The samsung f4 is an amazing hdd. Why not the 2tb one; it was on sale recently for $85 for 2tb. I use the green 2tb for media storage and have a ssd for boot/os/apps. Even with your 5450 you're not going to use a lot of wattage. The 400W psu is more than enough (getting a deal on it is a challenge, ...

the issue with some of those psu (fanless) in a p183 case which has a relatively isolated lower bay where the psu resides may have inadequate ventilation as the vents for the psu are traditionally on the top of the psu and rear. However at energy sipping low loads the heat energy differential betwee...

Y cables: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200468&cm_re=sata_y_cable-_-12-200-468-_-Product http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200161&cm_re=sata_y_cable-_-12-200-161-_-Product http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812198015&cm_re=sata_y_c...

So far we have 1 vote for seasonic x400 and 1 vote for antec cp850. BTW for cp850, the fan is PWM controlled. At light loads (<70 idle system where the system will be >90% of the time), the fan really has very little work to do and thus doesn't really move much air. OTOH, for x400, at such low loads...

Requirements: 1) Idle load expected to be < 70W (most likely between 50-70W ac pull from wall) 2) Full load expected to be < 100W (likely 70-120W max). 3) close to 24x7 operation 4) Would like to minimize ac --> dc conversion loss 5) need 6-13 sata power connections I'm not convinced a pico psu / wi...

stick a kill-a-watt at the wall outlet and see how much your current nas is running at idle and load and then decide the right size of psu to get.

^ The above is a myth that is well propagated by the psu industries to scare you to buy the 1.2kw junk they're pushing (I think the advertising campaign is named after "keep fear alive") - j/k But, buy what you need with some headroom. Anything more actually hurts (since most psu's aren't efficient ...

corsair hx520 $89 linkypoo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139001

Here is the link to the Tom's article OP mentions:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pow ... 746-9.html

Note the eff:



Our low power babies would weep at 69%

In case someone is in the market for an intel x25m ssd 80gb. The egg is running a special (starting midnight tonight) @ $169 after rebate. I have this drive and is my fav ssd out of the three I have. The other two - 1 is a samsung slc, and a ocz vertex. intel ssd (for apps/boot) is far better.

As long as I stay under the total wattage is there a limit to the number of HDD I can use in a small nas powered by your psu? I imagine I'd need plenty of Y splitters for the molex/sata power?? How about multiple fans?

Yep - the WD caviar green. On the <50W: Here is a link for a green htpc at 15w: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1269726&highlight=15w The challenge is finding a psu that is both quiet and efficient at this wattage at the same time be able to handle a large number of hdd (for a nas). ...

Very nicely done. I prefer spcr's reviews better than others commonly seen on other hardware sites. I just wish you'd do more. I like that you hit on two aspects that we're most concerned about - noise and power utilization. Looking forward to your 3 platter seagate caviar green 2tb review. A sugges...

There is also some speculation that intel will integrate usb3 so mb manufacturer's will not have to rely on nec chips for usb3.

Makes sandybridge that much more exciting - can't wait for "year end"

You can get a core i3 based cpu/h55 mb for $150 or so on sale that will use under 15W. Link: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1269726&highlight=15w Yep that is 15w. Now the core i3 is plenty for 1080p hd video and hd audio bitstreaming via hdmi and light gaming. If you want video enco...

Could you potentially use another virtual machine and run win7 for htpc? I also have technet so I have the apps.

back upto $149. Just when I wanted to buy it ...

Hopefully it goes back on sale...

Those sharkoon cases can really pack a whole bunch of hdd. Now if we're using green 5400-5900rpm hdd do we really need suspension. Also why not use some 5-in-3 cages from supermicro or the norco ss-500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133030 I'd be really interested in a spcr...

The WD20EARS green drives actually come in two flavors with the newer ones modeled after the f4 with 3 platters of 667 each whereas the earlier model WD20EARS used more. Incidentally they are both called the same model. Perhaps this may partially explain the increase in vibration and noise. It is pl...

Link for above (finally hit 3 posts ):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre ... hlight=15w

The mac mini can idle at 8-11w. DIY core i3 have achieved in the 15w range. I'd post the link but it won't let me

Clearly a picopsu is more than enough for these types of builds.

Thanks for the tip on HR-02, seems heavy, but the cooling #'s are impressive from the review. Don't plan to OC and machine will probably be idle most of the time (htpc + nas using upcoming sandy bridge); planning to pair this with seasonic x400 fanless. Can't decide on some quiet 120mm case fans EDI...

yzh wrote:

BlackWhizz wrote:250w is enough to handle the peaks (at bootup).

Will it be enough to handle at least 4 harddisks?

Yes. I have an old c2d with a discrete (radeon 5850) and 3 old (not power efficient) hdd + 1 green hdd + 1 ssd and peaks during boot / heavy cpu usuage at about 250 per killawatt.