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Slim PSU?

Arcygenical

Fully [H]
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
25,066
I'm trying to make a really small case for a fileserver for my room. I'm going to be placing the PSU at the FRONT of the case, under the drive bays (where the HD rack used to be), and cut almost 4" off the top of the case.

My question is... are all ATX compliant PSU's the same size? I have about 3.2" where I want to stuff the new guy...

I need at max... 300w, and would like to avoid having to make a new enclosure for the PSU. I can do this if I need to, as most cheaper ones have heatsinks less than 2" tall (for about 4" overall with a fan) but I'd rather just buy something... Any ideas?
 
AlexStenka said:
never seen those before, thats cool. :)
Those are just examples. They are server PSU's, so they are probably more than you need. If you search around, you'll find some better prices.
 
What kind of hardware are you running? If it's a file server with only a few dries, I don't imagine it'll be too demanding. In addition to 1U server PSUs, you might also look around for a flexATX or TFX power supply. If it's a good brand (i.e. its rating is actually fairly accurate), 300W would even be overkill. Of course, I'm assuming you don't have an 80W video card or an overclocked Prescott in there...

EDIT: In-win makes a nice, tiny TFX power supply (240W, 2" thick at the fan, 1.75" elsewhere) that's not too expensive.
 
I've got 5 HD's a DVDrw drive, coupled with some ICS board with a soldered on Barton 1ghz processor (OC'd to 1.2). 2x 256mb of Ram, a wireless and GB lan NIC over PCI. Integrated graphics.

In addition I'm running 4 external USB devices, a headset, some desk lighting, and 2x usb 2.5" HD (powered only over USB).

I've calculated my PSU needs to be slightly over 200w... But I'd much rather get a PSU that's over-rated for the job, as many 250w and lower PSU's are just total pieces of crap.

I was thinking of going with a 2U PSU, but have yet to find one at a reasonable price.
 
$65 isnt bad considering you are buying a quality PSU.


Also, keep in mind that those suckers might be a taaaad louder than your run-of-the-mill ATX PSUs ( I saw where you intended this to go in your room).
 
Yeah, that's another worry I'm having... Generally, this thing needs to be super quiet, thus the reason I was looking for a regular ATX psu.
 
2U is basically the height (thickness) of a normal ATX PSU.

Keep in mind that the 200W you calculated is probably a peak draw--In order to hit that, all of your drives would have to be spinning up while you burned a CD and your processor ran at 100%. Anything attached to USB won't be drawing more than 2.5 watts per device.

What is probably a better measure is to total the amount of current all the devices draw, and then compare that to the amount the PSU can provide.
 
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