Brandon Whitehead's Tech Blog

Recap If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking out part 1 of this story for more details:  https://tech.brandonwhitehead.com/2019/01/why-i-switched-to-using-2-desktop.html A quick summary of part 1 is that I switched to using 2 desktop computers because when I had everything on 1 computer I was without a usable computer for several weeks while troubleshooting. To prevent that from happening in the future I decided to pick up a secondary PC to use primarily for light duty tasks. Originally I picked up a Intel NUC8i5BEH with the hope that it would be the perfect fit for my needs. It was a good fit until I experienced several issues with using a USB device KVM/hardware switch which forced me to return the NUC. Part 2 Returning the NUC I ended up returning the NUC for a couple of reasons. Whatever USB controller they were using had a major compatibility issue with USB device switchers even when I purchased and tried utilizing a  native USB 2.0 accessor...

After recently downsizing back to Mini-ITX, I hit a snag when it came to my current CPU and its thermal performance. To cool my i7-7700K, I utilized the be quiet! Shadow Rock LP that I had purchased for my 2015 Mini-ITX build. In 2015 that build contained an i5-6600K and the Shadow Rock LP had no problem keeping that cool. Unfortunately, the i7-7700K is a notoriously hot running CPU and the Shadow Rock LP simply couldn't keep up. Especially with the limited airflow of the FTZ01. I was thermal throttling even at stock speeds. Putting the CPU under heavy AVX loads like HandBrake encoding made that very apparent. Not to mention the fan noise from the cooler running at 100% to keep things cool became rather annoying. Prior to downsizing to ITX I initially had the i7-7700K under a be quiet! Dark Rock TF cooler which performed well at keeping the i7-7700K under check. With the i7-7700K, the only way to truly wrangle in the temperatures (especially if overclocking and without modifi...

Introduction I never thought that I would want to have two Desktop PCs for myself. I had traditionally used one Desktop PC to "do it all". Afterall, that's one of the benefits of a PC to begin with. You can spec it for entertainment, work and other usages all within 1 device. Prior to acquiring 2 Desktop PCs, I had a Gaming PC, a personal laptop and a work laptop. I don't really count the personal laptop because it is about 8-9 years old (as of this article's publishing date) and not very usable anymore. For the work laptop, I try to strictly keep everything work related on that since the equipment is provided by my organization. I don't like to use it for personal things as much as I can. So realistically, I had one usable computer for home. My gaming/primary PC was used as my "swiss army knife" where it could game, host VMs and do more. As we all know though, a swiss army knife can only do so much without showcasing its shortcomings. That is unle...

Rating ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5) Pros 500W capacity 80 Plus Gold Relatively quiet fan (even without the zero RPM fan mode of the v1 version) Flat black cables 100% modular Cons Slightly larger SFX form factor (130mm doesn't leave much room in my FTZ01 for dealing with the cables) Other Thoughts The V2 of this power supply doesn't really have much different than it's original counterpart. The main change with the V2 version is the removal of the Semi-Passive fan mode of the v1. There were several complaints about the fan making a "grinding noise" and some buzzing as well but this issue seems to have been severely reduced with the V2 PSU. Overall this is a very nice small power supply. It is a bit larger than the standard SFX form factor so that is definitely something to keep in mind, however as a result they were able to slap on a larger 120mm fan which definitely helps keep this thing cool and quiet. This is a solid little power supply with 80plus g...

A few unboxing photos and a couple of clips of the power supply fan issue in action.The full model information is Enermax Revolution SFX 650W 80 PLUS Gold Full modular Semi-Fanless Power Supply with SFX-to-ATX PSU adapter bracket (ERV650SWT)Free Q-Boom Bluetooth Speaker inside. Enermax Revolution SFX 650W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply Rating ★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5) Pros Compact High capacity 80 plus gold Flat black cables Cons Fan noise is unbearable Other Thoughts TL;DR Everything else about this Power Supply is good except for one major thing. Enermax's implementation of the semi-fanless mode is absolutely terrible. After putting a load on my system, enough to cause the fan to spin up, and then going back to idle the fan constantly turns on and off generating an extremely irritating noise. The fan does this constantly until I shutdown my computer and let the power supply cool off. Then the fan will  go back to semi-fanless mode until the temperature...