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, 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? > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------- > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >