[geeks] Little Falls 2 System Power Consumpion Question

[Lionel Peterson]

On Dec 8, 2008, at 9:06 AM, Mark Benson <md.benson at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 8 Dec 2008, at 11:29, Michael-John Turner wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Dec 05, 2008 at 07:10:37PM +0000, Mark Benson wrote:
>>> Do you guys think I could power all that on a Pico-PSU 80W adapter  
>>> run
>>> off a 60W brick?
>>
>> I have the same board and have no problems with it in a 'Noah'  
>> case[1] with
>> the supplied 80W brick and Pico PSU. My draw is probably less than  
>> yours
>> though - I'm using a 2.5" SATA HD and don't have any add-on cards  
>> installed
>> or USB devices connected.
>>
>> [1] http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=3#3988
>
> Thanks for all your many advices. I think I'll grab a 120W Pico and  
> a bigger power brick in the new year.
>
> My main problem is I am currently using a ATX case wit ha mini-ATX  
> PSU and the fan is rather noisy.

Has anything been done to dampen either the chassis or PS?

> I use the case because it has 2 5.25" drive bays, one for my SATA  
> cradle and one for the front Audigy2 panel, plus room for another 2  
> 3.5" devices inside.

I suspect it would be a loud chassis no matter what the MB.

> Combined with the damned chipset fan on the 945 chipset controller  
> it makes the whole rig disappointingly loud.

Either I am noise insensitive or there is something wrong with your  
board. Can you move the fan power to a different header on the MB?

> I though plonking a Pico and a brick on would take one fan out of  
> the equation, then I'd just have to work on the chipset fan.

The chassis/PS fan may be worse than you realize - it may be causing  
vibration in the cabinet. Also, are drives isolated from chassis or not?

You can take a small Antec chassis (NSK series) and make a nearly  
silent PC with minimal effort. For absolute silence, Antec Sonata II/ 
III are DARN QUIET and Antec even makes a silencer kit for older  
Sonatas.

>
>
> Anyone else here tried to calm down the noise their Little Falls  
> board?

Mine aren't noisy, have you updated the BIOS?

Lionel