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Help looking for a "hard to find" power supply.

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by 21Q, Jan 12, 2008.

  1. 21Q

    21Q Regular member

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    I always seem to have the right power supply, but this time I don't. For a pc I'm building I need a 400w power supply. Now you may be wondering "but 21, those are easy to find!" Well here is the catch, I need a very small one. In fact the dimensions can't exceed 80(H) - 40(W) -220(L). After hours on the internet I've come across some candidates but they are just barley to big. So any help is greatly appreciated.
     
  2. 21Q

    21Q Regular member

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    Bump as i desperately need a reply.
     
  3. cee43ja1

    cee43ja1 Regular member

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    bumping is frowned upon on aD.

    and i doubt you will find a reliable psu with those dimensions. anything 400w+ is standard atx. even if you find a micro atx power supply with 400w, it's probably from a cheapo company.
     
  4. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    why so small & don't bump again?
     
  5. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    That's a micro-sized PSU. Am I right in thinking it's going in a small-form-factor case like a Shuttle?
    You will never find a 400W supply this big, but fortunately, no PC that size actually needs a power supply that big. NO IFS, NO BUTS
    The downside is that that's such a small size, the only replacement is a PSU the exact same as the ones you want to replace. If it hasn't broken, there's no need to replace it, as there's nothing better to replace it with.
     
  6. 21Q

    21Q Regular member

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    It is for a small form factor case, but not from any particular computer. It's for a project I've been working on. I've already had to change my case since there was no power supply that could fit.
     
  7. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    If it's something like an Asus Terminator, you're out of luck for a big power supply.
    What hardware is going in it? You can run a half-decent gaming PC off a 165W unit.
     
  8. 21Q

    21Q Regular member

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    Well the mobo I have need at least 300 or 400, not sure, but my 200w psu didn't work on it. I need to run 1 150gb sata hd with an ide to sata dapter and 1 dvd rom drive. The case is a custom case.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2008
  9. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    If the case is that custom, modify it so it'll fit a proper power supply.
     
  10. 21Q

    21Q Regular member

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    Well it would be a hasle. The only real alternative is if that the power supply over laps the mobo's PCI ports or the processor. I would like to put a wireless card in there so if I can avoid putting it on the PCI ports that would be great. The processor is embeded, so as a result the heat sink is reletivly small. In fact, it's just a fan. So as those are really my only options.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2008
  11. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    I'm beginning to doubt that this PC will need a 400W unit. Just put something like 150W shuttle unit in it.
     
  12. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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  13. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    No motherboard needs anywhere near that amount of power, I guarantee it.
     
  14. 21Q

    21Q Regular member

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    My 200w psu must be dead then, tomorrow I will get a new one and see.
     
  15. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    An FYI:
    I run a Core 2 Duo E4300 overclocked to 3.15Ghz, running at a higher than usual voltage, a Radeon X1900XT video card, 2GB of RAM and two hard disks.
    When my PC's playing a game that maxes the CPU and GPU it only draws 240W from the mains, so it's actual DC power draw is probably around 200W. Idling in windows it only uses 120W (so about 100 at DC) A compact system shouldn't even require half that much to turn on.
     
  16. 21Q

    21Q Regular member

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    I was able to get two psu's today and I'm going to get a psu that goes in a dell optiplex gx270. So as soon as I get home I'm going to try then and update you guys on it.
     
  17. sammorris

    sammorris Senior member

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    Sounds good, give it a try.
     
  18. 21Q

    21Q Regular member

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    Well for some reason one of psu's just made the board send out a high pitched sound. The second one that I used was 240v (didn't say watts) and it worked fine. Unfortunately it was .25 inches to big ........ Well, tomorrow I'm getting the psu I had originally intended to get.
     

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