Refit the main PCB routing this black wire as you see fit, avoiding the standoffs or trapping it at the edge of the board. Refit the fan and ensure anything you unplugged is replaced. I took this opportunity to bundle up unused leads and tuck them back into the power supply. This keeps the case neat and allows the lead to be easily used again should I upgrade the system, or god forbid need to use a floppy drive again.

Now replace the cover ensuring no wires jam the fan or get trapped anywhere. Before using a power supply in a system, I will always power it up manually by shorting the green pin in the ATX connector to ground. You can do this with a paper clip in the relavent pins of the ATX connector. If something is to go wrong, better it should happen without the rest of your components at risk. Don't worry too much if the fan does not spin up now, the power supply will need to be connected to a real life system to work properly and give the voltages it is supposed to.

When first powering the system up, check the power supply fan is spinning. You may not be able to hear it, so put your ear close or check for airflow. You need to be sure that the fan starts reliably so check this every time you start the machine for a couple of times, just to be safe. I haven't had a fan that failed to start at 12v yet, but as always with running things out of spec, nothing can be guaranteed.

It would probably be a good idea to keep an eye on system temperatures, as with the new lower noise, a lot of airflow is sacrificed. I would make a guess that airflow is reduced by 55% to 65%, which alone is not enough airflow for a modern system. Partnering with an exhaust fan (running at the same 7 volts) will provide the extra flow required, and won't increase the noise appreciably. There is a tendancy to fret too much about temperatures. If you want a quiet system you will have to "endure" CPU temps approaching 65c. This is well within most CPUs thermal guidelines.

If after reading this guide, you still don't feel ready to try this out. Then go and buy a silent powersupply from somewhere like QuietPC.

<< Back | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | | 4 | Next >>