I will take a look at RM Clock. My testing was put to a hault yesterday as it seems my power supply has problems putting out any less then 45W. Even in sleep mode it draws 30W! At any rate I just got a DC-DC PSU from electrodacus which I will try out soon. Should be interesting to see how it does. F...

This is actualy an AM3 system the 785gm-65e to be specific. I don't know if that makes a difference but according to cpu-z my voltage definetly varies even with the CPU Voltage and CPU VDD Voltage set. Given the fluctuation in power consumption between idle and load I inclined to believe it. The min...

The manual doesn't say much about it. I was hoping someone else would know. Changing some of the settings does seam to effect the idle voltage. I will have to do some more experimenting. I found some information on VPU VDD Voltage and CPU Voltage here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-ph...

If he was set on using a full size PSU then he could put a switch on the front panel that when on connects the green and black wire. You could get the switch from radio shack.

There are basically to worth while levels of HTPC in my opinion Level 1: mainly gets used for displaying internet TV (like Hulu) and pictures and videos of the grand kids. Maybe playing Blu-Rays (about $160 for drive plus software) Level 2: That plus Playing PC games ported from consoles. Priorities...

It seams there are eight voltages in the bios and 4 are related to the cpu and some change when you change another one. Which is the one I should be messing with. CPU VDD Voltage (changing this changes CPU Voltage) CPU-NB VDD Voltage (I am guessing NB stands for north bridge) CPU Voltage (this is th...

I just noticed that CPU-Z says the core voltage when the system is idling is around .776 V and then it goes up when system activity increases. Is setting the CPU voltage in the bios doing anything at all?

You make some very good points there. That is pretty much the tactic I used for OC so I will give it a shot here and see how low I can go. One thing I have noticed is the bios interface on this board seems much better then my Asus P5Q-e. Also the fan control seems to work much better even though it ...

Hey guys, I am underclocking a Athlon 240 on a MSI 785gb-e65 to reduce power consumption and I am wondering what is the best way to go about. It seems like there are three options. 1) It looks like MSI has a software tool 2) AMD has a software tool 3) The Bios I have done overclocking on intel chips...

Been looking at that website, and it seems as though the Arctic Cooling Fusion would be brilliant, however its not modular. This has left me thinking, the advantages of modular are so there aren't wires blocking airflow and therefore having a negative effect on cooling. According to anandtech it wi...

I forgot to point out that although Mac Minis are quiet compared to a gaming PC or something many of the people on these forums would not be satisfied.

I use a Mac Mini at work and I can definitely hear it doing its thing. In my home theater the noise level of the mac mini would not be acceptable.

Sorry for bashing you earlier. The reason why I am paying attention to cut off frequency is because I believe it is safe to assume that what ever is bugging him is in the audio range and good small speakers probably have a frequency range within something like 50-30,000 Hz . It sounded like he had a...

If all you want to do is run MAC OSX then a mac mini is the way to go but I think there are some logical discrepancies with some of what you said. Primarily the problem is that you first said " Apple seems to be the only company with a clue in this arena." I assume you are talking about non gaming f...

Having read the whole thread I feel confident the PSU is the problem. I noticed Mr Evil did not tell you how to calculate the frequency of your filter. Also your filter is missing a key component. Take a look at this. It will explain what a RC low pass filter is and how to wire it. http://en.wikiped...

I just built a cardboard case with a very similar layout (took about 4 hours yesterday) as a place holder until I finish my dream case. I am actually not very happy with the depth but you pretty much have to start stacking stuff to get it any shallower. Its sort of weird to see something so similar....

electrodacus wrote:The highest current for a 2.5mm connector is 5A and this is for the best quality connectors some lower quality are specified at 2A.
So even 8A will be to much in my opinion (and I'm an electrical engineer) .

Maybe you can tell us what the factor of safety in the design is.

OCZ ModXStream Pro 400W http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3487&p=22 Well its cheap but the wattage still seams kind of high. 20% of 400W is 80W. I am guessing from his AMD 4850e and on board graphics that he is trying to build a system that idles below 50W. So far it seams the...

also what case are you using? do you have any other fans in your system? A fanless PSU is a nice idea but if you have poor case airflow already and your system is pumping out a few hundred watts you might find that you have to add another fan to your system anyway. If your system is using integrated...

If you don't want to open the PSU case and are ok with something a little less elegant you could just clip the ones you don't need and cap them off. How do you cap them off? Just insulating tape or something more fancy? (Sorry for a basic question!) Uday Insulating tape is one option though I have ...

Well you could still remove the cables without adding any solder at all.

Just heat the solder up and pull the wire.

Well I somehow don't think you are going to find many options. Modular connectors cost money and low wattage PSUs are already made on thin profit margins. There is one option you do have though. Depending on your level of comfort with a soldering iron it would be a simple matter to open the case and...

It seems it gets paired with a 102W power adapter at most places. What should it be paired with? I don't want to destroy my components, so I'm hoping the experts here can give some guidance. Please look at the thread "Pico Psu 150Watt power brick or alternatives" where these issues have just been h...

I think the problem you will run into is you wont be able to find a 12V 150W brick that does not have a fan. If you already have the rest of the system and a power supply then you could pick up a power meter. I just ordered a Seasonic Power Angel off ebay for ~$50 including shipping. They are a usef...

Well I found a 24V AC-DC adapter that outputs 4amps. I think that should be enough for my setup. It is from a broken monitor at work so the price is right. The only thing is it has a mystery 3rd pin. The outside is shaped like a PS2 plug and on the inside it has 3 male pins. 2 of the pins measure a ...

Sorry for the confusion. When I said adapter I meant AC-DC power brick. I dont really want to have to hunt down my own.

If you meant you wont supply the brick then I will just go with the PicoPSU

I was wondering about the efficiency of the brick.

I just checked on my mini-ATX (see photo using the link in my signature). I have two PCI and the ATX cable is long enough for my configuration but it may be different on other motherboards there is no standard on where the ATX connector is located. Anyway I only offer the power supply board & cable...

Regaurding the TDP I think you are getting idle power consumption and TDP mixed up. The fact is that ION 330 based system which is what is closest to competing with these boards consumes 25W with a laptop HD and no disk drive ( http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3562&p=12 ). I would guess wit...

I have been wondering if ECS is a reliable company. The A785GM-M looks like a good board but the last time I tried to save a few bucks by going with a bargain brand I got screwed . Anyone have any idea? Also if you are using this baord in a low power setup and know what your systems idle power consu...

Well i think my preferences might have switched slightly I am now leaning towards the AMD 240 with either a 780g or 785g chipset. These mothboards look promising ECS Black Series A785GM-M (785g) $67 DDR3 (this mother board looks very good though I dont know how reliable ECS is) MSI 785GM-E65 (785g) ...

Well I definetly dont want to wait until 2010 and I am guessing the i3 chips wont be that cheap. At least not until AMD puts a more competitive chip on the market. So far it seams like intel is just happy to match AMD chip for chip in the low end and a cheap low power i3 chip could canibolize their ...