[科技]Built an ultra-low profile PC with Zero Noise(0db) – Part 2: Power Supply Unit

Most of the noise from PC is caused by the CPU-Fan, and the internal ventilation fan inside the power supply unit(PSU).
The Intel D510mo has already taken care of the CPU-Fan, because it has none. This is a passive cooling CPU, which has only a heatsink.

The fan noise comes from PSU is more tricky issue. Due to the small form factor of the casing, the standard size desktop PSU just won’t fit into the casing.
And to make the machine to be totally silent (Zero Noise 0db), I ordered the picoPSU online.

The picoPSU is a specially built PSU, which takes 12V DC input to supply the power for the motherboard. Combine the picoPSU with a battery brick(which convert the AC 240V to 12V DC), you get a totally silent PSU.

After the calculation of the total power consumption, I’ve decided to for the 80Watt version of the picoPSU. As I also need to have the power brick(the normal laptop power brick supply DC 19V, so it won’t work for this picoPSU), I ordered the power combo from shortcircuit.com – picoPSU-80/5A 60W AC-DC
I placed the order via shortcircuit.com(the shipping fee is cheaper compared to mini-box.com), and received the package in 2 weeks(shipped from US west coast, using USPS First Class International).

The package
It is nicely packaged, the items inside are covered with air bubble bags.

Power Combo

1x 80Watt picoPSU (1 SATA, 1 PATA power output)

1x Power brick (60Watt)

The power connector of the power brick is US type, but this was easily solved buying a cheap power plug adapter.

Power Connector of the picoPSU-80W

Here is the close look of the power connector for the picoPSU-80W.

The power brick will connect to this connector, to supply the DC 12V. As there is no colling fan or movable unit, this thing is totally silent.

picoPSU-80W

It feels solid when holding the picoPSU. The build is good, you won’t feel things will fall apart when you are installing it onto the motherboard.

picoPSU-80W installed on the D510mo motherboard

Notice the 4 P4 pin are not being used. Since this PSU is meant for the low profile PC like the ATOM series, the P4 power pins are removed, to make it smaller.

With this setup, I now get a completely silent machine with Zero Noise (0db).

I have tested it for almost a week, running 24×7 non-stop, it is very stable and no issue so far.

Price Summary

Power combo (picoPSU-80W + 5A 60W power brick): USD39 + Shipment fee: USD 16.99

Power plug adapter for the power brick (US to UK): RM6.90