Can anyone recommend a compact or short PSU?

[paperfist]

Howdy,

I just picked up a HIS 4870 GPU and due to its length it won't fit into my Apevia X-Master case The problem is the card it about 1/4" too long and would hit my PSU; tack on another 1/2" for the 2 required 6 pin connectors and I'm about 3/4" into my PSU.

I tried searching around for compact and short PSU but I'm not turning up too many results. On top of that searching on sites like newegg there aren't many with dimensions listed.

I need enough power to run that card and an Intel E8500, 2 HDs, DVD burner, 4GB RAM, and a X-Fi card.

Thanks to anyone that can point me in the right direction

BTW, I don't really want to purchase a new case. I just bought this one and I am aware it's not really meant to be used for anything other then a HTPC. I could get my Dremmel out and do some cutting, but if possible I'd like to avoid that.

 

[Zepper]

There are a few PS-3 form factor PSUs out there which are the same width (about 6") and height (about 3.5") as standard ATX(PS/2) units but much less deep at around 3" or so (std. ATX is 5.5"). They seldom have a lot of power (maybe 300W max), but some good mfrs (e.g. Seasonic) make them. Other PSUs which are in between PS/2 and PS/3 are few and far between. Apevia uses them in their X-QPack (but not the QP-2) and maybe the case you mentioned but they are custom OEM by who knows who. C-M also had some OEM by Macron Tech. for their Cavalier model HTPC-style cases. It is also possible that HEC (Heroichi) OEMed some to fit the Chenming 118 which is nearly identical to the original X-QPack. Other than that, "I know nothing - NOTHING"... Best to hit the PSU maker's sites to find short ATX units, but then actually finding one out there to buy will be the trick...

Here are a few maker sites to check:
Cooler Master (perhaps they have a Cavalier replacement available as the Macron made ones were quite unreliable).
Silverstone
HECGroup
Fortron/Sparkle (FSP Group)
Seasonic
Topower
Apevia (but their PSUs don't have a great rep either) - perhaps the replacement units have been upgraded - IDK who OEMs for them.
Enhance (mainly OEM for Silverstone and others, been around a long time)
and perhaps PC Power & Cooling (they have had some of the unusual types in the past)

.bh.

Added after seeing the mesage below - buying a case properly sized for your components would probably be much easier. Smarter yet would have been to buy a vid card that fit your current case/psu... Doing the homework always pays off. .bh.

 

[Kelvrick]

Might be better just to buy a new case.

 

[dangman4ever]

There aren't that many good quality small sized PSUs out there let alone ones that can support your system. Probably the best small PSU I could find on Newegg was the Seasonic ECO 300. The Seasonic ECO 300 (comes with a bracket to allow it to be used with ATX) would work if you drop both the DVD and one of the hard drives.

But like Zepper and Kelvrick, I recommend just replacing the case and PSU altogether for the following reasons:
A) The included PSU in the Apevia case is shit.
B) The case can't fit your video card.

Even if you went with a shorter card, I still recommend getting a better quality PSU like the BFG LS-550 for $80 over at Newegg.

 

[paperfist]

Thank you very much for the help everyone

I did research as best I could with this case, but it's pretty new and internal dimensions aren't something that is readily available. Returning the video card is not an option due to restocking fees, return shipping, etc.

The case for me is a perfect size and again the RMA route is not an option so I'm stuck with it. The PSU currently runs everything fine, so I'll have to bite the bullet and rip everything out and modify the front of the case's PSU cage to make more room for the video card and PSU.

 

[Zepper]

Be nice to know which case you've been talking about. For the PSU to be in the way of the vid card, it has to be one strange box... Sorry, I see it now, never mind... So I went and looked at the Newegg photo gallery on the X-Master. The last row of mounting holes for an ATX mobo is at just about 9" from the surface of the slot plates, so one can pretty easily tell that any card much over 9" long will have trouble in that case with that PSU. Plus, the cable bundle on that PSU is in just the wrong place to avoid interference with the vid card. Whoever "designed" that package was "out to lunch"! That case looks A LOT like the nMedia 3000 case which I was considering at one time, but that one came w/o PSU... It looks like it would have about the same card length problem with a std. length ATX PSU.

.bh.