AOpen EX65 SFF PC Review - Power Supply and System Cooling
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The Power Supply Unit (PSU)
AOpen makes video cards, motherboards, cases, keyboards, mice, speakers, and just about everything else, so it wasn't surprising to find the PSU with a “Made by AOpen” label. The FSP220-CU(PF) PSU is a 220W power supply, which is a little below what other companies have been including with their systems (generally 250W) This was surprising because Pentium 4s can take up to 100W running. Couple that with a powerful video card (there's a 4-pin power line for it), and this seems to lead to a design flaw. Surprisingly, we never had any problems with system stability. The unit has four 4-pin (12V) connectors and one 5V connector, in addition to the standard 20-pin power cable for the motherboard. This set up is enough to connect not only all your peripherals, but also a higher-end video card, one that might need extra power.
The PSU is cooled by an 80mm fan, which is quieter than the smaller fans normally included with similar PSUs, yet efficient enough to help with system cooling.
System Cooling
The XCube's design has from the beginning been based on the premise that an SFF should be nothing less than a fully-fledged PC. The challenge was how to house all that power in a small box, and still make it quiet (or at least quiet enough). If you're AOpen, you use an active CPU cooler, in addition to the fan on the PSU.
(Oh yeah, and a massive aluminum heatsink on the North Bridge.)
As we mentioned before, the system works by creating an airflow stream from the left side of the case, through the side-mounted fan on the processor's heatsink, and out of the right hand side of the case. By doing this, the system's automatic fan speed controllers can keep the fan at 1400 RPM in times of little CPU-intensive activity, in contrast to the roaring 6000 RPM during CPU-intensive times. This is where the SilentTek technology really comes through. At 1400 RPM, the loudest noises coming out of a system will be the 80mm PSU fan and the hard drive, when information is accessed.
Next: Motherboard Layout >>
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