Making a PSU smaller.

fatiain · 23 Apr 2006 at 08:08

I've put together a m-itx download/folding box which I can leave on 24/7 in the bedroom as my main rig is "too noisy" (according to mrs fatiain), pah, it's only got 7 fans! (Maybe I'll 7v mod them too

)

Now here lies the problem, the PSU I have doesn't fit in the case, if I make the PSU case smaller by about an inch off the height, it'll fit perfectly.

Question - Is it ok to do this with a PSU?

I've got a low profile fan that I can use instead of the one fitted which'll make it thinner.

Mikey1280 · 23 Apr 2006 at 09:52

You can follow the psu shrinking guide found in case central. I wouldnt advise it though.

fatiain · 23 Apr 2006 at 10:19

Ok, been wandering round at work, "planning". Could I mount the PSU board naked in the case? Bearing in mind, it's going to be tucked away under my desk and never (rarely) opened for maintenance/buggering about with.

I don't see why not as long as I connect the earth to the case as it's earthed to the PC through the PSU case anyway.

Am I living a little too close to the edge here?

wilders · 23 Apr 2006 at 11:17

Not being a qualified electrician, I know theres a lot of voltage inside these babies, so I would be cacking it removing the case from the psu...but thats me!

Cyanide · 23 Apr 2006 at 11:26

fatiain said:
Ok, been wandering round at work, "planning". Could I mount the PSU board naked in the case? Bearing in mind, it's going to be tucked away under my desk and never (rarely) opened for maintenance/buggering about with.

I don't see why not as long as I connect the earth to the case as it's earthed to the PC through the PSU case anyway.

Am I living a little too close to the edge here?

Most probably... It's not a good idea to go fiddling around inside PSU's. PC's tend to use the earth as a neutral, so there's usually some voltage flowing down it. Then there's the capacitors in there, they can store a beastie voltage and if anything were to accidently touch them... or were to come too close they could quite easily go bang, taking out your PSU, your rig and possibly even you.

It takes 0.8A to kill your... modern PSU's put out 50 times that. I wouldn't risk it myself... :eek:

Your best bet is to try and find a mini ATX PSU from a Shuttle or something, if they exist :confused:

trojan698 · 23 Apr 2006 at 11:28

You might be better picking up a PSU for an SFF system, should be capable of running a download box I'd have thought.