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Aopen KF45 Case w/ 250W PSU
The PSU
The PSU is a standard ATX compliant Switching Power Supply and is labelled
to be rated at 250W. It has input and pass-through power outlets, a switch to change
the input voltage (115w for US and 240v for Aus etc.), and a Factory pressed
grille. This is one of the first times I have seen a PSU with a factory pressed
grille where the grille has been acceptable for my standards, however were I to
mod it a proper grille would be a nice replacement for the factory pressed one.
The motherboard power lead is not exceptionally long, nor does it need to be;
on the case it is sold with the supplied lead should easily be able to reach
anywhere it is needed. The molex connectors however, are not as abundant as
I would have liked - you only get four and there are two on each lead which
further limits the areas in the case you can power. This becomes a problem with
someone using a large amount of drives and cooling equipment, as you either need to buy Y adapter cables or make your own.
Sure, you may argue that these people are more likely to buy a whole new PSU,
but if the server system they are putting in it is powered by a processor such
as the VIA C3 on an SD-RAM based MicroATX form factor motherboard with everthing onboard excepting networking then
they may not need much power for that and be able to make do with their drives
on a 250W PSU.
There is a single floppy drive connector supplied also on one lead which strikes
me as both a good and bad thing - firstly this means you can still use a floppy
drive should you need to, secondly it is different to see only the one floppy
connector, although this makes sense considering hardly anyone uses more than
one floppy drive these days. Thirdly, the location of it on one of the leads
again limits where you can use two of your molex connectors. This means that you are limited even more to where you can run your power inside the case.
More on the possible mods for the PSU in the modding section.
Next, we'll take a look at the removable 3.5" internal drive bay.
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