External Impressions, Cables and Connectors

As mentioned before FSP uses arrow-shaped ventilation holes on all sides. The AU-500FL has a connection panel for modular cables and a description for every plug-type. The rugged and very thick material is strongly reminiscent of some Enermax power supplies. It's too bad that these two golden-colored parts on the top are made out of cheap plastic.

Cables and Connectors

Connector type (length)

Main 1x 24-pin (55cm) fixed
ATX12V/EPS12V 1x 4+4-pin (60cm) modular
PCIe 2x 6/8-pin (55, 65cm) modular
2x 6/8-pin (55, 65cm) modular
Peripheral 3x SATA (ca. 55, 70, 85cm) modular
2x Molex, 1x SATA (ca. 55, 70, 85 cm) modular
2x Molex, 1x SATA (ca. 55, 70, 85 cm) modular
1x FDD adapter (ca. 15cm) modular

Except the main cables with 24 pins all harnesses are removable. The 4+4 pin ATX12V, the 6/8-pin, as well as the peripheral cables are longer than 60cm, which is awesome for anyone with a larger computer case. The first peripheral cable offers three SATA connectors from 55cm to 85cm in 15cm steps. Another harness provides two HDD and one SATA connectors from 55cm to 85cm. The 24-pin motherboard connector is 55cm, which is also nice. The PCIe plug sockets have the same color like the ones for the peripheral components.

Package Contents and Power Rating Internal Design and Components
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  • Pappnaas - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    but i found no information included about the size of the unit. Would be nice, if the dates could be added.
  • ggathagan - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    From FSP's website:
    http://www.fspgroupusa.com/aurum-gold-500-au500/p/...
    5.90” (W) x 5.51” (D) x 3.38” (H)

    5.51" is 139.95mm
  • ggathagan - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    My apologies, that was the fanned version.
    Looks like 160mm for this version

    http://www.fsplifestyle.com/product.php?LID=1&...

    Dimensions(L x W x H)mm: 160 x 150 x 86
  • sgtpokey - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    What are the dimensions of the PSU 150mm long, 160mm long, or what? This is actually important for those of us with actual experience running fanless pc builds (fot HTPC's).

    Many fanless enclosures have non-standard formats and may have space restirctions when choosing a fanless psu. In my case the "long" PSU of >160mm will not fit in my case, 160mm would work but leaves me no wiggle room and i would prefer a "standard" size of 150mm.
  • ggathagan - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    Call it 140mm
  • ggathagan - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    Or call me stupid and call it 160mm
  • KTGiang - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    My most recent computer component I bought was a fanless PSU. Specifically, it was a Kingwin STR-500 and I don't have a single regret on the purchase. I had no need for a new PSU but I wanted to change the PSU because the "silent" fan was still audible to my ears in a quiet setting. I love that manufacturers are creating more efficient and fanless power supplies for us consumers to choose
    from.

    The one positive side effect of having a single fan PC that I had not realized until recently was the fact that I had almost no dust in my tower after 5 months of heavy usage.

    As of right now, my current setup only has 1 Noctua 120mm fan mounted onto a massive Prolimatech cooler. It is on a fan controller that I only turn up when gaming. When idle, the 2 loudest things in my room are the HDD that I have in a removeable bay and the next loudest thing is the power current going through my monitor.

    Hints for making the quietest PC:
    What I found to be most useful in making a "silent" pc is a case that is well ventilated. The cases that are "silent" and are often laced with tons of "noise dampening foam" tend to hold in heat and don't go very well with fanless equipment. I had previously had the Hush from NZXT and I found that the PC ran about 5c warmer when the side panel was on. I am currently using the NZXT Vulcan which has never been touted as a "silent" case but I bought it and removed both of the included fans. Most of the case is covered in a mesh grill that allows for any heat to dissipate out. I had tried to go completely fanless but it wasn't practical when gaming. As my GTS450 is fanless, there would be absolutely no airflow. The solution was to add a single Noctua fan between the GPU and the CPU to have a "push" of air straight up and out of the case. The main OS is on a SSD to eliminate any vibration noise that may come from the HDD. The storage HDD is on a removeable HDD tray so it can be easily disabled when not needed.

    If anyone knows of a quieter fan that has quite a bit of CFM feel free to recommend it. I'd like to find a quieter option if they're available.
  • jwilliams4200 - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    I don't know of any fans that are significantly quieter than the Noctua.

    But I thought you might be interested in a HDD silencer that I have tried, the Smart Drive Neo. It is expensive, but it silences your HDD and keeps it cool. It mounts a 3.5" HDD in a 5.25" bay.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hdd-noise-sile...
  • Iketh - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    DONT CLICK THE LINK

    Please ban this a$$hole.
  • JarredWalton - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link

    Done! Hint: putting in links (even redirected links) to a site that sells something will get your account banned, ScottKPickering.

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