Naked PSU. Safe?

[alphadogg]

I have a case with limited space. The clearance between the motherboard and PSU above it is 45mm. Can't seem to find a queit LGA775 heatsink that short. I was thinking of taking the guts out of the PSU and getting creative, but is it safe? Does the PSU circuitry have to stay inside its metal case?

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: alphadog

I have a case with limited space. The clearance between the motherboard and PSU above it is 45mm. Can't seem to find a queit LGA775 heatsink that short. I was thinking of taking the guts out of the PSU and getting creative, but is it safe? Does the PSU circuitry have to stay inside its metal case?

I'm thinking that no, it would not be safe. I keep hearing about the caps inside psu's and how they have enough juice to kill or mess you up if you touch them while charged and that they keep their charge for days even after being turned off. Personally I only open PSU's to change the fan and then it's a quick open and close, I don't go anywhere near the components.

If you really want to stick with this setup I would think the only safe way would be to make your own enclosure for the psu. I don't reccomend this either but perhaps someone else can give you some advice towards that end.

 

[yh125d]

I'm not sure why a PSU would be in the way of a CPU cooler, is the PSU above the CPU socket if the motherboard it laying flat on a table?

 

[DSF]

Seems to me there's the potential for a lot of interference from the PSU components without any metal shielding around it.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Not safe at all, like Spike mentioned the capacitors are deadly.

 

[Zepper]

I'm guessing the OP has a case like the Aspire/Apevia X-QPack or the Ultra MicroFly or other with the PSU mounted parallel to the mobo for compactness. About the best you can do with those is a Zalman (and similar) radial fin type HSF.
Safest would be to get a PC case with room for your components to stretch out. The Rosewill R5604 or R5605 should have adequate room for a decent HSF plus they are often on sale at Newegg (Rosewill is a Newegg house repackager). The Rosewill Conqueror (same as Silverstone PS01) should also offer plenty of room. Few of the other Rosewill model series are on par with these quality-wise.

.bh.

 

[imported_Harbinger]

Its not just the capacitors that are dangerous, the AMPs running are enough to easily kill you. Don't risk your life, buy a bigger case or run it externally but closed.