[Suns-at-Home] RE: [Suns-at-Home] RE: [Suns-at-Home] Ultra 5 - Quiet Power Supply

[Jima]

On Mon, 30 Oct 2006, Lewis, Benjamin (Ben) wrote:
> The chap said that I couldn't have cash back but I could have the 
> difference in a voucher.

  That's the one thing I dislike about the smaller computer shops; they 
usually offer only store credit for refunds.

> They only sell PC stuff so I didn't know what to buy. The only 
> interesting thing I could find was a blue neon tube! (they actually had 
> water cooling kits but I resisted!).

  Oh man!  You actually did it.

> The good thing is that the neon tube comes with a switch built into a 
> PCI blanking plate so that you can turn the thing off, that blue colour 
> looks cool but is pretty harsh on the eyes after a while.

  Hmm.  I wonder if it'd be possible to put something like window screen 
material in front of it to dull it down.  Something that would add some 
opacity, but not restrict airflow.

> It doesn't actually seem much quieter. I think the source of most of the 
> noise is the 8cm fan in the front left of the case. I also bought a 
> "super-quiet" fan which fits right into the plastic housing. Trouble is 
> the connector is different so I will need to fire up the soldering iron 
> when I get the chance.

  Yeah, that.  I was just looking at the fan connector on mine a week or so 
ago, cursing the unusual connector.  My fan's showing its age, so I 
suspect I'll be replacing mine before too long.

  Thanks again for verifying that ATX (v1, at least) power supplies in fact 
work in the U5.  I suspect that information will serve me well before 
terribly long.  (As I type this on my U10 that's only been off for 
maintenance a handful of times in the five years I've owned it...)

      Jima