Long time lurker, first time poster. Please go easy on me In the coming months, I plan to build a custom HTPC. This includes a custom, built from scratch case, but this thread focuses on the hardware: ASUS E35M1-M - ~40W full load Corsair 4GB XMS3 DDR3 PC3-10666 - ~10W WD 2TB Caviar Green x6 - ~48W full load That puts me at just shy of 100W with maximum loading on the CPU/GPU and all 6 HDD. USB 2.0 slots use a max. of 2.5W and I'll likely use an external DVD drive (via. USB) for creating backups of DVDs. I've gone for the mATX version over the ITX version, not for the extra expansion slots, but for the lower price and omission of potentially power drawing features (WiFi & Bluetooth). Do these figures look accurate and/or realistic? I found this PSU: FSP 120W Fanless Compact Power Supply. The main draw is that it is fanless. The board is passive and the drives are reportedly extremely quiet with very little vibration, so the only noise coming from the case would be from the PSU fan, which this PSU lacks (and an inaudible low-RPM case fan to promote airflow). It has 1x 20 pin and 8x molex cables, which I would obviously need to buy adaptors for (6x SATA, 1x 4 pin). Would this be cutting it a bit close? Should I go go for a larger PSU (e.g. FSP 300W SFX PSU or Corsair Builder 430W) and hope the load will be low enough for the heat (thus fan speed (thus noise)) will be sufficiently low. I had a look at PicoPSU, but the price looked to be too high and I'd likely have to start splitting cables to provide power to all the drives, which I'm not too keen on doing. Note that I checked the 'Recommended PSU List' thread, but it didn't cover anything below 300W or cover silent noise.
I know bumping is generally frowned upon, but this thread ended up in the Moderation queue and didn't get approved until it was pushed halfway down the second page ... so ... BUMP
