Mac Mini Power supply

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imzjustplayin

[H]ard|Gawd
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Is anyone able to find out who manufactures the power supply used in the latest mac mini? What is the closest PC out there to the mac mini? I'm interested in the mac mini's efficiency and performance (potentially) but not the price tag nor the Apple OS.
 
imzjustplayin said:
Is anyone able to find out who manufactures the power supply used in the latest mac mini? What is the closest PC out there to the mac mini? I'm interested in the mac mini's efficiency and performance (potentially) but not the price tag nor the Apple OS.
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If you want something like the Mac Mini, get a Mini. I don't think there is anything else out there that compares.
 
Doesn't exist. There are machines that draw less power at load, but not with a Core 2. And there is no x86 desktop that draws less power at idle that I'm aware of. But part of that is OS X.
 
I want a machine that is x86 based, accepts an ATX PSU, has a SIMILAR or better idle and full load power use as the latest mac mini.
 
imzjustplayin said:
I want a machine that is x86 based, accepts an ATX PSU, has a SIMILAR or better idle and full load power use as the latest mac mini.
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A machine like that doesn't exist.

The Mini is like 45-50w full load.
 
450 said:
A machine like that doesn't exist.

The Mini is like 45-50w full load.
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Actually a bit less. Load is around 31W. Idle is about 8W. That idle jumps to about 10W in Windows.

A Fit PC2 can pull the same idle and draw quite a bit less at load (18W or so), but it uses an Atom processor and Intel graphics which makes it pretty underwhelming performance-wise. It's also pretty expensive at $450 or so with a hard drive included. When you can buy a similar Ion SSFF for $200 or a modestly-capable mini for $700, a Fit PC is a pretty hard sell.
 
Anyway I don't care about a pre-packaged computer, mostly looking for a good motherboard and good power supply. I've been looking around at some ITX motherboards but the problem is, in order to get dual displays, you've got to use the DVI and the HDMI but what I really need is an ITX motherboard that has DVI-I so that I can use either two analog displays or two digital displays. I am aware of an HDMI to D-Sub VGA converter that looks like a DVI to D-sub VGA converter but I've never tried this and I have no idea how it would appear to the operating system. I'm also curious about how Nvidia Ion chipset driver would work under Windows 2000.
 
imzjustplayin said:
I am aware of an HDMI to D-Sub VGA converter that looks like a DVI to D-sub VGA converter but I've never tried this and I have no idea how it would appear to the operating system.
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Well, these kind of adapters don't appear to the OS at all. But such a thing, for a reasonable price, could never work. HDMI loses the analog signals in DVI.

I'm also curious about how Nvidia Ion chipset driver would work under Windows 2000.
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What why?

As far as comparable machines, I can't think of any. Apple's using the mobile parts in the design, which gets them their power economy. It's actually a somewhat compelling box for an HTPC with the nVidia GPU as well. Just too bad about the price...
 
imzjustplayin said:
I want a machine that is x86 based, accepts an ATX PSU, has a SIMILAR or better idle and full load power use as the latest mac mini.
Click to expand...

ATX power supplies are (typically) at peak efficiency between 50-75% load.

Given a 500w ATX supply, drawing only 50w or you're at a mere 10% load and losing quite a bit to power supply efficiency. If I'm reading the data right even this 80+ gold certified PSU loses 33 watts to heat at 20% load. http://www.80plus.org/manu/psu/psu_reports/ANTEC_SG-1200_ECOS 1518_1200W_Report.pdf
 
keenan said:
Well, these kind of adapters don't appear to the OS at all. But such a thing, for a reasonable price, could never work. HDMI loses the analog signals in DVI.
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http://www.hdfury.com/

keenan said:
What why?

As far as comparable machines, I can't think of any. Apple's using the mobile parts in the design, which gets them their power economy. It's actually a somewhat compelling box for an HTPC with the nVidia GPU as well. Just too bad about the price...
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I have some software that runs exclusively on Windows 2000 and I'm trying to upgrade a P4 machine to something that uses less power but is comparable in performance.

Mozex said:
ATX power supplies are (typically) at peak efficiency between 50-75% load.

Given a 500w ATX supply, drawing only 50w or you're at a mere 10% load and losing quite a bit to power supply efficiency. If I'm reading the data right even this 80+ gold certified PSU loses 33 watts to heat at 20% load. http://www.80plus.org/manu/psu/psu_reports/ANTEC_SG-1200_ECOS 1518_1200W_Report.pdf
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Anyway I found a power supply that should be very suitable for my needs and has very high efficiency, though not 80plus certified.
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.13/.f
 
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