I've got an IBM thinkpad T43. It runs at about 17-21W with normal light use (killawatt meter). And if the screen goes off (ie after a couple of minutes of no input) it drops another couple of W. Building a desktop that power miserly is hard, but I built a AU$450 system for my mum recently (AMD X2 40...

Is there some way you can rig up a fan to blow on your card and disconnect or remove the fan it came with? I've got a Zalman on my vanilla 6600, but even that fan was too loud for me and aiming a Nexus 80mm at it keeps it cool enough.

Small apartment, 3 computers in the living room all with generic fans/PSUs - the noise was driving me batty! And then it became a challenge - how quiet/passive/low power can I get?

Or the Antec SLK3000B. It'll take a 120mm front fan and comes without a PSU.

It sounds like your fans are the main culprits: PSU, CPU and case. if so, you could look at replacing just the PSU rather than the whole case. s12 PSUs can be had for approx AU$100 (staticice.com.au). An alternative to the P150 might be the Antec SLK3000B. I've had it for a couple of years and it's ...

True, I hadn't thought of that. Does anyone know if turning off options in the BIOS also cuts of power to them? ie if I was to turn of my second SATA controller would it save me any power?

Hey, Mats, thanks for a really useful list for those of us trying to build a seriously low-power system. I was planning on replacing my p965 board for something cheaper to run, but maybe I'll hang onto it after all. 10W ain't so bad!

replacing the 3.5" drive with one (or two) 2.5" should shave off 10W by itself.

I'm in Australia and our models are a bit different, but I've got an Ultraview (Fusion clone), a real Fusion and a Leadtek. Love the Fusions, but have had constant hassles with the Leadtek.

Yeah, I guess availability of drives depends on how much you're planning to store vs $$$ to spend. I run a 250GB 3.5" and a 120GB 2.5" drive, and an external 300GB 3.5" for backup and photo storage (only runs once a week when I'm actually backing up, will be replaced soon) and it's plenty - but I do...

Sounds like it's going to be a nice system! To make it quiet I'd choose components that will generate as little heat as possible - which means fewer fans and also lower power consumption. I'd stick with the 2.5" drives all the way rather than 3.5" - much quieter and less power hungry, and they also ...

I did some testing in my system just yesterday, pulling out cards etc to work out what used how much power. I wasn't terribly exact with my measurements (I was just looking for the biggest power hogs) but at idle (Windows desktop, EIST enabled) I measured the following with a killawatt: 53 W Gigabyt...

eSATA is an external SATA port. It runs at full SATA speed, so you can plug in an external drive that is as fast as an internal one (3Gbits/second - USB is 1/6th that). I wouldn't bother with a more expensive board just to get eSATA built in - should you ever need it, you can buy PCI brackets that p...

I ended up buying one from the UK, and am using a UK/OZ adaptor on each end. Set me back about $50 (I already had the adaptors). Works well, but is a bit unweildy. You need plenty of room around the socket you're plugging it into (or an extension cord).

I'll be interested to hear how it goes. I had the opposite problem. The system refused to start with the pico-PSU, but I swapped it out for the PW-200-V and it's fine (both using the 80W brick).

You could look at www.steves-digicams.com too, they also do good reviews. They also have a link on the left to a list of the best cameras in a range of categories which might be a good starting point. As far as brands are concerned, I'd stick with the biggies - Canon, Nikon or Olympus, but that's ju...

Wow, this is great. I'm not well, so I spend a lot of time in bed with the laptop. This is a great alternative to it overheating amongst the blankets, getting tangled in cables, etc. I can't see me building a dedicated "bed computer" but an arm like this would make the laptop much more userfriendly....

Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately the All In Wonder isn't an option since I'm in Australia. But the 6200 certainly is. Are the 7 series cards worth exploring? It seems like there are only a few available in AGP. Verion, you mention undervolting/clocking the 6200. Do you have any links that'd te...

I built an HTPC recently from mostly recycled parts (see specs below), but because of lousy case ventilation the heat from my Nvidia 6600 GPU is causing the whole system to overheat. If I run it with the case open, or swap it out for a cooler card (9600LE) it's fine. I can run the whole system 100% ...

Maybe use one of the bigger versions of the pico-psu from http://www.mini-box.com? They'd definitely fit, but you'd need to find a bigger external brick than those mini-box sells. The DC-DC part supposedly passes the 12V straight through, so if you can find a big enough brick you'd be all set.

Jaycar's got them on their website (jaycar.com.au) search for "mains power meter" - but they're listed as out of stock. I asked in one of their stores, but apparently they're a new product not available yet. Dunno how long it'll be...

You can do this in Windows, too. I run Webscheduler- it wakes my system from hibernation or standby a couple of minutes before a scheduled recording. So my system is only on a few hours a day. Windows is set to hibernate the machine after a few minutes of inactivity.

Mikael wrote:I know that the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 and GA-965P-S3 allow undervolting down to the 0.5V range. I don't think they have fan headers controllable through Speedfan, though.

I've got the GA-965P-S3 and it allows speedfan control.

I'm running a Sempron 3000+, laptop HD and DVD and a Radeon 9550 on a 6.6A brick plus the 120w pico which works fine. Swapping out the Radeon for a 9600LE works too, but with my Nvidia 6600 it cuts out before it even has a chance to boot :( . I'm working on adapting the plugs on a bigger brick which...

I've got a Silverstone LC02 (380wx100hx295d). It's tiny, takes a full ATX and fits in great with my stereo components, but not the best in terms of cooling. I'm using a picopsu, notebook HD, older sempron CPU and a 9600LE video card, plus an external USB tuner. I tried a passive 9550 and a 6600 with...

Thanks for your help, Max. I removed the plug that goes into the laptop - preparing to connect it to a bigger version of the Pico PSU. When I plug the brick into the wall, I get no green light, and the multimeter shows no current.

Bump. Nobody? Is this brick likely to be dead?

I managed to get my hands on a second hand Delta ADP-150BB B brick (rebadged as a Dell 3R160). I've taken the original plug off, but using a multimeter I'm getting no current through any of the wires. Have I been sold a lemon or is there something I'm missing?

So the 9600XT runs pretty cool? I'm trying to find an AGP DVI card that will run passively in an HTPC case with almost no airflow and using a PicoPSU with 80w brick - so very little power usage, too (my nvidia 6600 sucks too much juice). I've got a borrowed 9600LE in there at present, which does wha...

Thanks for the input. I'd buy it without the IMON, no real need for it. I guess I'm particularly interested in whether either case has decent airflow. I've previously built an HTPC in an LC02, which after replacing the PSU and the fans on the CPU and GPU is pretty quiet, but overheats if I put the t...