by Vonstalee » Sat Jun 23, 2018 9:33 am

You'll be fine running that rig on 90 if it's the quieter more efficient brick.

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