Full size but low power PCs - does nobody sell them? (maybe related to Laurie's recent question)
Why is it that no one seems to sell 'ordinary' PCs, in ordinary sized boxes, but with reasonably power efficient components. It's next to impossible to even find out what the power consumption is of most desktop PCs and very few of them have efficient power supplies (often the worst offender). It's all very well advocating little Intel Atom based boxes but they almost never have any space for extra disk drives. The same applies to Raspberry Pi etc., very low power but no easy way to assemble in a box with a couple of disk drives. I guess I'm after much the same as Laurie but with maybe more emphasis on power consumption. A basic case with low power mother board, low end processor, etc. and space for several disks. -- Chris Green
On 10/01/13 16:19, Chris Green wrote:
Why is it that no one seems to sell 'ordinary' PCs, in ordinary sized boxes, but with reasonably power efficient components.
It's next to impossible to even find out what the power consumption is of most desktop PCs and very few of them have efficient power supplies (often the worst offender).
It's all very well advocating little Intel Atom based boxes but they almost never have any space for extra disk drives. The same applies to Raspberry Pi etc., very low power but no easy way to assemble in a box with a couple of disk drives.
I am sure the likes of http://linitx.com sell small NAS enclosures for the Mini-ITX format boards. They also sell reasonably efficient PSU's ISTR, they will even assemble for you I believe. I've used them before..always been pretty helpful and local (to me) Not all of the larger Power Supplies are inefficient at low loads. SMPSU's make it fairly easy to be efficient at a wide range of loads. In fact to achieve 80 Plus certification at even the lowest level I think you need to be 80% efficient at 20% load...read up on it though as there are different levels of certification. Oh and don't *always* trust those cheap energy meters when looking at a SMPSU because even with PFC they can represent an "interesting" load and sometimes confuse such devices.
On Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 07:31:57PM +0000, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
On 10/01/13 16:19, Chris Green wrote:
Why is it that no one seems to sell 'ordinary' PCs, in ordinary sized boxes, but with reasonably power efficient components.
It's next to impossible to even find out what the power consumption is of most desktop PCs and very few of them have efficient power supplies (often the worst offender).
It's all very well advocating little Intel Atom based boxes but they almost never have any space for extra disk drives. The same applies to Raspberry Pi etc., very low power but no easy way to assemble in a box with a couple of disk drives.
I am sure the likes of http://linitx.com sell small NAS enclosures for the Mini-ITX format boards.
Yes, the trouble is they don't have any space for disks, or at least only for one (often 2.5") disk. ... not to mention that they are also mostly rather expensive.
They also sell reasonably efficient PSU's ISTR, they will even assemble for you I believe.
I got my 80 watt power supply from them.
I've used them before..always been pretty helpful and local (to me)
Not all of the larger Power Supplies are inefficient at low loads. SMPSU's make it fairly easy to be efficient at a wide range of loads. In fact to achieve 80 Plus certification at even the lowest level I think you need to be 80% efficient at 20% load...read up on it though as there are different levels of certification.
Yes, but take a 300 watt power supply and use only 40 watts and that's nearer 10% load.
Oh and don't *always* trust those cheap energy meters when looking at a SMPSU because even with PFC they can represent an "interesting" load and sometimes confuse such devices.
Absolutely, though my experience is that the energy meter exaggerates the power consumption when the waveform/power-factor is poor. -- Chris Green
On 10/01/13 19:41, Chris Green wrote:
Yes, the trouble is they don't have any space for disks, or at least only for one (often 2.5") disk. ... not to mention that they are also mostly rather expensive.
Dunno what site you are looking at but I see 2 and 4 drive 3.5" hot swap sata backplane cases for what I'd call not unreasonable money for a "specialist" case.
Yes, but take a 300 watt power supply and use only 40 watts and that's nearer 10% load.
Aye...I did do the maths :) ..hence why you need to look at the full 80-Plus specification and see if any of the "grades" investigate lower loads....I wasn't being specific to 300W psu's though just saying you need to take this energy rating into account before dismissing all oversized supplies.
participants (2)
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Chris Green -
Wayne Stallwood