Indecision and Noobness Annoys

[aspire]

The power supply fan pulls into into the unit from wherever the fan is and then pushes it out of the mesh rear.

Thus you can just completely remove the blue arrow from the bottom left.

 

[yzmxer608]

Sorry, I read it and I didn't make it clear .

It's supposed to be the lower right fan on the sidepanel. Thanks for pointing that out though .

 

[aspire]

Ah no worries.

Just wanted to make sure you and I were on the same page.

 

[yzmxer608]

To try and see how much power I'm using now, I ran sort of a test. I have an APC Back up UPS rated for 540W. It has software that shows it's status (how much the battery is charged ect.), it also shows the amount of power it's providing. With my processor at full operating power (well highest operating frequency, cool 'n quiet not running), gpu fan on a high setting with fur mark running, printer on, music playing (for sub power) a house fan running, and a lamp on it's reading at 253W of power. I know that's counting things that aren't running on the power supply, that seems low though, so I don't think I can use that as something to go off of. I also know amps are more important than watts.

I think I'll try out my current psu when I get everything setup and see how it is, I have an extra (40mm I think) case fan I might strap on the psu where the breather holes are so I get airflow moving through the psu.

I just added some 3 pin extender cables and a 80mm x 15mm case fan for the fan on the right side panel.

Only thing I have to figure out now is my OS situation.

 

[aspire]

To try and see how much power I'm using now, I ran sort of a test. I have an APC Back up UPS rated for 540W. It has software that shows it's status (how much the battery is charged ect.), it also shows the amount of power it's providing. With my processor at full operating power (well highest operating frequency, cool 'n quiet not running), gpu fan on a high setting with fur mark running, printer on, music playing (for sub power) a house fan running, and a lamp on it's reading at 253W of power. I know that's counting things that aren't running on the power supply, that seems low though, so I don't think I can use that as something to go off of. I also know amps are more important than watts.

I think I'll try out my current psu when I get everything setup and see how it is, I have an extra (40mm I think) case fan I might strap on the psu where the breather holes are so I get airflow moving through the psu.

I just added some 3 pin extender cables and a 80mm x 15mm case fan for the fan on the right side panel.

Only thing I have to figure out now is my OS situation.

Oh boy... where to begin...

If you want to know what the absolute total power draw of your system is you'll need to buy a Kill-a-watt electrical monitor. They run something like 25-30 bucks if I recall correctly. Having your processor clocked at it's highest speed isn't going to do much, you need to load it using some kind of benchmark program in order to get proper power draw numbers.

I have absolutely no idea why you think playing music is going to increase the power draw, because speakers draw their own power from a wall plug, the small amount of charge sent along the audio cable is negligible.

A printer that is not printing is only using enough electricity to maintain a connection, and to power the little led's that say "I'm on" also, negligible.

Amps and watts are 100% equally important. Watts are just amps x volts. An amp is a unit of electrical current at a given voltage while watts are a measure of power itself.

This is why your power supply has a Wattage rating and maximum amp draw for each particular rail.

A decent computer at idle hardly draws any power. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say yours is in the 120-150 watt range at idle. At full load however with the cpu/gpu/disc drives running at full bore that number can jump up into the 300-350 range fairly easily.

In the end, a computer power supply must be rated for a decent amount more than the computer could ever draw.

 

[yzmxer608]

Wow I was way off. That makes a lot of sense the way you explained it though, thanks a lot for that! I don't really want to spend $30 for a meter. Since it can go into the 300-350 range at load, would it be around 375-400ish with extra fans and overclocking at max load? I know 25W seems like a lot for fans but I just want to be on the safe side. Sorry for being so naive about the power .

Here's an off topic question. Do AMD motherboard chipsets work ok with Nvidia gpu's? Other than that, the psu which aspire is being helpful on D) and the OS I think I have everything picked out.

 

[philbar71]

Wow I was way off. That makes a lot of sense the way you explained it though, thanks a lot for that! I don't really want to spend $30 for a meter. Since it can go into the 300-350 range at load, would it be around 375-400ish with extra fans and overclocking at max load? I know 25W seems like a lot for fans but I just want to be on the safe side. Sorry for being so naive about the power .

Here's an off topic question. Do AMD motherboard chipsets work ok with Nvidia gpu's? Other than that, the psu which aspire is being helpful on D) and the OS I think I have everything picked out.

yes a AMD chipset will work fine with a Nvidia GPU.

 

[Slaymate]

I've got a Kill A Watt, it's a nice little tool

P3 International Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor, Model# P4460 | Voltage Testers | Northern Tool + Equipment

 

[yzmxer608]

Got my new parts all together, here is the list of new parts:

-Cooler Master 690 case
-Biostar TA690GXE 128M motherboard
-Cooler Master 4-Pack of 120mmx120mm fans
-Silenx 80mmx80mmx15mm case fan
-Sunbeam Core Contact AM2 CPU heatsink
-Sycthe Musashi GPU heatsink
-Windows 7 Home Premium Retail
-Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus 6-channel fan controller
-2x 18" Rosewill 90* and 180* Sata cables
-Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850w PSU
-Tuniq TX2 on CPU heatsink, GPU heatsink, and top mounted ramsinks

Here are some photos from the build:
New and old case next to each other, tearing the old system apart:

CPU pulled out, CPU heatsink mounted on new motherboard:

GPU heatsink installed, GPU installed on motherboard (I know the ramsinks on the back of the card is a little overboard, but I had extras so I said why not ):

Reflection of the Musashi on the shiny 850w:

Photo of the 5.25 bay, I mounted the fan using the bracket that was originally by the PSU, just used some double sided tape on those tabs and it fits perfect (bracket is turned on it's side):

Wire management on the back panel, kinda messy:

Photo of the PSU from behind:

Rest of the back, had to ghetto route the back fan wire to reach the right side panel where I have the power connector, the expansion slot cover is sideways there, just have to move it a little:

4-pin CPU power cable routing:

 

[yzmxer608]

Routing of other cables (3.5 bay has the extra cables stuffed into it):

The 80mmx80mmx15mm fan between the motherboard tray and the right side panel:

Up and running:

Just noticed I didn't take a shot of the whole case when it was finished, I'll take one the next time I have it open.

I know the 850w is overkill for what I have installed now, but I didn't feel comfortable with the added parts on my old PSU. This way I won't have to buy another PSU for my next upgrade.

Temps are very good, CPU on idle is about 19*C (that's with CPU clock knocked down to 1092mhz from not being used) compared to about 32*C from the old setup. Ran Prime95 for 44mins, temp never went above 30*C (that's at normal operating frequency then). GPU idle is at 37*C compared to about 50*C on stock cooling. Ran FurMark for about 15 minutes and the highest temp was 50*C.

Overall I'm very pleased with the way this turned out, I'll wait a week or two before I begin oc'ing the processor (want to get the GPU to at least the superclocked version's settings).

Thanks to everyone who helped me choose parts or share opinions, I really appreciate it (should be repped already ).