I wish this was available two months ago, would have gone ITX instead of mATX, I am all about fanless PSUs - have them in both my desktops and combined with SSD only storage they are whisper quiet.
I wonder why they went for a "sealed" design. This means all the heat is passed on inside the case and to the case panels and none will be vented outside.
At 100% load and 80Plus Platinum it means just ~50W to dissipate. But it's still 50W that mostly go inside what's usually an already cramped case.
I suspect that they do better than the 90% spec at full load. 55 W is too much to dissipate otherwise. I would think that they are close to 94% at load. Most power supplies optimize for lower loads since that is normal operation but these would be optimized to keep the waste heat under a certain envelope. Just my guess though based on my knowledge of heat transfer and not electronics engineering.
AFAIK that sort of thing is relatively common in fanless models. Take a 900W model, clamp its output to 450W and you've got one whose peak efficiency is at max load. Normally they don't go quite that high though because 900w class parts will have higher non load depedent losses of the sort that kill efficiency at lower loads. OTOH if they started with a 80+ titanium model, chopping half the output that way would still hit platinum at low loads.
That's what I did on my last build for my gaming PC. Took a Seasonic Titanium 850 knowing im pulling 450 watts max. Switched on hybrid mode and in 99% of my use cases the fan never turns on except on reboots for a few seconds. Fanless with some extra overhead, overhead I paid for though.
My guess would be most of the FET’s and other heat generating components are directly interfaced through a thermal transfer material to the outer shell. It’s a furnace inside for sure but a controlled thermal envelope none the less.
My point wasn't that the heat cannot be controlled, it's that it will dissipate *inside* the computer case. With the PSU case fully closed you have 35-50W of heat pumped into a cramped PC case instead of venting it even passively outside.
An open design with passive cooling has approximately 0 chance of serious dust buildup. Passive cooling and convection will almost exclusively take the air in from inside the case and out through the back. With the amount of dust inside the case and the airflow we're talking about you don't have to worry except in extreme cases.
But like this you guarantee that a lot of the heat generated by the PSU is dissipated inside your computer making it harder to cool the rest of the components. And if you get a 450W PSU you might have some performance parts in there.
In a negative pressure case (fans blowing out), air flows through a passive PSU from outside in. The reverse for a positive pressure case. There's no passive cooling. So what difference does it make whether the PSU is open or not?
Because air has problems "passing through" a completely closed PSU? I'll give you a moment to really think about it.
An open PSU would allow most of that heat to be dumped directly outside of the PC. A closed PSU will dump the heat inside the PC only to then push it out again. This is for small builds so imagine a more cramped case than your regular ATX build possibly but containing more or less the same components (400W worth of them).
And that's not even mentioning a passive build. If you're looking for a passive PSU you might be interested in using a minimum of fans, if any.
Usually fanless builds use an external power brick. So again, the airflow through an open PSU isn't "free". Your case fans are doing the work. The same work which is needed for a closed PSU, only through different holes in the case.
No, fanless builds use fanless components, whatever they may be. And look, a fanless PSU. Fully closed, thus not allowing the heat to escape directly outside but rather forcing it first inside a cramped computer case and raising the internal temperature. Whether or not you have fans becomes irrelevant, they will still circulate air at higher temperature inside the case. And your PSU will never be in the flow of air since 3 sides would most likely be covered.
Did you seal your PC case, put it in the corner of the room, and relied on the draft between the window and the door to cool it? Because it sounds to me like you're saying that a fully enclosed heat source is cooled better by airflow barely touching the outer case than by venting the case and allowing airflow directly over that heat source. I Why do you think CLC radiators don't just blow the heat inside the case? Or why so many small builds (especially OEM ones) use ducts to guide the air over the radiators and then out of the case. It's because you can take advantage of physics to improve the cooling.
Sometimes companies choose the "aesthetic" route (see Antec's recent stuff), choosing form over function. And of course those radiators will needlessly inflate the price of the PSU.
I never said the PSU would be better (or as well) cooled. I was disagreeing with the statement that a closed PSU would increase temps in general. It won't because less airflow through the PSU means more airflow elsewhere.
Why less airflow? The airflow just goes over another heat source before exiting the case, you don't have to split it. Instead you are waiting for the PSU to dump the heat next to every other hot component an impede the cooling, then take out that heat with the case fans.
And that's if you have fans. For a fanless build this makes even less sense.
It will be interesting to see affordable high-efficiency PSU's. People talk about global warming, but don't care about PSU's that eat up 20-25% of the electricity their computers consume, unless they want to pay a significant premium to cut that to half.
A decent supply of pico-psu could do a great job for efficiency if the power Bricks could be 99% efficient (ac-dc). Never really get any ratings from them eg bronze silver gold .. what is the highest rating anyway ? Sadly altho this PSU is great it will be priced far out of reach $150+ (=£150+) better to have a v good quality fan (noctua?) in the psu and a MUCH lower price
in general, the bricks will be in the same range of efficiencies as desktop PSUs since they're mostly doing the same thing. 12V in pico-psus will be around 99% since other than the trickle of 3.3/5v needed they're basically a passive device. 19V in ones are a bit worse since they have to DC-DC down to 12V for the main power rails. OTOH unless something changed over the last few years 19V bricks are a lot cheaper than 12V ones because they're what most laptops used.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
24 Comments
Back to Article
Icehawk - Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - link
I wish this was available two months ago, would have gone ITX instead of mATX, I am all about fanless PSUs - have them in both my desktops and combined with SSD only storage they are whisper quiet.close - Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - link
I wonder why they went for a "sealed" design. This means all the heat is passed on inside the case and to the case panels and none will be vented outside.At 100% load and 80Plus Platinum it means just ~50W to dissipate. But it's still 50W that mostly go inside what's usually an already cramped case.
ingwe - Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - link
I suspect that they do better than the 90% spec at full load. 55 W is too much to dissipate otherwise. I would think that they are close to 94% at load. Most power supplies optimize for lower loads since that is normal operation but these would be optimized to keep the waste heat under a certain envelope. Just my guess though based on my knowledge of heat transfer and not electronics engineering.DanNeely - Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - link
AFAIK that sort of thing is relatively common in fanless models. Take a 900W model, clamp its output to 450W and you've got one whose peak efficiency is at max load. Normally they don't go quite that high though because 900w class parts will have higher non load depedent losses of the sort that kill efficiency at lower loads. OTOH if they started with a 80+ titanium model, chopping half the output that way would still hit platinum at low loads.FreckledTrout - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
That's what I did on my last build for my gaming PC. Took a Seasonic Titanium 850 knowing im pulling 450 watts max. Switched on hybrid mode and in 99% of my use cases the fan never turns on except on reboots for a few seconds. Fanless with some extra overhead, overhead I paid for though.Samus - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
My guess would be most of the FET’s and other heat generating components are directly interfaced through a thermal transfer material to the outer shell. It’s a furnace inside for sure but a controlled thermal envelope none the less.close - Thursday, June 28, 2018 - link
My point wasn't that the heat cannot be controlled, it's that it will dissipate *inside* the computer case. With the PSU case fully closed you have 35-50W of heat pumped into a cramped PC case instead of venting it even passively outside.cbm80 - Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - link
A sealed design has at least one benefit, no dust buildup.With an open design usually air is being forced through the PSU because of negative or positive case pressure.
close - Thursday, June 28, 2018 - link
An open design with passive cooling has approximately 0 chance of serious dust buildup. Passive cooling and convection will almost exclusively take the air in from inside the case and out through the back. With the amount of dust inside the case and the airflow we're talking about you don't have to worry except in extreme cases.But like this you guarantee that a lot of the heat generated by the PSU is dissipated inside your computer making it harder to cool the rest of the components. And if you get a 450W PSU you might have some performance parts in there.
cbm80 - Thursday, June 28, 2018 - link
In a negative pressure case (fans blowing out), air flows through a passive PSU from outside in. The reverse for a positive pressure case. There's no passive cooling. So what difference does it make whether the PSU is open or not?close - Thursday, June 28, 2018 - link
Because air has problems "passing through" a completely closed PSU? I'll give you a moment to really think about it.An open PSU would allow most of that heat to be dumped directly outside of the PC. A closed PSU will dump the heat inside the PC only to then push it out again. This is for small builds so imagine a more cramped case than your regular ATX build possibly but containing more or less the same components (400W worth of them).
And that's not even mentioning a passive build. If you're looking for a passive PSU you might be interested in using a minimum of fans, if any.
cbm80 - Friday, June 29, 2018 - link
Usually fanless builds use an external power brick. So again, the airflow through an open PSU isn't "free". Your case fans are doing the work. The same work which is needed for a closed PSU, only through different holes in the case.close - Saturday, June 30, 2018 - link
You really like dancing around the point.No, fanless builds use fanless components, whatever they may be. And look, a fanless PSU. Fully closed, thus not allowing the heat to escape directly outside but rather forcing it first inside a cramped computer case and raising the internal temperature. Whether or not you have fans becomes irrelevant, they will still circulate air at higher temperature inside the case. And your PSU will never be in the flow of air since 3 sides would most likely be covered.
Did you seal your PC case, put it in the corner of the room, and relied on the draft between the window and the door to cool it? Because it sounds to me like you're saying that a fully enclosed heat source is cooled better by airflow barely touching the outer case than by venting the case and allowing airflow directly over that heat source.
I Why do you think CLC radiators don't just blow the heat inside the case? Or why so many small builds (especially OEM ones) use ducts to guide the air over the radiators and then out of the case. It's because you can take advantage of physics to improve the cooling.
Sometimes companies choose the "aesthetic" route (see Antec's recent stuff), choosing form over function. And of course those radiators will needlessly inflate the price of the PSU.
cbm80 - Saturday, June 30, 2018 - link
I never said the PSU would be better (or as well) cooled. I was disagreeing with the statement that a closed PSU would increase temps in general. It won't because less airflow through the PSU means more airflow elsewhere.close - Tuesday, July 3, 2018 - link
Why less airflow? The airflow just goes over another heat source before exiting the case, you don't have to split it. Instead you are waiting for the PSU to dump the heat next to every other hot component an impede the cooling, then take out that heat with the case fans.And that's if you have fans. For a fanless build this makes even less sense.
This is for the sake of design, not efficiency.
dave_the_nerd - Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - link
There was buzz about this thing even last year - why is it taking so long? :-Pmilkywayer - Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - link
Science is hard.meacupla - Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - link
this looks interesting, but don't the majority of mITX cases rely on the PSU fan to carry some of the heat away?Silverstone's lineup especially
AdrianB1 - Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - link
It will be interesting to see affordable high-efficiency PSU's. People talk about global warming, but don't care about PSU's that eat up 20-25% of the electricity their computers consume, unless they want to pay a significant premium to cut that to half.dromoxen - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
A decent supply of pico-psu could do a great job for efficiency if the power Bricks could be 99% efficient (ac-dc). Never really get any ratings from them eg bronze silver gold .. what is the highest rating anyway ?Sadly altho this PSU is great it will be priced far out of reach $150+ (=£150+) better to have a v good quality fan (noctua?) in the psu and a MUCH lower price
DanNeely - Thursday, June 28, 2018 - link
in general, the bricks will be in the same range of efficiencies as desktop PSUs since they're mostly doing the same thing. 12V in pico-psus will be around 99% since other than the trickle of 3.3/5v needed they're basically a passive device. 19V in ones are a bit worse since they have to DC-DC down to 12V for the main power rails. OTOH unless something changed over the last few years 19V bricks are a lot cheaper than 12V ones because they're what most laptops used.JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - link
Looks pretty awesome!YoloPascual - Saturday, June 30, 2018 - link
NightJar is back!Chilianaia - Monday, July 2, 2018 - link
Hello, I'm Jes :-). I use this site for dating. He is very simple and I advise you to him http://badoosex.cf