New build: low wattage (<20w) idle, totally passive, gaming HTPC

gropingmantis · 4 Feb 2012 at 16:26

arad85 said:
Can you explain that in English please?

If a system only draws 40W, whether you power it with a 60W, 120W or 500W power supply, it will still only draw 40W. The only thing a 120W power supply has over a 60W one when taking 40W load is that it may heat up less as the supply is designed for a higher draw.

You might also want a beefier power supply for peace of mind and possible expandability later on.

Ah what I was saying is that if you have a 65W brick you will only ever be able to pull 65W through a 120W PSU. Obviously if your system doesn't draw that much then you will be fine but you just wasted some money on a 120W. I went for a 160W PSU and a 120W brick because the 160W was the only one I could find with a 24-pin ATX connector but at 120W I can run any CPU I want off it in the future even if currently I am only using an 18W Fusion CPU. If you only ever plan on using a 40W or whatever system then save some money and get a cheaper lower powered PSU.

-BA- · 6 Feb 2012 at 20:40

Bigsy, hope you don't mind me asking you to go into a little more detail re. gaming. What res do you play it? 1080p? Have you tried any of the games like Fifa 12, Batman AC, Dirt 3? Those are titles I want to play on my TV alongside a little Eve Online, as already mentioned.

I don't mind having to turn some of the detail down but ideally don't want to drop the res if I can help it. Is the HD6530 quite a bit beefier than the HD6320 in the new E-450 ITX boards?

jaxter · 6 Feb 2012 at 22:39

Beautiful build m8 and very similar to the one i will be building in the next week fingers crossed.
I originally had an A8 3870k but was worried about power requirements and only having a 150W pico. Thankfully i was able to return cpu this morning and get an A6 3500 if i would have known this is the cpu i was going to get i would have gone for the fanless case as it is i have the Streacom Fc7.
You did great with your prices by the way my build is coming in at £584 but thats largely to do with the silly hard drive prices right now and me not being confident enough to shop around for a pico psu and brick and just going for the streacom one for £99 ouch!!!

chippy08 · 27 Mar 2012 at 13:00

Bigsy when you have just power running to your Htpc and not turned on How much power does it use ?

Bigsy · 27 Mar 2012 at 20:40

I've lent my power plug thingy to a mate but from memory it used about 1w for about 10 seconds which dropped to nothing, well least not anything that registered.

As I say memory isn't the best, I'll recheck it when I get the plug back.

chippy08 · 27 Mar 2012 at 22:32

Bigsy said:
I've lent my power plug thingy to a mate but from memory it used about 1w for about 10 seconds which dropped to nothing, well least not anything that registered.

As I say memory isn't the best, I'll recheck it when I get the plug back.

Thanks Bigsy i really got to get a brick and a pico psu just cant find a good price at the moment on the bay.
Very disappointed with my board choice but hopefully the pico might bring the wattage down as mine uses 19watts and its not even turned on.

Bigsy · 28 Mar 2012 at 19:41

Really? I can see a new 120w board for £15.99 and a 120w brick for £15.99. Both prices seem very good to me.

chippy08 · 28 Mar 2012 at 21:43

Bigsy said:
Really? I can see a new 120w board for £15.99 and a 120w brick for £15.99. Both prices seem very good to me.

Maybe you can send me the links

publicENEMY · 2 Apr 2012 at 04:31

Hi,

Check out my temperatures. Is it normal?

my system is
amd a6 3500
streacom fc8
intel 320 ssd

nuvoton temperatures (in celcius)
cpu 62.5
auxiliarry 67.5
system 35.0

amd temperatures
cpu 50.5
gpu 51.0

touching the chassis, it feels very hot.

amd a6 3500 max temp is 70c.but having very hot cpu can damage other component inside the chassis.

is this normal or not?

thanks.

Methanoid · 2 Apr 2012 at 11:33

chippy08 said:
Maybe you can send me the links

Me too....

Why did you suggest NOT using the A8-3800 and using the A6-3500?

Both are 65w TDP but the A8 is a quad plus has the better 6550D graphics part -surely a no brainer?

chippy08 · 2 Apr 2012 at 12:54

I am using the A6-3500 now in my new htpc and it works great. The only reason i got that chip was price and people where saying it was plenty powerful enough for htpc. Its much more powerfull than my Acer Revo.

saitrix · 2 Apr 2012 at 13:06

I got myself a cheap 120W setup on my htpc and it works excellently. I found the 120W board for £15.64 delivered (from Hong Kong) and a 12v 10a 120W power supply from the UK for £20.49 delivered. So not bad for an overall cost of £36!

chippy08 · 2 Apr 2012 at 13:09

saitrix said:
I got myself a cheap 120W setup on my htpc and it works excellently. I found the 120W board for £15.64 delivered (from Hong Kong) and a 12v 10a 120W power supply from the UK for £20.49 delivered. So not bad for an overall cost of £36!

Can you send me links please and how long did it take to arrive from hong kong ?

chippy08 · 2 Apr 2012 at 13:13

Thanks saitrix will get on to that.

saitrix · 2 Apr 2012 at 13:13

I paid ~£2 extra for it being in the UK just so I could get it quickly.

chippy08 · 2 Apr 2012 at 13:16

Have you checked what your power usage is when idle and turned off ?

saitrix · 2 Apr 2012 at 17:27

I have a completely different system (Laptop cpu based on the core duo) so the idle power isn't good at all, and I can't remember the off power being anything strange, so I'd say sub 1W.

chippy08 · 2 Apr 2012 at 22:17

saitrix said:
I have a completely different system (Laptop cpu based on the core duo) so the idle power isn't good at all, and I can't remember the off power being anything strange, so I'd say sub 1W.

Thanks will test mine when its sorted hoping for much better than the crappy psu i have now that uses 19watts with just power running to it.

fizban1980 · 4 Apr 2012 at 10:20

Hi,

shall i go for low profile memory modules or this will be fine also?

Cheers

Methanoid · 4 Apr 2012 at 10:21

fizban1980 said:
Hi,

shall i go for low profile memory modules or this will be fine also?

Cheers

Since you can get the Red LP 1866 for the same price I would suggest buying that!!