** Neil Stainton <neil.s.mailinglists@???> [2010-12-06 13:21]:
> 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.
** end quote [Neil Stainton]
Yes, I've lost one system to a PSU failure, which likley isn't bad since I've
been using various platforms for neary 30 years now. That prompted me to
replace the standard case units that I had used with decent Thermaltake ones
(although not massively expensive). Thankfully, for this purpose, they don't
have the large fans on the 'underside' (depending on which way up you have
them!), and iirc they have front and back fans, which may work quite nicely. I
also have fittings to support a bank of 4 fans straight across the middle of
the case (although not the motherboard connectors to support that on these -
the original Tyan ones did, as well as serial pass through for nice access to
serial consoles. Unfortunately they were very heavy on the power usage - I can
run 3.5 of my new systems for the same power usage of the old ones. Thankfully
I never had to run them muself, they came with the rack and cases.
--
Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. |
http://www.aptanet.com/ | 023 9238 0001
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