Best Bang Per Buck Core i7 System Build

ExtremeTech builds a 'Bang for the Buck' based on the Intel Core i7 processor. The result was a combination of peripherals that give you the best value for your money.

Specifications:

• Antec 300 case
• Antec Earthwatts 650 PSU
• ASUS P6T motherboard
• Intel Core i7 920 processor
• 6GB (2x3 DIMMS) OCZ Gold DDR3 Triple-channel 1600MHz memory
• Western Digital WD1001FALS Black Ed. 1TB HDD
• Lite-On DH401S BD optical drive
• AMD ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB graphics card
• Creative SoundBlaster Titanium sound card
• Logitech Wave keyboard
• Logitech G5 mouse
• Dell S2409W Widescreen 1920x1080 LCD Monitor
• Creative GigaWorks T40 speakers
• Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit operating system

"This Bang for the Buck turned out more expensive than past efforts, but it's also more forward-looking. ... Even if you're only upgrading, we can't recommend higher each part in this system as it is, in our estimation, the best you can get for your money. Choose wisely, but consider this a guide. " [ExtremeTech | Build a Bang for the Buck PC]

The total bill for this build was US$2040. Take note that the setup is not a 'budget value system', but a best value and performance for your money build. If you prefer a different component, such as an AMD processor (and appropriate mobo of course) or Nvidia graphics card, you can just change the specs to your liking, using the above components as a guide.

IceRocket : best bang per buck pc, intel core i7

300-400 Watt Power Supply Units Tested

AnandTech tested 20 power supply units (PSUs) that range from 300 to 400 Watts. The PSUs tested were:

• Antec Earthwatts 430W
• Cooler Master Real Power Pro 360W
• Cooler Master Real Power Pro 400W
• Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 390W
• Corsair CX400W
• Corsair VX450W
• Enermax Liberty Eco 400W
• Enermax Pro82+ 385W
• FSP OEM 300W
• FSP Blue Storm II 400W
• HEC HEC-350TE-2WX 350W
• OCZ ModXStream Pro 400W
• PC Power & Cooling Silencer 370W
• PC Power & Cooling Silencer 420W
• Silverpower Gorilla 400W
• Seasonic S12II 330W
• Seasonic SS-400ET 400W
• Silverstone Element ST40EF 400W
• Tagan SuperRock 400W
• Thermaltake TR2 QFan 400W

"There are power supplies such as the Corsair CX400W that didn't stick out too much during testing but still offer a very attractive price tag. If you do have only around $50 to spend on a power supply we suggest you have a closer look at the Corsair CX400W, or the OCZ ModXStream Pro with 400W if you want cable management. ... If you want the best performance and the price is a secondary priority, we definitely recommend the Element series from Silverstone. This power supply managed to top both the noise and efficiency charts, and delivered good results across the board . " [AnandTech | 300W to 450W: 20 Power Supplies on the Test Bench]

Special mentions are:

• Seasonic S12II 330W, Corsair CX400W, and Cooler Master Real Power Pro for DC Voltage Regulation and Quality
• PC Power & Cooling Silencers, Enermax Pro82+ 385W, and Enermax Liberty Eco 400W for Efficiency
• Tagan SuperRock 400W for Low Acoustic Noise

You could use these recommendations when you are in the market for a 300-400W PSU.

IceRocket : corsair, power supply unit, silverstone element

Build Your Own Nettop

With netbooks becoming popular nowadays, the desktop counterpart (known as the nettop) is also coming out of the shadows. We have pre-built nettops offered by different companies, but for the DIY crowd and/or enthusiasts, building your own is usually more rewarding.

Choosing the Right Power Supply Unit

AnandTech gives us answers on how much power a computer system actually requires. To test the power consumption and efficiency required from PSUs, they built 3 systems - Entry-Level, Midrange, and High-End.

Specs and Power Consumption:

1. Entry-Level System
2. • Intel Core 2 Duo E4500, 4GB Memory, P35 chipset motherboard, ATI Radeon HD 3650, an optical drive, and one hard drive
   • 90W at idle, and 140W at full load
3. Midrange System
4. • AMD Phenom X4 9850 BE, 4GB Memory, AMD 790X Chipset, ATI Radeon HD 3870X2, an optical drive, and two hard drives
   • 168W at idle, and 341w at full load
5. High-End System
6. • Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850, 4GB Memory, NVIDIA 780i Chipset, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra SLI, an optical drive, and four hard drives
   • 310W at idle, and 544W at full load

For the Entry-Level system, the most efficient PSU was the Thermaltake TR2 QFan (300W). For the Midrange system, the Corsair VX450W (450W) was capable of supplying power, although the Enermax Pro82+ (625W) was the most efficient and silent. Going to the High-End system, the Antec Signature (850W) and the Zalman ZM850HP (850W) were the most efficient, and also the most quiet. It's nice to note that the Enermax Pro82+ (625W) was still capable in supporting the High-End system, although not as efficient as the two.

Another important thing to consider is the connectors available with the PSU, more particularly the PEG connectors for the graphics cards.

" Our three sample systems show that few if any people actually need anything more than 850W power supply, especially if you can get an appropriate number of connectors . About the only reason you should consider anything more is if you want to keep your power supply at a lower load, since optimal efficiency and lower noise levels usually come at around half the rated output. Overclockers might also want a bit of extra headroom. Otherwise, there's really no need for a 1000W power supply, and certainly not those with even higher ratings." [AnandTech | Debunking Power Supply Myths]

As seen with the tests, these are safe bets for PSU ratings:

• Entry-Level: 300W
• Midrange: 500W
• High-End: 700W

Probably a nice 700W PSU is a good choice for a system that you plan to get scheduled upgrades, until it reaches that High-End status. Other than that, a quality 500-watter is enough for a system with a quad-core CPU, dual-GPUs, and 2 HDDs.

Technorati : choose, efficiency, power, psu, supply

7 Antec Power Supply Units Tested

X-bit Labs tested seven (7) power supply units from Antec. The PSUs were:

• Antec AR-350 (350W)
• Antec EarthWatts EA-380 rev. A1 (380W)
• Antec Basiq BP500U (500W)
• Antec EarthWatts EA-500 rev. A1 (500W)
• Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 rev. A5 (550W)
• Antec TruePower Trio TP3-550 rev. A2
• Antec NeoPower NeoHE 650 Blue rev. A2 (650W)

The test system specs included an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 processor, four HDDs, and Radeon HD 3870 graphics card.

"It's easy to make a conclusion to this roundup. It goes like this: Antec power supplies are good! ... To be specific, the 7 models, including the nonstandard AR-350, all have good electrical parameters, low level of noise, and an adequate selection of cables and connectors. I haven't found a serious flaw in any of them. The Basiq 500 may look rather unassuming compared with the other models, but it belongs to the most inexpensive series after all." [X-bit Labs | Roundup: Seven Power Supply Units from Antec]

As I learned from the review, a 350W power supply unit can safely handle a contemporary system with four (4) hard disk drives. That is, if it is an Antec.

Technorati : antec, power, psu, review, supply, test

Build an Energy Efficient PC

Tom's Hardware has a great guide on energy efficiency, discussing about ways to save power at different levels: technology, component, product, and user.

"Selecting the right components is important in building an energy efficient machine. If you go for an old Pentium D instead of the current Core 2 Duo processor, you will get two processing cores in both cases and even higher clock speeds with the Pentium D. The old Pentium generation is based on the NetBurst architecture, though, which is considerably slower than the Core 2 family (including the Pentium Dual Core, which is a stripped down version). Despite its deficient performance, the Pentium D will still consume much more power than a Core 2 processor under all possible conditions. Clearly, selecting the right technology is very important." [Tom's Hardware | Tom's Energy Efficiency Guide]

The guide also suggests some component choices for your next PC build.

AMD System:

• Gigabyte GA-MA78GM with AMD780G Chipset motherboard
• AMD Phenom X4 9100e processor

Intel System:

• ECS G33T with Intel G33 Chipset motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Duo E8400

Other components:

• Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ (1 TB) hard drive
• Western Digital WD10EACS hard drive
• Radeon HD 3870 graphics card
• GeForce 9600 GT graphics card
• Silverstone ST50EF Plus (500 W) power supply unit

It's interesting to see that Tom's Hardware chose an AMD780G Chipset motherboard for the AMD system. I'm sure that Nvidia fans may opt for a motherboard with the NVIDIA GeForce 8200 chipset, but unless we have the concrete numbers as to which chipset is more efficient, we may just have to go with subjectivity on this matter.

Other than that, I'm sure that the components mentioned in the article would be a good guideline for your next energy efficient PC build.

Technorati : amd, build, efficient, energy, intel, pc

IGP Chipset Power Consumption Compared

AnandTech takes a quick look at the power consumption of three chipsets that feature an Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP). The mainboards tested were the Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H (AMD 780G), ASUS P5E-VM HDMI (Intel G35), and Biostar TF8200 A2+ (Nvidia GF8200).

Processors used for the tests were the following:

• AMD Athlon LE1600 and Intel Core 2 Duo E2200 (minimum spec processors)
• AMD 4850e X2 and Intel E7200 (middle ground performance)
• AMD Phenom 9550 and Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 (entry-level quad-core processors)

"... the results today should provide a better indication to each platform's power requirements with a variety of CPUs likely to end up in these boards and applications that tend to stress those same processors. Unless the next NVIDIA driver set increases power consumption, then we have a surprise winner between the latest IGP chipsets from the big three. The next question we will answer is performance per watt and those results are likely to lead us down another path." [AnandTech | IGP Power Consumption - 780G, GF8200, and G35]

The motherboard that had the lowest power consumption was the Biostar that featured the Nvidia GF8200 chipset. This was true, regardless of what processor it had on.

As AnandTech puts it, Power Consumption is something to consider, when looking to build a quiet PC rig with integrated graphics on the motherboard.

Technorati : consumption, igp, integrated graphics, mainboard, motherboard, power

Ten 1000W Power Supply Units Reviewed

Do you need 1000 Watts of power? X-bit Labs ten (10) power supply units, ranging from 1000W, up to 1500W of power. Units tested were from Antec, Enermax, Floston, FSP, SilverPower, Tagan, Thermaltake, and Ultra.

"So if you do want a 1000W power supply, you should consider the models from Antec and Enermax as well as from Floston and Ultra Products, but I want to note that none of them has proved to be better overall than the Cooler Master Real Power Pro (tested in my previous review) that boasted stable operation at a surprisingly low (for such a high wattage) level of noise." [X-bit Labs]

X-bit Labs notes that it would probably be the hardcore overclockers who would actually require this amount of juice.

Technorati Tags: power, supply, unit, psu, antec, enermax, floston, ultra

Top 2007 Power Supply Units Named

AnandTech tested about 60 Power Supply Units for the year 2007. It now chose three PSUs with and gave them the Editors Choice awards.

"We've tested about 60 power supplies this year (not all of which were included in published reviews), giving us insight on the manufacturers behind the products. Along the way, we saw some good and not-so-good power supplies. Thankfully, although we saw some quality issues at times, we did not encounter any of the flashes or explosions we have seen in prior years, and we hope that trend will continue! AnandTech's Power Supplies of the Year awards recognize our top picks from today's market for well-built, high-performance power supplies." [Power Supply Summary 2007 - The Best of the Best | AnandTech]

The top three PSUs are:

1. PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 QUAD
2. Antec TruePower Quattro 850 and the OCZ ProXStream 1000
3. Seasonic S12II

For the European users with systems that do need more than 400 watts, AnandTech suggest considering the be quiet brand. The mentioned models are not available in your fave retailer? I believe the key here is to take note of the brands, since they do prove that they offer great power supplies.

Technorati : power, psu, supply, unit

10 730W to 900W Power Supplies Compared

AnandTech compares 10 power supply units in the 730W to 900W class. The reviewed PSUs were from Hiper, Amacrox, OCZ, Antec, Coolermaster, Silverstone, and Seasonic. The price range is US$115 to US$230.

"We mentioned Cooler Master and Antec already, as both generated good results. The price difference is quite large, and even though the Cooler Master performed slightly better we recommend the Antec TruePower Quattro since it's available for 140 EUR and $170 USD. At around 145 EUR or $200 USD the OCZ ModXStream places in the middle of the group, but despite reasonable performance we can't see much reason to buy an OCZ as opposed to the less expensive Antec TruePower Quattro." [Power Supply Roundup: 730W to 900W | AnandTech]

Given the price range of the 10 PSUs ($115 - $230), the Antec Truepower ($170) was actually priced somewhere in the middle price point. With similar performance ratings, I guess that's where it usually boils down - price.

Technorati : antec, coolermaster, ocz, power, psu, supply

Zippy Serene 600W Power Supply Unit Reviewed

AnandTech gets up close and personal with the Zippy Serene (GP2-5600V), a PC power supply unit that features 600 Watts, single 12V rail (40A), single 80mm fan, and mains power cord hook.

"... the Serene is a very good power supply with the best quality possible in the areas of design and components. The cables are long enough for most cases, and we only wish Zippy would have provided a little more choice on the PEG connectors since a 600W power supply is able to power up more than a single video card. The single 45A 12V rail should be able to handle high-end cards without difficulty, but many of those are beginning to require 8-pin connections, and we expect the next generation GPUs will increase that trend."

"... prices will likely be in the $170+ range, which is a lot to pay for a 600W PSU. On the other hand, the Zippy Serene is one of the best power supplies we have seen so far and should bring very stable and reliable service to any owners." [AnandTech]

As tested by AnandTech, the Serene indeed has a high Efficiency - 89%. In terms of efficiency, it tops the Zippy G1 600W (81%), and Silverpower 600W (85%). If you are willing to shell out almost 2 C notes for a 600-watt PSU, the Serene seems to be a great choice.

Technorati : 600, pc, power, psu, review, serene, supply, unit, zippy

Antec 850W TruePower Quattro PSU Reviewed

AMDZone takes a good look at the Antec 850W TruePower Quattro (US$160), a 850-Watt PC power supply featuring universal input (100V-240V), Active Power Factor Correction (PFC), Four 12V output circuits, 80mm low noise cooling fan, and Gold plated connectors.

"What more can be said other than Antec definitely has another winner on their hands. A very high wattage PSU that is also extremely quiet, runs cool, handles well under load, is modular, supports the new 8-pin PCI-E connector, is power efficient, and comes in at a very decent price as well." [AMDZone]

AMDZone gave the Antec 850W TruePower Quattro a score of 98%. If you are looking to build a new system box, or would like to upgrade your PSU to 850W, it would be a great idea to see if the 850W TruePower Quattro is available in your favorite shop.

Technorati : 850, antec, psu, quattro, review, truepower

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PC Power Supply Replacement Guide

IGN.com has an article on PC power supply replacement. It shows us how to properly change our current system power supply, in case you would need to upgrade or replace your current PS.

Don't let the potential for disaster scare you away from considering stepping up to a multi-GPU gaming rig, avoiding the problem is as simple as the old motto of being prepared. Unless your computer came with two graphics cards, chances are it has, at most, a stock 650-watt power supply. To run multiple high-end GPUs, now and in the future, you should search for a power supply rated to handle a steady 850- to 1000-watt draw. Both ATI and Nvidia provide lists of manufacturer approved power-supply models that have been certified as prepared to handle the power consumption of Crossfire or SLI. [PC Power Supply Replacement Guide - IGN.com]

Yes, you can replace your system's power supply yourself. It's really not that difficult to do. But if you can afford 2 high-end graphics cards, a 1000-Watt power supply, and most probably a top-of-the-line dual core processor, chances are, you can afford the labor fee in having that power supply installed at the shop. :)

Technorati : Hardware, PC, Power, Supply, System

Five 500W Power Supplies Stress Tested

Tom's Hardware stress tests 5 power supplies: CoolerMaster Real Power RS-550-ACLY, Enermax Liberty ELT500AWT, Hiper Type R 580W, Silverstone Zeus ST56ZF, and Silverstone Strider ST56F.

If we awarded a prize for design, Hiper would walk away with it hands-down with its Type R power supply. This power supply, with its cable management based on modular avionics-style connectors, will be sure to raise the pulse of any case modder. [Tom's Hardware]

I guess it's a mixed bag on what power supply to pick. The enthusiast can decide by identifying his/her priority: efficiency rating, noise, design, or price.

Technorati : Coolermaster, Enermax, Hardware, Hiper, PC, Power, Silverstone, Supply, Test
Ice Rocket : Coolermaster, Enermax, Hardware, Hiper, PC, Power, Silverstone, Supply, Test

picoPSU - World's Smallest ATX Power Supply

The picoPSU-120 from Mini-Box is the smallest snap-in ATX dc to dc power supply. The picoPSU is compatible with an entire range of mini-itx motherboards as well as regular boards. The picoPSU-120 provides a cool, silent 120 Watts of power for small PC designs using a single 12V power source.

It is a fully compliant DC-DC ATX PSU that can power VIA mini-ITX boards with C3 or C7 processors, P3, P4, Pentium-M, and AMD processors.

[Source: RealTechNews]

Technorati : ATX, PC Hardware, Power Supply