Help me pick a PSU for my difficult mATX

H

Hadoken

Hi all, seeking help on a PSU without having to buy a bunch of different
form factors to try them out.

My case is a Chilli mATX as shown in the link below:

http://www.modthebox.com/reviews/pcmods/chillipro/chilli41.jpg

Pretty case. Awful design. The ATX PSU covers the CPU leading to no
cooling. I need to solve this issue. My board is Biostar mATX, and I am
going to stick in a Barton 333FSB, probably 2700+. I also will add 1 GB
of PC 2700 RAM, an ATI AIW 8500DV, Firewire PCI and Ultraflex PCI card
(to allow my ass kicking SGI 1600sw to use the ATI card). For optic
drive, I have purchased a 5 1/4 short bay adapter that will allow me to
put a DVD laptop drive in the top bay + a 3.5 Lian Li temp monitor.
Sounds good until I figure how the hell I would power this. Essentially,
the ATX PSU location right now will not do because it blocks the CPU.
Two fans are going to go in it's place (not sure whether both will push
in air, or just one). CPU will run some fat cooler like a Zalman.
Drilling the blue anodized case is not an option I want to pursue right
now.

Now the question is, where the hell do I put the PSU and how many watts
do I need? I only have 3 possible locations:

1) In the space where the 2 3.5 bays are located
2) In the 2nd 5 1/4 bay
3) Behind the 5 1/4 bays, since the top bay will have a device about half
the length of a normal CD drive.

Obviously, I would push any PSU to the back and Dremel the rear. Rough
estimates say I need approx. 300 watts. I can only think of 2 options
right now.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no PSU that fits in a 5 1/4 bay.
That means I can use a Enermax 270w mATX PSU and mod it a little to fit
behing the 5 1/4 bay. My concern is, this is too weak.

Alternatively, I get a 300w 1U server PSU and stick it in the 3.5" bay.
1U width is the same as a 3.5 adapter so I am OK. I know nothing about
server PSU's. Are they super loud? That would suck for a desktop case.

Yes, all this pain in the name of case vanity, but what the hell....
 
M

Moderately Confused

Hadoken said:
Hi all, seeking help on a PSU without having to buy a bunch of different
form factors to try them out.

My case is a Chilli mATX as shown in the link below:

http://www.modthebox.com/reviews/pcmods/chillipro/chilli41.jpg

Pretty case. Awful design. The ATX PSU covers the CPU leading to no
cooling. I need to solve this issue. My board is Biostar mATX, and I am
going to stick in a Barton 333FSB, probably 2700+. I also will add 1 GB
of PC 2700 RAM, an ATI AIW 8500DV, Firewire PCI and Ultraflex PCI card
(to allow my ass kicking SGI 1600sw to use the ATI card). For optic
drive, I have purchased a 5 1/4 short bay adapter that will allow me to
put a DVD laptop drive in the top bay + a 3.5 Lian Li temp monitor.
Sounds good until I figure how the hell I would power this. Essentially,
the ATX PSU location right now will not do because it blocks the CPU.
Two fans are going to go in it's place (not sure whether both will push
in air, or just one). CPU will run some fat cooler like a Zalman.
Drilling the blue anodized case is not an option I want to pursue right
now.

Now the question is, where the hell do I put the PSU and how many watts
do I need? I only have 3 possible locations:

1) In the space where the 2 3.5 bays are located
2) In the 2nd 5 1/4 bay
3) Behind the 5 1/4 bays, since the top bay will have a device about half
the length of a normal CD drive.

Obviously, I would push any PSU to the back and Dremel the rear. Rough
estimates say I need approx. 300 watts. I can only think of 2 options
right now.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no PSU that fits in a 5 1/4 bay.
That means I can use a Enermax 270w mATX PSU and mod it a little to fit
behing the 5 1/4 bay. My concern is, this is too weak.

Alternatively, I get a 300w 1U server PSU and stick it in the 3.5" bay.
1U width is the same as a 3.5 adapter so I am OK. I know nothing about
server PSU's. Are they super loud? That would suck for a desktop case.

Yes, all this pain in the name of case vanity, but what the hell....

If you laugh at warranties, you could just carefully remove the PSU from its
case, and that would dramatically remove some of it's bulkiness.

MC
 

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