A PC Case with External Power Supply?

aralin asks: "I am building a new home server (web server, email, source code repository, ...) and don't really need that much performance, but would like to make it ultra quiet. I have found some quiet, one platter harddrives and can get a lower-end graphics card without a fan. I underclock the CPU so it never really needs cooling, besides the load on the computer will be quite low, most of the time. What I cannot get around easily is the power supply. They are quite noisy and the quiet ones are really expensive. I'm just not going to put half of my budget on a power supply. Do you know any company that manufactures PC cases with external power supply or do you know any other cheap solution to a quiet PC?" "So, I recently looked at the Mac Mini and it got me thinking, why couldn't PCs have an external power supply, like the Mac Mini or notebooks. Would it be so hard to make a case like that? It could be even smaller than the typical Mini-ITX cases, and with all the bricks from routers and external harddrives and other devices, I wouldn't mind one more lying around in exchange for the bliss of absolutely quiet PC in my bedroom."

Comments

Re:12V, 5V

[tomstdenis]

Shut your gob! :-)

For the record not everything runs off 5V or can tolerate a max of 500mA ... :-( That said, ..., devices could be made with this in mind but then you'd still want a cell phone or alarm clock that could work without a PC [or while the PC is on for that matter].

The device I had in mind would have both 5V and 12V and allow at least a sink of 1Ah per port. A standard PSU can support this and when the PC is off the PSU wouldn't need a fan to supply 5W or 12W to a something like a cell phone charger... But to be universal the 5V side could be "USB" [with the upped amperage] plugs powered whether the computer is up or not. The 12V side would need a different plug to prevent people from introducing 12V to a 5V circuit.

Mostly I'm confounded by the "every manufacturer has their own plug" system. Who cares who makes the AC adapter for your cell phone? It's cheaper for the consumer if more companies could make UL/CA listed power supplies.

Tom