On 8/7/2021 3:17 PM, Paul wrote:
> Ken Blake wrote:
>> On 8/7/2021 1:09 PM, Paul wrote:
>>> Ed Cryer wrote:
>>>> I have a 9-year old Acer Aspire X3990; good workhorse, Win10, very
>>>> reliable until recently;
>>>> https://www.manualslib.com/download/232907/Acer-Aspire-X3990.html
>>>>
>>>> I took the side panel off and it's run just fine for two days, still
>>>> rather hot, though.
>>>
>>> PCs *normally* work better with the side panel closed.
>>>
>>> Your PC seems to be minimally equipped for front-to-back cooling.
>>>
>>> https://media.karousell.com/media/photos/products/2018/11/12/acer_aspire_x3990_pc_1541961982_12d959aa_progressive.jpg
>>>
>>>
>>> Gulp!!!
>>>
>>> It used the PSU fan to cool the PC ??? Yikes.
>>>
>>> Check that the PSU fan is spinning. I can tell from
>>> the dinky size of PSU, it uses one of those small small
>>> fans (a whiner).
>>
>>
>> ....
>>
>>> No wonder the poor thing idles at such a high
>>> temperature. Your computer case is a "Case from Hell".
>>
>>
>> Speaking of cases and power supplies, I'm planning on getting a new
>> computer (my present one isn't compatible with Windows 11), probably
>> next month. The case and power supply I'm tentatively planning on are
>>
>> Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full Tower Chassis with Window Cases PH-ES614P_BK,Black
>>
>> and
>>
>> Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 850W 80+ Gold SLI/Crossfire Ready Ultra Quiet
>> 140mm Hydraulic Bearing Smart Zero Fan Full Modular Power Supply
>>
>> I'm far from a hardware expert. Comments on the quality of these
>> components and any recommended changes from you or anyone else who knows
>> more about hardware than I do would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> And while I'm at it, here are the other components I'm planning on:
>>
>>
>> Motherboard - ASRock B560M STEEL LEGEND LGA 1200 Intel B560 SATA 6Gb/s
>> Micro ATX Intel motherboard
>>
>> CPU Intel Core i9-10900
>>
>> CPU Cooler - be quiet! 250W TDP Dark Rock Pro 4 CPU Cooler with Silent
>> Wings - PWM Fan - 135mm
>>
>> RAM - CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin SDRAM DDR4 (PC4
>> 28800) Int Model CMK32GX4M2D3600C18
>>
>> M2 Drive - Seagate Firecuda 520 2TB Performance Internal Solid State
>> Drive SSD PCIe Gen4 X4 NVMe 1.3
>>
>> DVD Drive - ASUS DRW-24F1ST - DVD SATA SUPERMULTI Burner - SERIAL ATA -
>> BLACK - OEM Bulk Drive
>>
>> No graphics card, since I don't play computer games and the
>> motherboard's graphics support should be OK for my two monitors.
>>
>> I'll move the two 2TB hard drives on my present computer into the new one.
>>
>> The total cost should be just under $1,500. I'll keep my present
>> keyboard, mouse, and two 24" monitors, all of which I like.
>>
>>
>> Again, comments on those components or any recommended changes would be
>> greatly appreciated.
>>
>>
>> With the help of a friend who is much younger and is much better at this
>> sort of thing than I am, I'll build it. (Actually, he'll probably do
>> most of the building).
>>
>>
>> I'll have a total of 32GB of RAM, and 6GB of disk space, and both are
>> more than I need now, but I like to plan ahead for the
>> future.

Thanks very much for your comments. Questions/comments interspersed bebelow.

>
> https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermaltake-toughpower-gf1-850w-power-supply
>
> "Thermaltake's Toughpower GF1 line consists of three members
> with capacities ranging from 650W to 850W. They are based on
> a platform that is provided by Channel Well Technology." <===
>
> The reason I checked for that, is a lot of PSUs are made under
> contract, and you want to know who made them.

Why? Why should I care?

> Seasonic, for example, makes their own supplies.
>
> Corsair is likely to be a contract-driven company,
> occasionally contracting really good suppliers :-)
>
> The jonnyguru site is closed, so it doesn't look like
> any more real-reviews will be available.
>
> Check the reviews on Newegg. There are a few early deaths.
>
> https://www.newegg.com/thermaltake-toughpower-gf1-tt-premium-edition-ps-tpd-0850fnfaga-1-850w/p/N82E16817153403

I had looked there when I chose this one, but I just looked again. I
don't see anything negative. Am I missing something?

If you have another you recommend instead, please tell me.

> Since you don't have a video card, that should be more
> than enough power.

That's what I thought.

> *******
>
> https://www.hardwaretimes.com/intel-10th-gen-cpu-power-consumption-explained-pl1-pl2-and-tau/
>
> PL1 PL2 TAU
> Core i9-10900 65W 224W for 28 seconds
>
> Your monster power supply can provide the 224W plus 50W
> for motherboard OK. That's not a full power budget. It
> all depends on whether you want headroom for a future
> mammoth video card.

If I ever get a video card, it's highly unlikely to be a mammoth one. As
I said, I don't play computer games.

> (I saw a video card within the last
> week, equipped with four fans! There was a fan on the back.)
>
> *******
>
> ZP2000GM30002 FireCuda 2TB
>
> Interface PCIe Gen4 ×4
> NVMe 1.3
> NAND Flash Memory 3D TLC
> Form Factor M.2 2280-D2
> 2TB model = 3600TBW (1800 device writes, end to end)
>
> That means it will have a (SLC) write cache, and after some amount
> of continuous writes (say 20GB worth), will slow down. MLC
> 2-bit drives could write continuously at a constant rate. Still,
> given that the design is brand new and your choices are TLC (3-bit)
> or QLC (4-bit), TLC is the better of the two choices. We are unlikely
> to see extreme-corner-condition drives, except for the "Chia Farm"
> ones with exceptionally high TBW write endurance (12000 or 24000 TBW).
> And they don't even list prices for those.

Does that mean you recommend a different drive? If so, please tell me;
if it's not too much more expensive I'd consider it.

> *******
>
> ASRock B560M STEEL LEGEND
>
> 1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M Key type
> Gen4 x4 (8GB/sec) with 11th Gen Intel Core Processors or
> Gen3 x4 (4GB/sec) with 10th Gen Intel Core Processors
> 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_2), supports M Key typeto
> Gen3 x4 (4GB/sec) <=== off the PCH, not the CPU
>
> The M2_1 is by the audio stack and just above the video card slot.
> It appears to have some metal sitting above it.
>
> The M2_2 is bottom right corner, near PCH. The PCH bandwidth
> comes through the DMI interface, and cannot go faster than DMI.
>
> *******
>
> Pretty sad really. I was expecting a bit more out of the PCH.
>
> https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-in-B560-and-Z590-motherboards-besides-CPU-overclocking
>
> "The B560 chipset has 12 PCIe 3.0 lanes while the
> Z590 chipset has 24. This means that Z590 is able to
> connect to more peripheral devices and M.2 SSDs simultaneously. <=== DMI limited
>
> The B560 chipset has up to 12 USB connections,
> including up to 6 USB3.0 (500MB/sec)
> 4 USB3.1Rev2 (1GB/sec),
> including up to 2 20Gbps (USB3.2 Rev2 C connector?)
>
> The Z590 chipset has up to 14 USB connections,
> including up to 10 USB3.1Rev2 (1GB/sec),
> or maybe 3 20Gbps (USB3.2 Rev2 C connector?)
>
> As an example, the Z590 Aorus Ultra has 1x 20Gbps USB connection,
> 5x 10Gbps connections, 6x 5Gbps connections, and 8x 0.5Gbps (USB2)
> connections. This is 20 total USB connections - 2 of the 5Gbps
> connections and 4 of the 0.5Gbps connections come from added
> USB chips. [USB chips possible because of extra lanes on Z590, limited
> by DMI if there is some way to "engage" them all at once.]
>
> The Z590 chipset supports RAID (SATA?),
> while the B560 chipset does not. [Software RAID. Intel RST etc]
>
> Typically, though not always, Z590 motherboards will have better
> VRMs and other premium features such as Thunderbolt. [Better VRM
> only if supporting K overclocked processors, needing overclock.]
>
> You might check your Steel Legend for USB connectors, but I
> doubt that what you find matters a whole lot. You'd need an NVMe
> in an external casing, to really care about that stuff.
>
> Hopefully, by the time you're ready to buy ASRock B560M STEEL LEGEND,
> Newegg will have more user reviews. Telling us about the
> quality of the UEFI BIOS in it. There are too few reviews
> to say anything constructive.
>
> Paul
>

--
Ken