Odorless power supply, recommendations for unpainted power supplies

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strangeattractor

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Aug 20, 2014
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I'm looking for a power supply that is as odorless as possible. Please make suggestions as to how I can find one.

I have already examined several power supplies. The best smelling one that I have found so far is the Seasonic SSP-650RT. Unfortunately, when it is running, it fills the room with a smell that gives me a headache. I have left it running continuously for several days, and although the odor is somewhat less intense than it was when I bought it, it has not worn off enough for me to be able to use the power supply. I do not think that running it for a longer time would be sufficient to solve the problem.

The only pattern regarding odors that I have been able to identify so far is that the painted ones smell worse than the unpainted ones. There is more than one type of smell coming from more than one part of the power supply, but the paint seems to be something that bothers me. So, may I have some recommendations for unpainted power supplies, please? I am already aware of the lemon list of anti-recommendations. I would prefer to have a power supply that is quiet in addition to being odorless, but the priority is on having as little odor as possible.

I've looked at the list of the various power supply manufacturers. Which manufacturers tend to produce power supplies with very little odor? Does, say, a Sparkle Power power supply have a more intense odor than a Zippy power supply, or vice versa, or about the same? This is the type of question I would like to learn the answer to.

I would like to have a power supply that has 8 pins (or 4+4 pins) for the CPU power, and that has at least 4 SATA connectors. It would be nice if it was Haswell-ready, but it is ok if it is not. I am looking for it to power a system with these components:

Intel (Haswell Refresh) i7-4790 CPU
ASUS Sabertooth Z97 motherboard
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile RAM 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600MHz
ASUS BW-16D1HT Internal 16x BDXL Blu-ray Writer
HGST Deskstar 4TB 3.5 inch hard drive
Intel S3500 Series 480GB 6Gb/s Enterprise Solid State Drive
BlackMagic Decklink Studio PCI-Express video capture card
RME HDSPE AIO PCI-Express sound card, possibly with the AI4S-192 AIO expansion card for additional inputs
Insignia LCD TV NS-L22X-10A 1080p 1920x1080 pixels monitor

I would like the option to add a graphics card and two additional SATA hard drives in the future.

I plan to have the computer for more than a year, and I plan to do video editing and scientific computing on it, which may result in the CPU working near full capacity for hours or days at a time. I mention this in case it affects how much power is needed from the power supply.

Suggestions, please?
 
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mouse24

mouse24

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Nov 30, 2010
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Power supplies shouldn't be emitting an odor... I have never ever smelled a power supply. What type of odor are you talking about?

Also this might be kind of mean but how do you function day to day if a power supplies smell gives you a headache?

On a related note if its the paint giving you issues then you can strip the paint off yourself.
 
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strangeattractor

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Aug 20, 2014
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I have a lot of allergies and multiple chemical sensitivities. The smells that bother me are often not something that most people would notice.

Right now, I am using a 10 year old computer with a power supply from that era. I can't reuse the power supply from the old computer in the new computer because it doesn't have the right connections for the motherboard, or connections for the SATA hard drives, and it probably does not have a high enough rating (not enough Watts.)

How do I get through the day? Very carefully. :) There are many things that are hazardous to me, and finding good quality air to breathe can be a challenge.

Unfortunately our language does not have many descriptive words for smells. The smell seems like it may be coming from glues or other materials inside the power supply. It reminds me of new carpet and solvents. It is not like the smell of something burning. It seems like it is not dissipating, like it is strongly attached to the item. I can smell a different, less intense, smell from the PVC coating around the wires that go to the computer components. I think that the PVC smell would dissipate with time.
 
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strangeattractor

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Aug 20, 2014
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Thanks for the suggestion. However, Glade air fresheners also give me headaches. Masking the power supply's smell with another smell would not solve the problem for me. I would like to have as odorless a power supply as possible.

 
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fixxxer113

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Aug 26, 2011
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There's something you don't hear every day! That's a tricky one indeed... I guess there is not that much difference in Materials between manufacturers, in order to suggest a specific one. Of course, the better the PSU in terms of quality, the less it would probably smell. As others have said, usually you have to stick your nose in it to smell anything.

I think you should look around the Web for ways to keep the PSU as cool as possible. For instance, if you have a PSU that functions near its limits all the time, it will get really hot and smell more. Maybe if you get a PSU with a rating larger than what you need, it will run cooler.

Other than that, if your problem is that bad, you could try venting the air coming from the PSU out of the room. I have a bench at home where I do electronics repairs, soldering etc. It is located near a balcony door and I will soon add a fan for the fumes, along with a pipe that will blow the fumes out the room through a hole in the door's glass.
 
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