fanless PSU in NSK2480

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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tipo33
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fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by tipo33 » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:37 pm

Would it be wise to run a fanless PSU in one of these cases? I read that fanless PSU's require some moving air. Due to the 3 chamber design, the PSU will be left by itself. Would it be OK, or would it cook?

edh
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Re: fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by edh » Mon Dec 31, 2012 9:19 am

If it is an old (+5 yrs) passive PSU then you might expect it to require additional airflow. Modern passive PSUs produce so little heat that they do not need additional airflow and in addition it is not a good idea to blow a load of hot air into them.

The NSK2480 does not have the best level of venting around the PSU but this should be fine if you are only running a media PC with a relatively low powered set of components. Ask it to supply 400W and you might have a lot of heat building up but naturally at 100W there is less heat fighting inside the PSU and a little heat from a hard disk to the front of the PSU.

tipo33
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Re: fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by tipo33 » Thu Jan 03, 2013 2:44 am

I was looking at getting the Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520W. Would it be ok powering an i3 3220, a 6870, and some hard drives?

edh
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Re: fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by edh » Thu Jan 03, 2013 4:03 am

The 520 is a bit over the top for that. Your total power draw will be less than 250W. The Radeon 6870 does have 2x6-pin power connectors which does rule out using some PSUs without an adaptor but you should at least drop to the Seasonic Platinum 460 fanless. It'll save you some money and be more efficient in this power bracket.

tipo33
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Re: fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by tipo33 » Thu Jan 03, 2013 6:55 pm

Thank you, A Seasonic 460 it is. I was originaly planning on a 400, but I realized it didn't have the 2 6 pin PCIe connectors, so I moved up to the 520.

Happy Hopping
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Re: fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by Happy Hopping » Thu Jan 03, 2013 9:57 pm

edh wrote:If it is an old (+5 yrs) passive PSU then you might expect it to require additional airflow. Modern passive PSUs produce so little heat that they do not need additional airflow and in addition it is not a good idea to blow a load of hot air into them.
.
what does a regular PSU do that a passive PSU Cannot do?

edh
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Re: fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by edh » Fri Jan 04, 2013 3:15 am

Happy Hopping wrote:what does a regular PSU do that a passive PSU Cannot do?
Blow. :D

efahl
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Re: fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by efahl » Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:04 am

edh wrote:
Happy Hopping wrote:what does a regular PSU do that a passive PSU Cannot do?
Blow. :D
Or suck. Depends on your perspective. :)

Happy Hopping
Posts: 254
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Re: fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by Happy Hopping » Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:23 pm

according to silent pc review, there is no good silent PSU, they all sucks :mrgreen:

edh
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Re: fanless PSU in NSK2480

Post by edh » Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:17 am

No, modern PSUs with fans all work by positive pressure cooling so they blow, not suck. I still have a very early 250W ATX PSU where a 92mm fan was mounted onto the underside of the PSU and it worked by negative pressure, exhausting air onto the CPU to increase cooling. Most early ATX PSUs worked this way and hence sucked (negative pressure). I have since modified this PSU with a 120mm fan mounted internally, thus cooling by positive pressure. Therefore it no longer sucks but instead blows (postive pressure).

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