tstack77 Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Foxconn G45M microATX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186162 Intel Celeron 430 Conroe-L 1.8GHz 35W 2x DDR2 800 512mb (1GB) 6x WD 1TB Caviar Green drives From my calculations I think I should be able to get buy with a <200w PSU. Also, I am fabricating my own case so form factor is not an issue. Any PSU come highly recommended? Quote Link to comment
cj0r Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Well if your maximum load is calculated to only be around 200W's... Newegg has the Corsair 400W PSU on sale right now (after rebate) for $30. That's a fantastic PSU and is of high quality and very efficient. $30 is a steal on it. Quote Link to comment
tstack77 Posted July 15, 2009 Author Share Posted July 15, 2009 Actually the max load that I calculated was ~110W (unless I did the math terribly wrong ). I think that a 400W PSU for this build would be overkill as it's simply a low-power cpu and green HDDs. Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 It might be overkill, but at that price it will be hard to get a smaller one that is made as well. drealit did not mention, but newegg has free shipping on it too. See here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008 $29.99 after rebate is a really good price. You don't want to have a marginal power supply. All kinds of obscure problems will be the result if it is unable to keep up with peak demands of your server. From what you describe, with it, you'll never have to worry about adding one more drive when you find the need to expand. It has a single 12 volt rail, a big advantage when building a server with a lot of disks... no need to balance the load across the various supply rails of a multi-rail supply. Joe L. Quote Link to comment
tstack77 Posted July 15, 2009 Author Share Posted July 15, 2009 Thanks for the input Joe. I have been running under the assumption that you want a power supply that will be running between 30-50% for true efficiency. Am I wrong or will this waste a lot of energy just idling with a load <70W (which this will do a lot being a simple nas for my htpc)? Also, 6 HDDs will be the max that this build will ever get to. Currently I only have 3 drives with the other 3 slots for future use. I guess I need to know if a larger watt PSU wastes more energy than it's worth. And if yes, are there really no quality sub-200w power supplies? Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 According to this fairly comprehensive review, it maintained a better than 80% efficiency even when loaded lightly. See it here: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/750/1 I'd go for it... Joe L. Quote Link to comment
NAS Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 This may be stating the obvious but go to http://www.80plus.org/ and find the most efficient one balanced with your load requirements and price range etc I would never even consider buying a non 80 Plus PSU now as every one I have got is excellent right down to the $30 cheapo that is all but silent and happily powers my HTPC. This rating really does mean something and is grounded in hard facts that are independently tested. Gone are the days of marketing sales lies which have plagued the whole PSU market. Quote Link to comment
Rajahal Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Gone are the days of marketing sales lies which have plagued the whole PSU market. And thank goodness for that! I agree with the others, the $30 400W Corsair PSU looks like your best bet (though be forewarned, Corsair rebates are often in the form of credit cards, they aren't just a check you can deposit in your bank account. You will have to find particular retailers that will accept the cards...I tend to use them on gas or food). I can vouch for the quality of Corsair PSUs - I'm running my unRAID server off a Corsair 450W (with 8 HDDs), and I helped a friend build his desktop with a Corsair 400W (which he paid $40 for, and it was still a good deal!). They are rock solid, have high quality cables (with mesh cable wraps, good for airflow and cable management), and they look slick to boot, especially if you have a black computer case. They also come with a snazzy case badge You might also want to consider the Antec Earthwatts series as another good quality, budget-friendly PSU. I'm running my desktop off an Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU that was part of an Antec case + Antec PSU combo deal. The Earthwatts series are all 80+ certified, and also are high quality (though I would put them just below Corsair on the quality hierarchy). Quote Link to comment
cj0r Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I assumed your 200W number was maximum load hence me thinking the 400W Corsair would be perfect... however as mentioned this is an extremely efficient PSU and is absolutely perfect for you and your build at this price point. You won't find a better deal at $30 or less. PSU deals don't scale like that (you won't find a 200W PSU for $15 and be of quality). As for the Corsair rebate card comment - pay a portion of your cell bill with it! Works like a charm. Quote Link to comment
PhilH Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 +1 on the 400W Corsair supply. I bought one of those for my Mom's computer. Total overkill P4 3Ghz machine. Fan on the power supply barely moves.. lol Would highly recommend. Good thing that shipping is free because those psu's are heavy. Made solid. I have a 550 watt on my unRAID build & have zero problems. Great power supply. I would buy this power supply without the rebate.. I paid 59.99 last month. Checked my Newegg order history. Quote Link to comment
tstack77 Posted July 16, 2009 Author Share Posted July 16, 2009 Thanks guys, took all your advice and went with the corsair . BTW, great resource for the 80plus.org site. Quote Link to comment
heffe2001 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 I was using one of those 400w Corsair PS's for my unraid box up until last week (11 drives, most NOT green drives). Never had any issues, but I wanted to go to a larger supply, to future proof a bit (I plan on moving into a Norco case in the near future, so I wanted something that'd handle a large amount of drives). I replaced it with a Corsair 750w single-rail (same as in my desktop, and my Sage server), and moved the 400 over to a friends PC I was putting together (he had a cheap 450w PS, that had somewhere around a 19a 12v line, the 400w Corsair is around 30a, and supplied his Athlon X2 4600, 9600gt, and all his peripherals, without breaking a sweat, probably lighter duty than my Unraid box, lol). Quote Link to comment
dlmh Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 I just ordered a ThermalTake TR2 Q-Fan 300W. According to www.80plus.org it is Bronze rated and it has a 86% efficiency at only 50W, that's pretty amazing! Although having a bit of headroom with a 400W power supply is great, getting a 80+ label is achieved when having a 80% efficiency or greater with 25% load, so that's 100W for the 400W power supply. Take a look at the graphs on www.80plus.org. It shows the efficiency of the power supply on different load levels. This is how I chose the TT, it has great efficiency at very low load levels. Quote Link to comment
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