[kwlug-disc] The sweet(?) smell of power supplies

L.D. Paniak ldpaniak at fourpisolutions.com
Mon Apr 7 10:56:29 EDT 2014


I agree.  I have been using pico-PSU/AC brick solutions on systems up to
100W with great success.  For 95%+ of computing that more than enough to
get the job done.

There are many "mini-systems" of this type available:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/search_result.php?checkVal0=0&subcat04=5&checkVal1=1&checkVal2=1&checkVal3=1&checkVal4=1&checkVal5=1&checkVal6=1&checkVal7=1&checkVal8=1&checkVal9=1&pagePos=0&keywords=&manu=0&search=1&ccid=1203&cPath=7_1203

Especially good are the Intel NUC series (if a little more expensive).

I recently bought a 430W Corsair ATX PSU and the smell of the fancy
paint finish nearly knocked me off my feet.  It took several days to
dissipate. I am not sure what the motivation is here.


On 04/07/2014 10:44 AM, Jason Locklin wrote:
> Just for fun, this would be approximately the best you can do while
> staying safely under 150Watts and staying reasonably priced:
>
>> PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3nyKO
>> Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3nyKO/by_merchant/
>> Benchmarks: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3nyKO/benchmarks/
>>
>> CPU: Intel Core i3-2120T 2.6GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($160.80 @ Amazon Canada) 
>> Motherboard: MSI H67MA-E35 (B3) Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard  ($88.02 @ Amazon Canada) 
>> Memory: Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($79.99 @ Canada Computers) 
>> Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($129.99 @ NCIX) 
>>
>> Total: $458.80
>> Estimated Wattage: 109W 
>>
>> Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
>> (Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-07 10:33 EDT-0400)
> That would scream running Linux, but would be lacking for gaming. No
> idea what Windows needs nowadays though. That website is too much fun.
> Now, back to work... right...
>
> -Jason
>
>
>
>
> On Mon 07 Apr 2014 10:02:49 AM EDT, Darcy Casselman wrote:
>> She has rather formidable power requirements, but we were talking about
>> whether something like this was available. I'll pass it along. Thanks.
>>
>> Darcy.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 9:51 AM, Jason Locklin <locklin.jason at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Have you thought of building a low-power system with something like one
>>> of these: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104186
>>>
>>> Transformer is sealed in plastic, so no dust/smell from it. Thinking
>>> about building a system like this with one of the low-power Haswell
>>> chips and an SSD, myself (not for the smell, I just like
>>> power-efficient, quiet machines).
>>>
>>> -Jason
>>>
>>>
>>> On 14-04-05 03:56 PM, Darcy Casselman wrote:
>>>> PC hardware question, not specific to Linux, but some of you folks may
>>> have
>>>> ideas.
>>>>
>>>> My partner has some rather significant allergies and sensitivities.  She
>>>> also needs to replace her 12-year-old desktop computer.
>>>>
>>>> In general electronics tend to be okay for her, but the power supply
>>> seems
>>>> to be a stumbling block.  New power supplies smell really bad, triggering
>>>> her sensitivities.  And they're blowing that bad air into her living
>>> space.
>>>> Does anyone know of a retailer that sells power supplies that she'd be
>>> able
>>>> to crack open a bunch and give them a sniff-test?
>>>>
>>>> Is there somewhere we can look at used power supplies, preferably from
>>>> hopefully neutral office environments (rather than, say, the homes of
>>>> smokers or pet owners)?
>>>>
>>>> We're not entirely sure what it is in the power supplies that is
>>> triggering
>>>> her.  We know that the PVC wiring is bad (I'm not holding out much hope,
>>>> but if someone knows of a manufacturer that coats their wires in
>>> something
>>>> other than PVC, that would be very useful to know).  But we've tried a
>>>> bunch and haven't come up with much luck.
>>>>
>>>> Any suggestions would be helpful.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks!
>>>> Darcy.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> kwlug-disc mailing list
>>>> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
>>>> http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> -
>>> Jason Locklin
>>> http://artsweb.uwaterloo.ca/~jalockli
>>> PGP: 9551 BD8F BCCC 5763 9FD9 9C5E 99F2 DE4E 2972 C74D
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> kwlug-disc mailing list
>>> kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
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>>>
>>
>>
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>


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