Re: [Hampshire] ATX PSU in rack case

On Mon, 6 Dec 2010 13:00:28 +0000, "Paul Tansom" <paul@???>
said:
> These PSUs are about 9 years old by the dates on them, and, although not
> an
> immediate problem, they don't support SATA (connectors wise), so that
> would
> need addressing at some point. They are also much noisier than the newer
> units
> I have, which seem to be more efficient with PFC (and other improvements)
> and
> run somewhat cooler. I need to do some tests, and may stick with the
> existing
> units for now, but like the idea of using the newer units if possible -
> if
> nothing else the others have been running 24x7 for about 8 years (I
> assume,
> these used to have dual Athlon MP motherboards in as part of a Linux
> cluster),
> so I have no idea what remaining life they may have, or what they may do
> to the
> other kit if / when they fail.

Entirely understandable concerns. I have no idea what the MTBF of a
typical server PSU is, but I have seen the aftermath of one which did go
catastrophically once and it was not pretty or fragrant.

Coincidentally I have a typical ATX power supply in front of me, the
length of the short edge of which is slightly under 3.25" so it may well
be that one of these would fit under the cover of a 2U case. A problem
may lie in cooling it adequately though. It seems they are designed to
require airflow through four surfaces (three in and one out via the
fan). I think squeezing one into a rack mounted box would mean losing
ventilation through at least the larger face. Perhaps it wouldn't be a
problem if you are only supplying low powered motherboards and disc
drives which are fairly transient loads.

Neil