[Wolves] Silly question maybe...

[Wayne Morris]

Kevanf1 wrote:

>On 5/16/05, Peter Evans <zen8486 at zen.co.uk> wrote:
>  
>
>>On Monday 16 May 2005 11:22, Kevanf1 wrote:
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>>>PSU's have fans in them. Ok, they are no doubt put there for a
>>>purpose.  But, has anybody ever run a PC with the PSU fan(s) broken or
>>>simply taken out?  
>>>      
>>>
>>You really, really don't want to run a PC with the Fan on the PSU broken or
>>disabled.  
>>    
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>
>Oh no, wouldn't even consider that :-)
>
>The PSU is the major heat generator in the system and running a PC
>  
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>>without adequate cooling can cause component instability and ultimately
>>permanently damage the electronics.
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>
>Yep, I'm totally with you on that so far.
> 
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>>There are a new generation of 'fanless' PSU's on the market that as far as I
>>know replace the active fans with massive heatsinks.
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>Which are mega expensive....why???  Just to get more money out of
>upgraders perhaps?
>
>  
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>>But to re-iterate - you CAN do it, but it's not a good idea. My opinion
>>anyway.
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>
>Hmmmm, ok.  I'll now go further.  What I want to do is remove the PSU
>from a PC altogether.  In effect taking away the biggest heat source
>as has already been pointed out.  Obviously the beast needs power. 
>So, my next thought was to take a PSU but remove the fans - I know,
>it's dangerous to remove a PSU housing, no problem I'm quite aware of
>the hidden hazards.  Then place this PSU into a separate housing with
>a lead to the PC similar to a notebook PC.  Why do I want to do all
>this?  To make a decent media server that doesn't hum and whine above
>the very quiet passages of classical music I like to listen to.  It's
>no problem if I happen to be playing some Hawkwind because it just
>adds to the overall sound :-)  I know that there are 'quiet' options
>available but they are not noiseless.  Why is it so difficult to
>produce a noiseless PC when other household appliances often consume
>far more power with zero noise?
>
>  
>
Your biggest problem with a separate enclosure for PSU would be voltage 
drop between the PSU and the computer,
you would need quite thick cables to provide the power without too much 
loss in the cables.
More to the point, the PSU has a 5v detection circuit that shuts it down 
if it doesn't detect 5V at the board via return wire,
a drop of .5v can be enough to trigger this AFAIK.