Generally speaking thats accurate. However, most power supplies have a
nonlinear efficiency curve. using a 350W supply at 90% may be less hot than
using a 700W supply at 45%. This is very dependent on the supply.
Additionally, power supplies vent directly to the outside of a case,
introducing relatively very little heat to the internal area of the computer
case. Things like memory, hard drives, and especially the *CPU* generate 95%
of the heat within a CPU case. If heat was really any issue, perhaps
investing in a case with big (4-5 inch fans) to move plenty of cool air into
the case is a better investment than the power supply. Also, think about air
circulation around the case itself. My brother loved keeping his computers
in his closet because they were "ugly". I reminded him every time I saw it
to at least keep the doors open and use a fan to circulate air into the
closet. He never did understand why his computers kept failing.
Bottom Line: plenty of circulation inside and outside of the case is
important.
Eric
On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 3:38 PM, Jim March <
1.jim.march@gmail.com> wrote:
> A 750w power supply won't put out a lot of heat unless you USE all
> 750w. If you put in low-powered parts, the 750 will be barely ticking
> along - which means less heat, not more.
>
> Suck 350w out of a 350w power supply and you'll get more heat than you
> would out of the same parts and a 750w supply.
>
> Personally, I would test the 750 power supply with a meter and if it's
> good, keep it along with the case, drives, CD/DVD drive(s) and
> whatever and just replace the motherboard, CPU (optional if your
> current one is weak and/or bad), memory (probably replace, it's more
> delicate than the CPU) and video card.
>
> Jim
>
> On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 5:14 PM, <joe@actionline.com> wrote:
> >
> > Last Friday, my main computer crashed -- a victim of overheating.
> >
> > Apparently, I had a few warning signs over the past few days that I did
> > not recognize as such. The keyboard would quit working with the last two
> > of the three lights labeled "1" - "A" - "(down-arrow)" on the upper right
> > corner of the keyboard blinking. The first light "1" was lit when the
> > numlock key was on, but I never did know what the other two lights were
> > for.
> >
> > In any case, the only way I found to restore the keyboard was to reboot.
> > I should have posted a note to PLUG about this, and perhaps could have
> > avoided the crash/disaster. But ... oh well ... c'est la vie.
> >
> > Fortunately, the hard drives are okay and my data is safe.
> >
> > But now the question arises, what to get as a replacement computer.
> >
> > The box that failed had a 750-watt power supply (seems rather excessive).
> >
> > As a temporary measure, I bought a little HP mini-tower off of Craig's
> > list for $175 (1 gig ram, 175-gig hd) on which I've installed the newest
> > version (10.1) of my distro of choice: PCLinuxOS. It is very fast and
> > runs very cool, I think because it has a very low-wattage power supply.
> > I'm actually setting this up as a small desk unit for my wife to replace
> > her old windows box that she rarely uses any more since I got her an IBM
> > Thinkpad running PCLinux. She now likes Linux better ... yes!
> >
> > So, after all that too-long-winded explanation ... back to the original
> > question. I'm looking for ideas/suggestions for a replacement desk unit.
> > I don't see any need for the latest and greatest high-powered unit. I
> > just want strong, reliable, low-heat, low-power consumption (I think).
> >
> > So what does the collective PLUG wisdom suggest?
> >
> >
> >
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