| [[Image:Orion-atx-24.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Orion 24VDC ATX supply, with fan mod]]After the PW80 power supply died, I got it replaced under warranty, and made sure not to connect the machine to anything else which did not have isolated DC power. But, a couple months later, the second supply died anyway. So maybe it is just a crappy design. That is odd, because it was designed specifically for Epia motherboards, and the only other significant load on it is a quiet, efficient 2.5" hard drive. So, I am using one of the Orion supplies (even though it is oversized for such an application - it can run the Athlon MythTV monster machine just as easily). Those come with noisy fans though. To quiet it down, I got some high-quality double-ball-bearing fans, some silicone isolation pads, replaced the punched-out sheet metal fan grill with a wire grill, and finally rewired the fan connections inside the supply to run from 7V instead of 12V (just connect the "ground" wire to 5V rather than to actual ground. 12V - 5V = 7V.) It is now pretty quiet, and with such a light load I don't think there is any chance of it overheating. But this machine is in a 1U case, and that supply doesn't fit, so I had to bring out the ATX connector on an extension cable, and mount the power supply externally on the rack. | | [[Image:Orion-atx-24.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Orion 24VDC ATX supply, with fan mod]]After the PW80 power supply died, I got it replaced under warranty, and made sure not to connect the machine to anything else which did not have isolated DC power. But, a couple months later, the second supply died anyway. So maybe it is just a crappy design. That is odd, because it was designed specifically for Epia motherboards, and the only other significant load on it is a quiet, efficient 2.5" hard drive. So, I am using one of the Orion supplies (even though it is oversized for such an application - it can run the Athlon MythTV monster machine just as easily). Those come with noisy fans though. To quiet it down, I got some high-quality double-ball-bearing fans, some silicone isolation pads, replaced the punched-out sheet metal fan grill with a wire grill, and finally rewired the fan connections inside the supply to run from 7V instead of 12V (just connect the "ground" wire to 5V rather than to actual ground. 12V - 5V = 7V.) It is now pretty quiet, and with such a light load I don't think there is any chance of it overheating. But this machine is in a 1U case, and that supply doesn't fit, so I had to bring out the ATX connector on an extension cable, and mount the power supply externally on the rack. |