External power supplies?

[SteveGrimm]

Does anyone make external PC power supplies? Moving the power supply outside the case would eliminate the need for a noisy power supply fan and lower the case temperature. It's clearly possible to power a computer with an external PS; Apple's G4 Cube (which has no cooling fans at all) uses one.

The PS fan is the loudest thing in my PC at the moment -- and that's *after* I bought a special low-noise power supply. I'd love to get rid of that source of noise.

 

[buildingacomputer]

That's a neat idea. Please keep me updated. I have not checked specs but I guess (anyone who has done this before, please correct me):

1) My Sparkle 300W PS takes 10A max at 115V (label), 115x10=1150W. And outputs 300W max. 1150-300=850W max is converted/consumed as heat, noise, cooling fan, etc. I suspect heat comprises most of 850W wasted energy.

2) A PC uses 300W max. I guess heat loss is not going to be more than 150W. The other 150W is used to charge capacitors, flip transistors, etc, I mean, non-thermal energy.

3) 150W internal heat is almost nothing compared to 850 external heat. By removing this huge source of heat source, case vent fans can get much smaller.

4) By placing the 850W external heat source boldly exposed to open air, you can cool the PS heat sinks with a much smaller fan, and/or at a reduced voltage.

5) I experimented with 12V 80mm fans. They run nice and quite at 10V.

I guess the main complexity is with fabricating the interface between PC and external PS. Please keep me updated. Excellent idea.