Under the Hood
Here are a couple pictures showing the layout and components inside the Nightjar 500W fanless power supply. SilverStone is once again using Seventeam as the OEM for the ST50NF although SilverStone continues to take the design lead on the Nightjar power supplies.
Once the large external heatsink is removed, we can see the internal layout. The top surfaces of the internal heatsinks are fitted with thermal pads to conduct heat into the external heatsink when attached. The four primary capacitors are made by Nippon Chemi-Con and rated for 150uF, 450V and 105°C each, with a combination of solid polymer and electrolytic caps also made by Nippon Chemi-Con populating the secondary side. The overall layout, build quality and component selection looks very good.
Could you use this setup and
Could you use this setup and turn it into a watercooled unit by adding some heat pipes or something?
The answer to your question
The answer to your question is “Yes, probably?” but the question itself misses the point _entirely_.
IT IS A FANLESS POWER SUPPLY! It is designed to cool itself Without Additional Cooling!
“Requires forced airflow
“Requires forced airflow (case fans) to operate at max output”
I think you were trying to
I think you were trying to make the following point??:
Most power supplies do not have the beefy heat sinks this fanless model has. The application of water blocks etc. would normally be a complete pain, but here we have big, flat chunks of metal to play with, making it bunches of easier.
Yes, you “could” but why even
Yes, you "could" but why even go that route… If you don’t need fanless then just get a good PSU with a quiet fan.
To watercool the ST50NF, you could cut sections of copper tubing and press them into the PSU’s large finned heatsink. Connect the tubes in parallel and add them into your PC’s watercooling loop. Or take a couple old CPU/GPU waterblocks and bolt onto the PSU’s heatsink (after drilling and tapping).
Awful value. You can get
Awful value. You can get Seasonic X-460 or Kingwin Stryker/SuperFlower Golden Silent 500W, both of which are:
-modular
-more efficient
-have better ripple suppresion than this unit.