Power Supply Help HTPC (1 Viewer)

I recently started using my desktop I built about a year ago with my Plasma to play HD movies and shows. Can anyone suggest a power supply that I can use to replace the current one I have (current power supply is VERY loud) and an HTPC case that would work with this hardware?


Setup:

MB - Asus M2N-SLI

CPU - AMD Athlon X2 5000+
Video Card - XFX Geforce 8800 GS 384 MB
Memory - 2 GB PC6400 DDR2 Ram
PSU - Power Up 800w Power Supply w/2 80mm/Blue (super loud)
HD - 320 GB Seagate SATA

 

[Brett DiMichele]

www.newegg.com has a great search tool and tons of reviews that will help in picking the right PSU.

 

[Ken Chan]

Check out www.silentpcreview.com and read the reviews on NewEgg.

I have had good luck with Antec and SeaSonic brand power supplies.

The M2N is a full-size ATX board, so that limits your case options.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

nMediaPC has some gorgeous full ATX cases that are very reasonably priced when compared to the others (Thermaltake, Silverstone, LianLi).

 

So I picked up a Corsair 400 Watt Power supply and put it in my computer. So much more quiet than the other one I had in the computer. The one I replaced was 800 watts though, but I read that Corsair makes very efficient power supplies.

One issue I am noticing is that my hard drive on the computer is constantly grinding away since I made the power supply switch. Could this be related to the change in PSU or maybe i am just noticing it because of the lower noise level from the PSU.

I also just ordered an ATI radeon 5500 HD video card with passive cooling to replace my XFX geforce 8800gs (will make computer even more quiet). I only want to use this pc for movies/tv/videos and maybe some old school games.

Anyone have any advice on the hard drive grinding even when computer is idling?

 

[Brett DiMichele]

I think you are just noticing it more now because you have lowered your noise floor on the PC by getting a more quiet power supply. Not all hard drives produce the same amount of noise either, they do make "quiet" hard drives just like anything else for the ever expanding HTPC market.

 

[Eric_L]

If it is constant you may want to run a full spybot sweep and virus sweep. Also - uninstall all unused programs. Check your startup log and make sure no unneeded programs are launching - itunes helpers, updaters, acrobat crap, etc.