Lower Power

[LunarMist]

42W Idle, 71W Load.

Running Windows 7 Pro with no optimizations.

That would be great. Do you buy those or does someone assemble them locally?

 

[Santilli]

It's in line with his configuration. The GeForce 295GTX is very power-hungry. With an i7 920 operating at 3.33GHz, 3x2GB DDR3 RAM and a single Intel 80GB SSD, Anandtech's team posted 189W idle and 460W under load. That's only slightly below Greg's numbers. Add some 10-15W for his additional RAM, a little difference in the power supply efficiency and a little more stressful gaming session and his numbers are within the expected range.

Yes, it is. I was just looking at the specs and got the really sick idea of using SLI, as the prices drop...

The card doesn't even come into play until I start gaming. I also have a large exhaust setup that blows on it.

 

[ddrueding]

That would be great. Do you buy those or does someone assemble them locally?

I build them myself. This is one of the easiest builds ever. The case makes everything a breeze. I think it took about 15 minutes, including unboxing all the bits, until I was in the BIOS.

This system is not particularly cheap, and I am dissapointed with the noise level of the stock fans, but it is a remarkable little box. I suspect I could get away with no case fans at all.

 

[CougTek]

This system is not particularly cheap, and I am dissapointed with the noise level of the stock fans, but it is a remarkable little box. I suspect I could get away with no case fans at all.

I've used the Antec NSK2480, but I prefer the Silverstone GD05. I like the design better. The fans are a little more quiet and with asystem dissipated only 71W, you could get away with using only one case fan. It is more expensive (although not by much) since you have to buy a separated power supply. I have a nice SPI 250W power supply that is 80+ certified on my supplier's price list. It's only 35$, so it wouldn't add much to the price of the system and it would be plenty enough for a setup like yours.

 

[Bozo]

What power supply does the Antec NSK2480 use?

 

[ddrueding]

A 380W 80 Plus Bronze. Nice little unit.

 

[Bozo]

Is it a standard power supply or proprietary to the case?

 

[ddrueding]

Pretty sure it is a standard unit. I know a standard would fit without issue.

 

[CougTek]

A 380W 80 Plus Bronze. Nice little unit.

It's supposed to be 80Plus certified, not 80Plus Bronze, unless they haven't updated their website, my price list and changed the model they bundled with the case since last Fall.

 

[LunarMist]

My NSK2480 from November had an 80+ PS, but I don't remember any medal schemes. I founds the fans to be rather quiet at low speed. You'd never hear them in most working environments.

 

[ddrueding]

Just pulled one out of a chassis:

Model EA-380D
Earthwatts 380W Continuous Power
80 Plus Bronze

 

[LunarMist]

Maybe that is why the price is 20% more now?

 

[ddrueding]

Could be. It is a great little PS...

 

[Bozo]

Thanks DD!

I have been using a lot of the Minuete cases that have a proprietary power supply. These power supplies don't seem to be very reliable (especially the 250W and 300W units) which means I have to keep 'special' spares on hand.
I'd much rather use a case that takes a 'standard' power supply.

 

[time]

Hmmm, I've repeatedly overlooked that Antec case because it's not a tower and, at 26L and 414mm depth, it's surprisingly big. No denying it's a cheap way of scoring a decent PS, though.

CougTek, thanks for drawing my attention to that Silverstone case. They highlight how they've kept the depth to just 325mm. It's a neat design that looks like it's got enough crossflow for even a seriously hot graphics card and CPU combo. Still not a tower, unfortunately.

I'm unimpressed that these cases only offer two USB ports on the front panel (as well as no 1394).

 

[LunarMist]

The case is rather large and not a very efficient use of space. It's almost the size of some ATX cases. The hard drive mounting is odd to say the least.

 

[ddrueding]

odd, but effective. I haven't seen that much airflow past HDDs in cases this small in a long time.

 

[time]

Apart from the fact that it looks better, is there any reason you went for the 2480 over the similarly sized 3480 tower?

Now that monitors are too tall to place on top of a desktop PC, I can't actually see the point in desktop cases except as HTPCs.

 

[ddrueding]

Monitors are too tall? Not in my experience. Quite a few of my users have stacks of phone books under their 19-22" LCDs. Back when I was in a company large enough to have an ergonomicist, they said that, looking straight ahead, your eyes should be 1/3rd of the way down the screen.

 

[time]

Monitors are too tall? Not in my experience. Quite a few of my users have stacks of phone books under their 19-22" LCDs.

If they're 16:9 monitors, 19-22" is going to be a bit short, so that would make sense.

Back when I was in a company large enough to have an ergonomicist, they said that, looking straight ahead, your eyes should be 1/3rd of the way down the screen.

Well, that's bullshit. For starters, it obviously depends on your viewing distance and the height of the screen. Secondly, people can't gaze above the horizontal for extended periods without stress.

If you've got 19" widescreen monitors, I'll bet users are peering at their screens with their necks extended like geese, because the text is too small.

There's actual research on the web if you're interested. The advice we get here is to keep the top of the screen below eye height.