Hi Will,
It's usually very easy to open up PSUs, either a couple of screws or at worst
a tangle of metal tags to unbend. Obviously the PSU should be unplugged from
motherboard and mains it is then entirely safe electrically. The worst you
can do to yourself is get a spark of a capacitor or more likely cut yourself
on the back of the board or the metalwork. In most cases the fan can simply
be unplugged and replaced with a quieter one.
On a lightly loaded PC like you describe it's very unlikely that the heat
generated by the PSU itself is really significant. However changing the case
configuration, by either removing the PSU or trying to run it without the fan
could cause problems. The heat flow through a PC case, especially the more
compact cases developed by OEM's is often quire carefully planned, this
includes the flow from the case through the PSU fan. From memory some Dells,
the optiflex series I think, had no CPU fan the PCU fan pulled air through a
large heat-sink.
If you can afford to take a few risks with the PC then my order of preference
would be
1. Replace PSU fan, leaving PSU in place.
2. Unplug and remove the fan and test the PC run it for a short period with
the case off and check the temperature of the CPU, PSU, any other integrated
peripherals and any voltage regulators on the mobo. If nothing seems scary
hot (melted skin test- if you have no temp. probes) replace the cover for
fifteen minutes and check again.
If you get worried about heat buildup in the case you may be able to get in
modified, I cut out a 150mm square in the cover of an old tulip and screwed
in a perforated panel. This box runs as a net access point for a couple of
serial devices without any problems. One point to note if anyone wants to try
this, keep the hole size down to 3.2mm (1/8" in old money) and the perforated
plate should be 1.2mm thick minimum and grounded to the existing cover
metalwork or shield. Screws or rivets work better than adhesive or double
sided sticky tape.
The problems with the design of the PC and any electronic enclosure is you
are fighting to get a balance between minimising audible and RFI noise and
maximising heat loss. The compromises made in the design of the PC are
largely based on it's use in an office environment, if anyone finds a case
which really works at home please let me know. BTW no imac comments please
I'm sure that after I emptied all the junk out of the case I'd have some
trouble fitting a standard ATX motherboard :-)
--
/\ dode
--------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk
http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------------------------
