Fanless PSU for small HTPC

[BubbaBooBoo]

I want to replece the PSU in an old Sempron rig that I use as a HTPC. Id prefer going fanless as I want quiet and theres nothing in the case but one 20 GB HD, so even a 250W would probebly be fine. Any sugestions for something cheap that wont melt down in a week?

Edit: While im at it, I might as well ask another Q about this system. Can I take out the HD altogether? All it has on it is Win98SE and I have a couple of extra USB keys, a 2 GB and a 4 GB laying around. Can I kill the HD and put the OS on one key, and then play my vids off the other key, having a twin USB key and no HD sistem?

 

[Modelworks]

There are plenty of supplies that are quiet, but not fanless. I would look for something in the 400 watt range because a supply like that running on a system that needs 100watts would not likely use the fan much .
For storage, get a ide to compact flash adapter + flash . Installs inside the case and draws next to nothing in power. I use them for a router/firewall.
What I bought:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822998003 $7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820208339 $17

Looks just like a hard drive to the pc.
You could use the usb drives if you don't mind the drive hanging out the front/back.

 

[BubbaBooBoo]

That CF looks like a good solution for seven bucks. I read thru some of the coments and they seemed to get involved in PIO and other issues and it seems like about half of them love it and half say it doesnt work. But for the money it might be worth a try. I thougth that there were completely pasive and fanless PSUs for sale. Do you know of any?

 

[zagood]

A quick search on jonnyguru.com found this bad boy; more than you're asking for, and probably over twice the price you're willing to pay, but sounds like the best damn fanless psu out there.

Silverstone Fanless ST45NF 450W
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modul...iews&op=Story&reid=129

 

[Andrew1990]

Hmm, what about the 120w PicoPSU? It is very small and no fan.

 

[ther00kie16]

there's even a 150w picopsu. that might be enough for a sempron depending on the other hardware. maybe you can hook 2 120w in parallel.
but seriously, sempron's not going to cut it for a lot of things. might want to just spend a little more and get a nettop (ion maybe?).

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: ther00kie16
there's even a 150w picopsu. that might be enough for a sempron depending on the other hardware. maybe you can hook 2 120w in parallel.
but seriously, sempron's not going to cut it for a lot of things. might want to just spend a little more and get a nettop (ion maybe?).

A Sempron with a cheap GeForce 9400 GT will spank an Ion in everything except low power draw.

Which Sempron is it? It probably doesn't use much power so a PicoPSU should work - just get the right wattage model. A PicoPSU will also be more efficient than a higher capacity PSU running at these low wattages.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: BubbaBooBoo
That CF looks like a good solution for seven bucks. I read thru some of the coments and they seemed to get involved in PIO and other issues and it seems like about half of them love it and half say it doesnt work. But for the money it might be worth a try. I thougth that there were completely pasive and fanless PSUs for sale. Do you know of any?

The PIO stuff is mainly a problem with some linux distributions. They don't recognize the controller on the card and some PC don't allow you to set PIO modes so the drive shows up not found or with errors.

Otherwise I love the CF ide setups.

What the reviewers are not saying is that the adapter for $7 has no interface hardware. It isn't needed. It is just a adapter that powers the CF card and provides the connector to convert the card pins to ide pins. The actual PIO mode, etc is dependent on the CF card you use.

 

[BubbaBooBoo]

zagood, ya, thats overkill for my system but its exactly what I want but much much lower output and cheapr. That would be great for a main system that you wanted to keep quite.

Andrew1990 and ther00kie16, Ill bet that once the HD is gone and I'm on flash alone, the picos would be more than enough. As for sempron's not cuting it, its been working fine for over a year doing nothin but playing videos. No prbs ever. My main system is a Core i7 920, 12GB RAM, Veloceraptor boot drive and 1TB RAID1s, that's the rig that cuts everything I can throw at it!

Zap: Sempron 3000+ Barton. Considerng that I dont have anything in there, just mobo, 256MB RAM, and soon to have a flash boot drive, (no HD, no DVD, no CD, no Floppy, just a GeForce 5200) Im sure I don't need too much watage.

Modelworks, thanks for the PI0 explanation. Would it be posible to just put in my 2GB USB key in one USB slot with an OS on it, and use my other 4GB USB keys to wathc movies on, saving the CF IDE setup? That way I can use USB keys that I orderely dont use.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: BubbaBooBoo
Zap: Sempron 3000+ Barton. Considerng that I dont have anything in there, just mobo, 256MB RAM, and soon to have a flash boot drive, (no HD, no DVD, no CD, no Floppy, just a GeForce 5200) Im sure I don't need too much watage.

You could probably get by with an 80W or 90W PicoPSU. Have you considered a cheap power meter (Kill-A-Watt) just to play around with?

 

[BubbaBooBoo]

Originally posted by: Zap

You could probably get by with an 80W or 90W PicoPSU. Have you considered a cheap power meter (Kill-A-Watt) just to play around with?

I know a guy who has one and Ill borrow it from him. Im too cheap!