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Off-board/External ATX Power Supplies? 79

Posted by Cliff from the interesting-hardware-mods dept.
atomicretro asks: "Basically I'm on a quest for a silent PC, so I am looking to take my ATX power supply unit, external. I was simply wondering if anyone else had tried this with any success, or any commercial companies sold them. Silence is required as this PC is being used in my dorm room, and it's hard to sleep next to a whining PC. I've got the sound levels pretty much down to a minimum by adding various silent PC parts, but a separate power supply would be pretty cool. Any help or ideas accepted!" There was a similar question that was posted about two years ago, and it would be interesting to note if anyone in the market was listening.
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Off-board/External ATX Power Supplies? More

Off-board/External ATX Power Supplies?

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  • Silent? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hafree ( 307412 ) on Friday March 28, 2003 @05:23PM (#5618820) Homepage
    Just curious, how is making it external going to make the power supply's cooling fan any quieter? If anything it will be louder since it wont be inside the case, and now none of your power cables will reach the internal components... First post? :-P
    • If it is external it can be moved farther away, possibly in a closet. Power can be provided by longer cables. A bit more messy perhaps, but if you want silence it would probably be worth it.
      • I think that they are thinking more along the lines of a laptop power supply aka lots of surface area to dissipate the heat no fan needed
    • I think the whole point of removing the supply form the case is to make it easier to replace the fan with something else, especially since you won't have to worry about your mod having to fit back inside the case when you're done.

      Just extend the heat sinks outside of the power supply's case. No water pumps, no piping, no motors...
      =Smidge=

  • If 55W is enough... (Score:3, Informative)

    by zobo ( 60591 ) on Friday March 28, 2003 @05:28PM (#5618856)
    ...here's one. [mini-itx.com]
    • That mini-itx looks nifty. Here's another option - what about modding an XBox to run linux? [sourceforge.net]

      The xbox is relatively cheap ( $200US ), is almost silent when it is turned on, and has plenty of power and space to run Linux. (Pentium 733-MHz, 8gig hard drive) . Has anybody tried this and had successfull uptimes? I googled for information yesterday and found lots of sites describing how to modify the box but no reports as to how reliable hardware is when left running 24/7.

      • The Xbox is not that quiet--the fan makes noise and the hard disk whistles. And while it is Pentium III it only has 128k of L2 cache. I left mine turned on inside an entertainment enclosure (windowed doors, opened back) and it was like a mini oven within 10 minutes.

        Kris
      • --The XBox Linux thing is a nice project concept, but it's overkill for this guy.
  • The case shields you from a lot of the noise. Notice how whenever you open a case it gets about 5x louder. If you're really into quietness, get a vantec stealth PSU or a PC Power & Cooling one. If you're really a quietness freak, you might be able to watercool the PSU and take out the fan. But that would be an insane waste of time and money, not to mention the risk.
  • But... couldn't you just... like... take it out of the case? I know those sexy Antec 100 towers have removable PSUs. Couldn't you just pull it out? Or get lucky with a dremel? You'd just need longer powerleads, and a good ground source.

    Would help if you had a reason for doing it, too, as 'silence' doesn't quite cut it. But ok, y'know, whatever steams your sausage.

  • Use with care (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MountainLogic ( 92466 ) on Friday March 28, 2003 @05:39PM (#5618955) Homepage
    The longer your run from your PC to your PC the greater the change you will spiky your PC &/or PS. The greater impedence between the two units allows any ESD (static) to bounce the ground lines and can kill your system. Also, there is a reason that the case of the PS is bolted against the case of the PC, a greatly reduced chance of ground differential. You're also more likely to see your keyboard lock-up.
  • I'd go with a Nexus Power supply... my next paycheck will go towards purchasing one from quietpc.com ... they're widely known as the quietest power supplies available.

    That said, also look into the miniITX stuff pointed to in one of the earlier posts... I have a miniITX computer with external power supply, but you can't run a pentium or AMD on it, just doesn't provide enough power.

  • uphill, both ways, in the snow, often drunk (Score:3, Funny)

    by iamcadaver ( 104579 ) on Friday March 28, 2003 @05:45PM (#5619004)
    I never noticed the noisy fans on the noisy pc's when I was in college.

    Oh, yeah maybe I do. I just don't remember it ever being a problem falling asleep. Sleep just sorta happens on command after thirty hours of mudding and/or codeing and/or codeing muds and/or mudling coeds.

    The fan should be the least of your beauty nap worries.

  • Quiet PC Article (Score:2, Informative)

    by hackwrench ( 573697 )
    The Screensavers [techtv.com] had a recent story on making a quieter machine.
  • If you can't fall asleep next to your computer, turn it off when you go to sleep! Saves some power and keeps you dreaming happily. Hell, you don't even have to power it down, just put it into stand by mode.

    On the other hand, even when my PC fans were broken (and making a lot of noise) I had no problem falling asleep, even with four computers in the room. You must be a light sleeper.
    • The power went out a few weeks ago, and after waiting for hours for it to come back on, I decided to just give up and get some sleep. I had to work in the morning.

      Sleep did not come, however. I found that it was WAY too quiet in the room without the computers whirring and crunching. Although a quiet PC is nice, shouldn't all geeks pretty much be used to the constant noise, like people whose yards back up to a major highway?
    • On submarines (my former job) there is a fairly loud fan that goes to each bed with an adjustable damper. It helps with airflow, but an equally important purpose is to increase the background noise and mask other peoples noise, things going bump, snoring, etc. It is much easier to sleep when these fans are working. A fan will be the least of your noise worries in a college dormitory.

      I slept in a room with an aquarium most of my life (think fans are loud, try a reciprocating motor, especially if you can't
  • If you wanted to stick the ps in a closet, why not just buy a twenty foot KVM cable and the proper adaptors. Then you can put the PC in the closet. I have done that a time or two.
    • In a closet, huh? Oh, you mean a properly ventilated equipment closet, not a regular residential clothing closet. Otherwise, he'll either have to leave the door open (letting the noise out), or be no better off than simply clipping the fan leads.
      I leave my old systems, complete with several external SCSI enclosures, running all the time, and the noise doesn't bother me at all... of course, they're in the office down the hall.
  • The one I have in my living room on a harwood floor is dead quiet.

    I wrote up in my journal about where I got the parts and which ones I used.

    It is not a fantastic machine, it is to be a node in a cluster - but you can't sleep while that machine is going, then you have a problem - not with your machine, but a larger sleep issue (I'm also curious what dorm/school you live in where the largest noise issue is your computer).

    I have had problems with the case that I have used, but I have a new one on the way t
  • I can't imagine having lived in my dorm room, without the whirr of two full tower computers (one dual proc, one with no case), two laptops, a 486, and the air conditioning on 24/7.
    • You had A/C in your dorm room?

      You have no idea how jealous I am.
      • Yeah...it was pretty cool (pun intended).

        We both built lofts of the same dimensions and put them on either side of the room, which was on either side of the window and air vent. Then I built two small tables the same width as our desks, and we placed the desks facing each other on either side of the room, under the lofts, with the tables in between.

        So essentially it was like one huge table with a desk on either end. The towers went under the tables, and the air conditioner made a wind tunnel through there

  • You know you're a nerd when... (Score:4, Funny)

    by SoCalChris ( 573049 ) on Friday March 28, 2003 @06:16PM (#5619182) Journal
    Silence is required as this PC is being used in my dorm room, and it's hard to sleep next to a whining PC.

    Ok, you know you're a nerd when you can't sleep because of your power supply fan, and you try to design a new external power supply instead of just turning the computer off at night. Haha, this poor guy is going to be a virgin for life.
    • must.... preserve.... precious.... uptime.... stats....

    • Actually, there are lots of non-nerd reasons to leave your box on at night if you are a college student. Here are a few that come to mind.

      - AIM/ICQ etc. Non-nerds like collecting messages from people at night.
      - File sharing.
      - Falling asleep to music.

      What really surprises me is that this guy has such a quiet dorm...
    • Personally, my girlfriend and I sleep next to two athlons, and a few other machines in the closet. I think all he needs is to replace that power supply fan with the quietest case fan he can find. I did this and it works great.
    • Haha, this poor guy is going to be a virgin for life

      If he leaves his PC on all night. I have no problem leaving my PC on, however the ball and chain moans about

      1) Light from the DVD player
      2) Light from the DVD player *on standby*
      3) Light from the VCR
      4) Light from the little "tape in" on the VCR on standby
      5) Light from the TV on standby (little red LED)
      6) Light from the Power, HDD, keyboard LED, speaker LED, etc on my PC
      7) *tiny* red light from my amp on standby

      It's very infuriating! Oddly she doesnt min
    • SoCalChris wrote:

      Ok, you know you're a nerd when you can't sleep because of your power supply fan

      Wrong, wrong, WRONG! You could not be any further from the truth. A real nerd would have several redundant power supplies, and each would most likely be quite loud. They would have been selected not to minimize noise but to maximize airflow; nerds know that more airflow means more cooling means better performance and less component failure. Moreover, what is this strange revulsion toward machine noise? Rea

    • Yeah, but you write like an idiot who never even tried to go to college - at least he is. So don't make fun of him. And by the way, you might not be a virgin, but I can almost bet you lost it to a guy.
  • Actually, the PC case acts as a giant speaker, amplifying the sound of the fans in the PSU (And any other case fans as well). A small, normally un-noticeable imbalance on one of the fan blades would make a little noise. Screw it in tightly to your PC and it starts to make your PC shake as well.
    I think a smarter solution then an external PSU would be a Quiet PSU like the Vantec VAN-520a Stealth [vantecusa.com] and mount it using rubber gaskets where the screws go. If you wanted to take it a step further you could build a rubber gasket around the entire PSU itself to reduce any vibrations even more.

    My PC is very quiet because of this method. I have 4 case fans + 3 PSU fans and I can't hear any of them for the most part.

    Check out this [techtv.com] article over at TechTV from The Screen Savers on how to make a Quiet PC
  • If you fire up Knoppix on a modern lqptop - there is no noise from the laptop. No noise whatsoever. (Unless you have a crappy laptop that needs a fan to cool it's processor)

    It really creapy. After 20 years os associating the din of drives, fans and the hum of monitors with computers - it was really creep to have a dead quiet computer for a change.

  • www.silentpcreview.com [silentpcreview.com]

    I've been obsessing over computer noise for a while... both so I can sleep with out turning my computers off... and because I use my computer for studio work (audio recording)

    Currently I'm using zalmann flower heat sinks and zalman 70mm fans turned way down. As for power supplies... the Nexus is a good bet (around $75) or the zalman quiet power supply (around $40)

    I wouldn't bother out-boarding your powersupply, a waste of money and effort... but just in case you still want to
    • I've also been building a system for audio work, Thermalright heatsinks (the one you can clip an 80mm fan to), 4 Papst silent 80mm fans (two on the dual Duron 1.3GHz, two in the case), Enermax silent PSU, and three IDE disks with fluid dynamic bearings.

      End result: a dual CPU AMD-based machine with three hard disks that's so quiet I have to look at the lights/fans to check it's running, even with the case off. I should also mention that we lined the case with sound deadening material (sheets of cork/other s

  • Obligatory plug (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Friday March 28, 2003 @06:41PM (#5619367) Homepage
    The forums at Silent PC Review [silentpcreview.com] would be a great place to pose this question. I go by seishino there, but anyone will be able to help.

    External? The asus in front of me shipped with a 3 foot cable... that's definitely long enough to take outside of the case, but that wouldn't quiet the problem. There are some amazingly expensive fanless solutions available if you look (200$+), but for most people replacing the fan is good enough. There are also water-cooled psus, but they are also too expensive realistically for college use. Pick up a low-flo panaflos (L1A) from one of the places listed in the "hot deals" section (if you are near boston, I can get one to you), and put that in place of your fan. That is enough to cut sound down noticably.
  • Just get a quiet PSU and be done with it. There are plenty on the market.

    Or mod your existing power supply and but a variable speed fan inside. That's what I did, and I can't even hear my PSU.

  • wire length is your problem (Score:4, Informative)

    by TheGratefulNet ( 143330 ) on Friday March 28, 2003 @07:33PM (#5619689)
    I found this out the hard way. I wanted to 'remote' my ATX ps. so I bought an extension cable (atx to atx) and it almost worked - but the problem was that there wasn't enough wire 'capacity' to carry the current and not have a voltage drop screw up my voltage tolerances.

    heck, even just adding 6 inches can mess it up and make your system unstable.

    sorry, but that's reality. mobo's today need SUCH high current that you simply cannot just extend the wiring and have it work right. unless you use ungodly thick cable, that is.

    • Re:wire length is your problem (Score:5, Informative)

      by CharlieG ( 34950 ) on Friday March 28, 2003 @08:33PM (#5620046) Homepage
      There IS a way to do it without "ungodly thick cable"

      Power supplies CAN be built with what is called "remote sense", and in fact most lab grade or TRUE high power power supples use it.

      What is done is that you have a pair of leads that carry the current, and a pair of leads that feed back the measured voltage at the load to the regulator. The regulator raises it's output to get the "correct" voltage at the point where the sense leads are connected

      This is really about the only way you can do it with high power supplies. I worked on one supply that used to put out 5 volts, 100 amps +- 20 millivolts from no load to full load. The ONLY way to do that is have remote sense because the output leads have significant resistance when you talk about those tolerances

      I've always been surprised that PC power supplies have not done this
  • I don't sleep nearly as well without the background humming of a PC or two, or a window fan, some kind of white noise.

  • Silence in a dorm room? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by D.A. Zollinger ( 549301 ) on Friday March 28, 2003 @07:37PM (#5619733) Homepage Journal
    Silence is required as this PC is being used in my dorm room,

    You are living in a dorm room. I would think that the guys playing Xbox with the volume at max until 5am down the hall would keep you up more than some fan on your computer.

    I ended up purchasing a fan that I could run at night just so I could drown out the noises down the hall. Now I can't sleep without it.
  • No, really. I sleep with my computers powered up and cased. It is possible to go to sleep to the tune of your computer case, it's a matter of acclimating yourself to the sound. I'd suggest giving it a weekend. Alternatively, move the computer away from your bedside and place the case under the desk.
  • I think it would make more sense to take the fan out and use ducting to put the fan in a quieter spot.
  • Note: I haven't tried the following, some experimentation is required and/or some thermal calculations.

    Replace the fan with a vertical pipe. The hot air will rise and convection cool the power supply.

    Try to get the pipe outlet up above the living space, that will keep the heat away from you. I don't think you'll need that much height to get enough air flow, but I haven't tried it yet.

  • If you put the whole computer in a closet or ceiling you can easily run cables for keyboard, mouse, video and sound. Video is the only tricky one, the signal degrades quite quickly so you want to go as direct as possible.

  • The external power supply is readily available on . . . laptops.

    My laptop runs very quietly.
  • You didn't mention how powerful a PC you were trying to make. Mini-ITX [mini-itx.com] (more here) [linitx.com] exists for making a silent PC.

    I'm assuming because you are running this at night it will be a server. If you're talking about a small load server you could even go with one of the Eden based EPIA boards. There isn't even a fan on the processor.

    As for the power supply, the morex 55W at either of the aforementioned sites will power most EPIA systems. Rumour is there will be a more powerful Morex-like PSU coming out soon

  • Here's a fanless ATX PSU [deltatronic.info] from Germany. Probably very quiet. ;-)

  • I'll put in a plug for my favorite. I have two from PC Power & Cooling [pcpowerandcooling.com], an "ultra-quiet" AT/ATX one and one of their "turbo-cool" AT models. Both are still going after six years of constant use and even the 300W "turbo" one is quieter than most weaker power supplies. They aren't the cheapest you'll find but they sell a better quality product. I'm happy with it, anyway.
  • I going to let you in on a little secret my friend. Ear plugs. I know what your thinking, "Ear plugs? I want less noise." Well, my friend not only do ear plugs block entrance into the little holes on the side of your head by those neverdowells who wish to invade your sleepy peace, but they block sound also. I know, I know. It sounds to good to be true. But "Sound" is what we're talking about my friend. I can let you have a go with a pair of the finest plugs this side of the Mississippi.

    Sounds like a good d
    • I have a problem sleeping with rubber earplugs I would recomend foam ones unless you want an earache in the morning.
    • You could also go with bose noise reducing headphones those are a lot better then earplugs and you can still hear your computers music as well.

  • silence is golden (Score:2, Interesting)

    by nocent ( 71113 )
    here's my overall solution for a really quiet (not quite silent yet) pc:

    1. buy components which make less or no noise. the less noise you have to start with, the less you have to get rid off. eg. get a video card that doesn't require a fan rather than one that has one or choose a hard disk based on its quietness. seagate barracudas are a good choice.

    2. replace noisy case fans with quiet ones. this makes a huge difference. the most popular quiet fans are Panaflo L1As. even quiet fans can be made e

  • Back in my day we were given a 1mhz computer and we had to live with the noise, of course computers were 10 times louder in those days beacuse they had valves in
  • Try doing a google search for fanless power supplies. I instantly found some from silicon acoustics (i think), and having done this research before, I know that there's a company in germany that manufactures and sells fanless psus aswell. The hitch is that they cost around $200/200, which I consider to be *alot*. But money aside, that's your best bet.
  • ... I have seen several cases with external power supplies in Akihabara in the last couple months. These are regular ATX cases, not the small ones made for the Epia boards.
    (Maybe sold under the "Windy" brand???)

    I have to cruise Akihabara in the morning looking for some "junk" so I could get the details ...
  • You'd probably need to move the hard drive outside the case too. And if you have a Geforce FX, that'd need to go too. Hell, let's move the whole PC outside the case!

    Seriously though, couldn't you just buy some PS/2 or USB extention cables and put the computer in a closet or something? You could take it out when you wanted to use it during the day.

    Also, you get computers like the older compaq deskpro range that, although the PSU was in the case, you REALLY have to strain to hear the fan. I believe the fan
  • See here [impress.co.jp].
  • Earplugs are cheaper and work for the other stuff in the dorms that are going to keep you awake. Including your alarm clock.
  • If you are still looking for a solution to moving your power supply out of the box or just to make it quiet. Remoting all the controls, with limits you can extend the mouse, monitor, keyboard and other cables. Some research would be needed if it's a very long distance. I have seen multiplexers that do ALL of these on one wire but do not know if they'd pass any gaming spec. Cooling: A bit of mistyping but good. http://www.geocities.com/teranova52/html/pc_cooli n g_theory.html I would use a non corrosive
    • If you are still looking for a solution to moving your power supply out of the box or just to make it quiet.

      Remoting all the controls, with limits you can extend the mouse, monitor, keyboard and other cables. Some research would be needed if it's a very long distance.

      I have seen multiplexers that do ALL of these on one wire but do not know if they'd pass any gaming spec.

      Cooling: A bit of mistyping but good. http://www.geocities.com/teranova52/html/pc_cooli n g_theory.html I would use a non corrosive

  • Various 350 EX [soldam.co.jp]. Only problem: Only sold in Japan and extremly expensive to deliver to the US or Europe.

    There are some other *very* quiet internal PSUs on the market. Fortron has some new models available with 120 mm fans (a 120 mm fan moves nearly three times more air than a fan with 80mm running at the same speed, so the fans can run really slow). Engelking has a PSU, that only uses a fan, if it get's too hot (45 degrees celsius). With a moderate PC the fan will be off most of the time.

    And like some othe

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