decent pc case

[Andy]

http://www.directron.com/9804.html
Powmax Mid-Tower Case
Powmax mid-tower ATX cases / chassis. Two front USB ports.

Specifications: Dimensions (WxDxH): 200*485*435mm, 7.87" x 19.09" x
17.12". Drive Bays: 4 x 5.25" external; 2 x 3.5" external; 4 x 3.5"
internal. Main Board Size: ATX . Pentium4. Expansion slot: 7. Cooling
fan (optional): 2 x 80mm rear case fans; 1 x 120mm front case fan. One
0.5w speaker.

 

[Guest]

to get you to pay more, what else

Nonsense. Those components are unnoticed by the vast majority of
buyers and only very rarely advertised, unlike purely cosmetic
features, such as colors and LED fans, and better functional
components contribute to higher reliability. Codegen and its sibling
Deer brands have been produced with components that were not only
rated for less capacity than those in their higher-quality
counterparts but also for less capacity than needed to simply meet
nameplate specs. An example I saw of this had 3A bridge/doubler
diodes protected by a 5-6A fuse, and another person reported a 20A
diode pack for the +5V output rated for 30A. As I mentioned, power
supplies usually work adequately despite such deficiencies because the
average computer draws so little power.

 

[Guest]

'Bigger and heavier' doesn't always mean 'higher capacity' though. For
example, one might use 'large' heatsinks to offset the heat generated by
low cost, less efficient, power devices, etc. and it's sometimes less
expensive to use a 'larger' part than the, more difficult to make,
'miniaturized' version.

As all but the newer ATX power supplies have roughly the same 70%
efficiency, bigger heatsink size should be related to quality, except
when the fan is very large and allows much smaller heatsinks to handle
the same amount of heat. Regarding custom or miniturized components,
I've never seen any in an ATX supply, except for transformers and
heatsinks, which are usually custom anyway, but I doubt they're any
smaller because of this. Otherwise the only custom components I
remember seeing were in AT or XT supplies: an Astec chip in an Astec
and ceramic or encapsulated surface-mount controller daughter boards.

 

[David Maynard]

As all but the newer ATX power supplies have roughly the same 70%
efficiency, bigger heatsink size should be related to quality, except
when the fan is very large and allows much smaller heatsinks to handle
the same amount of heat.

The variability in component parameters and fan airflow to cause
significant heatsink differences does not necessarily drastically alter the
overall efficiency.

 

[Guest]

do_not_spam_me wrote:

'Bigger and heavier' doesn't always mean 'higher capacity' though. For
example, one might use 'large' heatsinks to offset the heat generated by
low cost, less efficient, power devices, etc. and it's sometimes less
expensive to use a 'larger' part than the, more difficult to make,
'miniaturized' version.

The variability in component parameters and fan airflow to cause
significant heatsink differences does not necessarily drastically alter the
overall efficiency.

I never said it did, and in practice, except for the newer single
large-fan ATX supplies, larger heatsinks aren't used to offset lower
efficiency because efficiency isn't lower.

 

[David Maynard]

I never said it did, and in practice, except for the newer single
large-fan ATX supplies, larger heatsinks aren't used to offset lower
efficiency because efficiency isn't lower.

We're talking past each other. You suggested that individual components
wouldn't be 'lower efficiency' because the overall PSU efficiency was a
relatively constant 70%. I was explaining that the 'component' on a
heatsink could be of lower efficiency, necessitating a larger heatsink,
without it necessarily showing up in the overall PSU efficiency because
it's a combination of factors, not just a particular component.

 

[Guest]

You suggested that individual components wouldn't be 'lower
efficiency' because the overall PSU efficiency was a
relatively constant 70%.

I wasn't suggesting that at all, but you're right that component and
overall efficiencies can be different, although in practice it isn't
for older ATX supplies, which are all very similar in design.

'Bigger and heavier' doesn't always mean 'higher capacity'
though. For example, one might use 'large' heatsinks to offset
the heat generated by low cost, less efficient, power devices,
etc.

Have you ever seen an example of this in an older ATX supply (not
fanless or with a 120mm+ fan)? I haven't, and the Rds or Vf of the
components I've seen attached to them were the same or lower than
those on smaller heatsinks. I'm not completely ruling out the
possibility that makers of cheap supplies all use more efficient
transistors and diodes, but...