power supply for Micro ATX case?

[Lamoni]

I will soon be building a computer for my in-laws and was considering getting the Asus A7N266-VM motherboard (microATX) and was looking at microATX cases because I like smaller things.

Anyway on Chieftec's site they have some microATX cases listed, but they say they are "For PS/III Power Supply."

Their other ATX cases mention that they are "For PSII PSU."

What is the difference between a PS/III and a PS/II Power supply? They also had a microATX that supported a PS/IV PSU. If they are a different size or spec where can I find one that is ATX 2.03 compliant?

 

[svol]

Forget about what I'm saying in this post... I was terribly wrong.

I think that the PS/II PSU is an AT one, the PS/III an ATX and the PS/IV ATX + extra P4 power cable used by some mobos.
It could also mean how high the wattage of the PSU is.

My CPU runs so hot the arctic silver undergoes nuclear fusion .<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by svol on 12/15/02 07:46 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Novakain]

From what I understand, the difference between PS2 and PS3 power supplies are their size. PS2 is your standard ATX\ATX12V sized power supply, while PS3 looks the same but is an inch or so shorter, and is commony based on the ATX12V standard. These standards (I think they are IBM standards) are not formally accepted industry wide, so as to what standards the PS3 sized power supply are built to would probably depend on the manufacturer. Some may be tempted to use the SFX12V standard to build them by (although a proper SFX12V power supply has a different shape and wouldn't fit into a case built for a PS3 type).

Cheiftec's PS3 power supply shown <A HREF="http://www.chieftec.com/products/psu/PSIII & SFX PSU.htm" target="_new">here</A> seems to be built to the ATX12V standard (at least, so it says). If you've got your heart set on MicroATX style cases, I'd be tempted to go for a case/power supply solution from the same manufacturer, as there is no written industry standard. One PS3 PSU could fit into one case, but not another.

 

[Lamoni]

Thanks a lot. I think that I'll try sticking with the same manufacturer. The question I have now is, is there a 300 watt PS3 powersupply anywhere? 200 watt 'might' work with the nForce chipset while using the onboard video and using only one hard drive and one CD-RW, one zip and a floppy, but I would feel more comfortable with a higher wattage.

I am thinking that maybe I should just stick to a normal ATX case and wait until microATX becomes more available/popular. I was trying to buy one to help it become popular though. If no one buys a product, it doesn't improve, it gets discontinued.