Search found 238 matches

by QUIET!
Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:43 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Best Mainboard for flexible fan control, socket 1155
Replies: 8
Views: 6714

Re: Best Mainboard for flexible fan control, socket 1155

I haven't dived in to fan tweaking yet but my Intel dz75ml-45k seems to be working great and you can find it cheap. It has three four wire pwm fan headers: heat sink fan, front fan and rear fan. I have two Cougar 120mm pwm fans and one Xigmatek 120mm pwm fan and all seems well except for a slight bu...
by QUIET!
Sat Jun 15, 2013 12:54 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Adventures in PSU modding: 23 watt idle i3-3220 + Radeon7790
Replies: 12
Views: 7583

Re: Adventures in PSU modding:

My os is almost installed, I got my on board gigabit Ethernet installed by modifying an .inf file the same way as Server 2008r2 and it even has the correct V device name, not the LM that forcing the driver will do. My Cyber Power 850pfclcd ups is supposed to display power but it seems to fluctuate b...
by QUIET!
Fri Jun 14, 2013 11:07 pm
Forum: Green Computing
Topic: How toxic is thermal paste and is there a safer version?
Replies: 7
Views: 32140

Re: How toxic is thermal paste and is there a safer version?

Try learning how to apply a reasonable amount of paste, then avoid eating the paste and brushing your teeth with it. Berrylium is a little sketchy but you won't get Berryliosis unless you inhale it which is hard to do when suspended in silicone grease. Don't smoke a tobacco and berrylium heat sink p...
by QUIET!
Fri Jun 14, 2013 10:35 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Planned Green ITX BUild
Replies: 20
Views: 12906

Re: Planned Green ITX BUild

They are out there but they are OEM products, not retail and often have application specific cables which may not fit a conventional computer layout. On another note, what's green about it? I would think about swapping the 3 HDDs for an SSD and a one low rpm HDD, a little more expensive but potentia...
by QUIET!
Fri Jun 14, 2013 10:02 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Upgrading my PC
Replies: 97
Views: 94623

Re: Upgrading my PC

Intel has TDP specs for their chip sets just like the CPUs. It doesn't cover the ram but you can find power figures on ram too, especially low voltage ram which will publish comparison numbers for "standard" ram so you can extrapolate fairly easily. But the easiest method is to just find a good revi...
by QUIET!
Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:23 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: Do I need a separate HSF for this HTPC build?
Replies: 12
Views: 6980

Re: Do I need a separate HSF for this HTPC build?

I've run an i3-3220 with a Xigmatek Gaia and it ran in the high 50's/low 60's when stress testing at 100% CPU load. Any way, pretty much any heat sink using a 120mm fan will give very good temperatures with a CPU that generates so little heat. The Intel heat sink is quite small but in terms of noise...
by QUIET!
Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:49 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Upgrading my PC
Replies: 97
Views: 94623

Re: Upgrading my PC

For i7 performance at lower cost, the Xeon e3-1230v2 gives you quad cores and hyperthreading but no integrated video. If you are going to use a GPU anyway, it can save a bit of cash and most s1155 motherboards that support Ivy Bridge will work with it. Most of the time your PSU fan will be louder th...
by QUIET!
Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:15 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Upgrading my PC
Replies: 97
Views: 94623

Re: Upgrading my PC

TDP is a number used to spec out your CPU cooler and represents the maximum power usage (or more). I like to use big tower coolers that are overkill and keep my CPU well under maximum temp at load. At idle and light load (not stress testing), your CPU will not use anywhere near the rated power. If y...
by QUIET!
Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:31 pm
Forum: CPU Cooling
Topic: 55C idle with Mugen 3 and Intel i7-4770K
Replies: 7
Views: 5815

Re: 55C idle with Mugen 3 and Intel i7-4770K

Give it a few days, AS can get better after a "burn in".

If it doesn't improve, try applying again. If that doesn't get it down in the 40s, either your IHS TIM is bad or your sensor is way off.
by QUIET!
Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:18 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: New build from scratch
Replies: 24
Views: 9219

Re: New build from scratch

The 80+ test on my PSU showed 89% efficiency at 100% rated load which means it never makes more than about 28 watts of waste heat. A PSU that has a higher power rating and lower efficiency can generate a lot more waste heat which means more aggressive air flow is required. Luckily PSU transistors ar...
by QUIET!
Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:48 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: New build from scratch
Replies: 24
Views: 9219

Re: New build from scratch

I'm going to do some load testing and benchmarking with my not so badass video card and expect to see about 200 watt maximum draw at the wall, assuming 90% PSU efficiency that means around 180 watts out of the PSU. You can estimate your full load total by adding up your TDP numbers. For me its 77 wa...
by QUIET!
Mon Jun 10, 2013 12:21 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+
Replies: 59
Views: 61170

Re: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+

A lot of people would happily pay $10 more to get Sandy Bridge style IHS attach on k processors or non-k for that matter. Heat=resistance=more power required=more heat so if I can put a huge tower cooler on an i3 and idle near ambient, that's what I want to do even if I can't over clock. Better IHS ...
by QUIET!
Sun Jun 09, 2013 11:41 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PicoPSU vs external DC power brick
Replies: 9
Views: 5886

Re: PicoPSU vs external DC power brick

The voltage has to be correct and the current has to match or exceed your actual load. Most laptops use wimpy 60-90 watt bricks because their hardware is designed to be low power. The 12v Dell bricks I mentioned were for ultra small form factor desktop PCs with more standard desktop style components...
by QUIET!
Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:25 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+
Replies: 59
Views: 61170

Re: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+

If each die shrink raises temperature, then Haswell will be cooler than Broadwell, unless they fix the TIM / IHS. I'm never interested in overclocking anyway. What's unsettling is the reports of higher temperatures even at stock idle. Why are you worried about idle temperatures? Why would you be co...
by QUIET!
Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:14 am
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PicoPSU vs external DC power brick
Replies: 9
Views: 5886

Re: PicoPSU vs external DC power brick

That's my opinion.

Dell made some powerful 12v bricks with V rating and they can be found cheap.

I see too many people complain about the bricks that the picoPSU guy bundles but they may be fine for very low power systems.
by QUIET!
Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:06 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Mini-ITX Beast Planned with Antec ISK 110
Replies: 28
Views: 41189

Re: Mini-ITX Beast Planned with Antec ISK 110

There are brackets designed for 3.5" external slots, full height and half height card slots that give you an external eSATAp port. You don't have to disqualify a board for lacking that port.
by QUIET!
Sun Jun 09, 2013 8:58 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: New build from scratch
Replies: 24
Views: 9219

Re: New build from scratch

Complete silence will be hard if you want something in the Haswell class. I was a little disappointed yesterday when I was installing my operating system in a ~quiet room. The noise from two low rpm case fans, a low rpm heat sink fan, Asus Direct CU cooler and PSU was clearly audible from 6'+ away. ...
by QUIET!
Sat Jun 08, 2013 5:22 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Gaming Build - Advice
Replies: 50
Views: 19633

Re: Gaming Build - Advice

I've got my low power gaming PC together and I'm setting up software now. For the OS I chose Windows Home Server 2011 which is the cheapest 64 bit windows I could find, based on a stripped down Windows Server 2008 and I probably don't need what they stripped down on a basic PC intended for gaming on...
by QUIET!
Sat Jun 08, 2013 4:37 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: Adventures in PSU modding: 23 watt idle i3-3220 + Radeon7790
Replies: 12
Views: 7583

Re: Adventures in PSU modding:

I finally had the time to open up my PSU and do all the cabling. I am fairly pleased with the results, everything fits now with no extra wires flopping around. The only thing I didn't do is sheath my SATA power cable because my crimper sucks and I didn't want to cut cables and make more butt joints....
by QUIET!
Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:34 pm
Forum: Power Supplies
Topic: PicoPSU vs external DC power brick
Replies: 9
Views: 5886

Re: PicoPSU vs external DC power brick

It makes no sense to buy a picoPSU and use a crummy power brick. Its relatively easy to find an appropriate V rated brick (I believe its an Energy star rating which may be recently defunct), then add the connector of your choice and you're ready to go with high efficiency guaranteed. The down side o...
by QUIET!
Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:20 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+
Replies: 59
Views: 61170

Re: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+

Memory interfaces are more than just a connector and circuit board traces. A memory interface change would be pretty much an entirely new processor (like the Haswell extreme which I think may have DDR4 but I'm not paying $1k for). As for heat and die shrinks, transistors kept getting more and more e...
by QUIET!
Thu Jun 06, 2013 8:14 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Gaming Build - Advice
Replies: 50
Views: 19633

Re: Gaming Build - Advice

The reason why a GPU has dual connectors is connector resistance, not wire resistance. The connector will overheat if too much current is flowing through it but the 16 or 18 gauge wire can handle a lot more so one modular PSU cable with two plugs on it should work fine. For the hard drive, if you do...
by QUIET!
Thu Jun 06, 2013 6:45 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+
Replies: 59
Views: 61170

Re: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+

I'm now thinking about getting the lowest price quad core instead and undervolting it at stock freq. Keeping it for a year and then selling it on ebay/replacing it with the Broadwell equivalent to the i5-4670K. :) There have been strong rumours that Haswell’s replacement will be BGA only for the de...
by QUIET!
Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:11 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Thoughts on kids gaming PC (being built by a non-gamer)...
Replies: 18
Views: 8273

Re: Thoughts on kids gaming PC (being built by a non-gamer).

I like the 7790 because the TDP is low, 85 watts. The 650 ti boost seems to be the low end performance king but its got a 125 watt TDP I think. Being very close in price, the 650 ti boost looks dominant but a lower TDP let's me get away with less PSU which I like. Speaking of PCIe power, the thresho...
by QUIET!
Tue Jun 04, 2013 6:20 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+
Replies: 59
Views: 61170

Re: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+

Compelling does not necessarily mean competitive in a raw performance sense. On the other hand, AMD has been hiring back a lot of the people who left while they were on top. A friend of mine worked for AMD back in the day and he was upset with the company for letting a few of their rock star design ...
by QUIET!
Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:58 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+
Replies: 59
Views: 61170

Re: Why I won't recommend a Haswell system until August+

My plan was to get an i5-4670K...I'm now thinking about getting the lowest price quad core instead and undervolting it at stock freq. Keeping it for a year and then selling it on ebay/replacing it with the Broadwell equivalent to the i5-4670K. :) Im going for 4770K and just skipping broadwell, well...
by QUIET!
Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:28 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Intel Haswell here, fully fanless pcs
Replies: 15
Views: 14726

Re: Intel Haswell here, fully fanless pcs

With the average PC using maybe an 80+ bronze rated power supply of 450 watts or more, the actual difference at the wall when its idling at under 10% PSU load may be a lot less than the numbers suggest. By comparison an 80+ gold PSU is a lot cheaper than a motherboard and CPU and will reduce power ...
by QUIET!
Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:02 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Intel Haswell here, fully fanless pcs
Replies: 15
Views: 14726

Re: Intel Haswell here, fully fanless pcs

It will be interesting to see if Haswell offers anything beside a marginal improvement in speed and better integrated graphics in desktop PCs. With the average PC using maybe an 80+ bronze rated power supply of 450 watts or more, the actual difference at the wall when its idling at under 10% PSU loa...
by QUIET!
Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:51 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Thoughts on kids gaming PC (being built by a non-gamer)...
Replies: 18
Views: 8273

Re: Thoughts on kids gaming PC (being built by a non-gamer).

The Xigmatek Gaia will cool a 3220 very well, its cheap and the low rpm 120mm fan is fairly quiet but like most 120mm fan heat pipe tower coolers, make sure your case has clearance, I think the Gaia is 160.5mm tall. Your existing case fans should be fine, your computer should not need an incredible ...
by QUIET!
Fri May 31, 2013 7:01 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Which mini-ITX motherboard + CPU for moderate home use?
Replies: 16
Views: 9768

Re: Which mini-ITX motherboard + CPU for moderate home use?

As far as I know, there are no PCs that can plug directly in to the wall. You have those Intel boards with built in DC-DC converter so all you need is a ~notebook power brick. There is the picopsu that plugs in to the ATX socket of your motherboard and needs a 12v power brick. And lastly there are v...