Diy Silent PC Power supply

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Hi!

I want to make my PC power supply quiet :)
I don't want to by a new one I want to make one by adding a bigger heat sink and lowering fan's voltage.

The heat sinks in supply are two plates, almost with no fins. I want to replace them with one that is 9x3,8x3,5cm there are 9 fins that are 3cm long. I believe that these are much better than the one in supply.
The heat sink i used is some old processor heat sink cut in half, so that is why now i have one with 8 fins and one with 9 fins.

Because of the small space for supply i want to fasten the new heat sink on back side. By doing this i will have to remove all the transistors (there are 3 by heat sink) and connect them again with board with wires that will be long about 3 cm. Will that make some trouble, like oscillations? :xeye:
 

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It's been done successfully before, but the only way you will know is to try it. Don't mind this star character, "she" is a forum bot.

You might want to leave the cooling fan on the power supply, and undervolt it. The transformers and capacitors will thank you.

-David
 
You cannot just extend the wires on switching power supply components, at least not without considering what effects the added capacitances and inductances would have. What you could do is move the components to the other side of the board (which you remount on standoffs) so there'll be enough clearance for the new heatsinks. Or just epoxy the new heatsinks onto the existing heatsinks if there'll be enough clearance.

Do realize that it looks like a poor quality power supply based on the size of the components used and the lack of input inductors.
Don't mind this star character, "she" is a forum bot.
Question my authority if you like, but if you do, I'm sure someone else knowledgeable would agree that's not a good quality power supply.
 
Get a new power supply that is silent to start with:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article922-page5.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Silverstone_ST45NF_PSU

http://www.silentpcreview.com/section10.html

A few power supplies of today have noise levels below 20dbA @ 1m. At that noise levels, the HDD is going to be way, way louder.

You can make it quiet yourself. But will it be worth your time effort and safety. Having a slower fan (recommending fan swap as what most PC silencers do if they mod their PSU) and bigger heatsink will lower noise levels, but while your transistors may stay the same temperature, the air temperature in the PSU will rise. And that is not good for the capacitors, which are major causes of failure from aging + heat.
 
That power supply is very low quality and doesn't even deserve the effort. It doesn't even have an EMI filter (probably an illegal Chinese import with fake safety and EMI certifications). Buy a new one, and for some extra money it can be silent enough.

Some mass produced stuff like PC power supplies is so cheap that it's not worth messing with.

BTW: Save your heatsinks for some amplifier project ;)
 
The scary PC supplies I've seen didn't even bother with faking the safety certification. I usually see them in cheap case + power supply combos. I buy the good-looking case, then strip out the power supply and put in something decent. Usually a good sign is a brand name that I recognize (SPI, for example - a second-tier supplier, but at least they make the effort to provide real safety certification and decent heat sinks). The most humorous off-brand name I've seen so far - Austin Power (the power supply didn't try to shag me, but it eventually blew up - I think the standby supply bit the dust)....
 
Those supply with 12 cm fans sounds great. On my work place there are 3 computers in my office that have brand name 550w power supply's with 12cm fan's. One is totally silent, second a bit noisy and third one is like a airplane! I'm not sure but there are supply which controls fan;'s speed according to a power requirements?
 
Oh, yes, this one makes really big noise! I tried to disconnect two fans, one in front and one on aback of a case but the noise did not change! :bigeyes: Those two fans are 12 cm and are really silent. The graphic card has no fan. So i came to a conclusion that the Cooler master supply makes that loud noise. When the computer shuts down you can not believe how quiet the room gets after that! :)
 
Hdds as a Hard disc? No, that is not the case. I'm sure that the supply fan is making all the noise.

Well, the noise is different for everyone, I must say. My supply is not that much noise that distract. PC case is on the floor but i can steel hear noise from fan. I'm doing music on a computer and i need to hear only music, nothing in background :)

By searching for the silent pc on net, i have found some really crazy solutions like heaving passive cooling for all components, including processor :eek: . Well, I don't want that much silent pc :)
 
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