PSU with least amount of EMI/RFI emissions for mini itx

bajkill

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Mar 16, 2017
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So in a nutshell I'm building a computer in a case shared with eurorack modules (synthesizer) and need to cut out as much emi/rfi as I can. There will be a wall between the two with emi/rfi absorption material at least on one side of the wall if not both sides. My question is what would be the best choice for a PSU in this scenario. I know some of the cheaper models skip out on components that suppress emissions but I'm wondering if there are some special fancy models that eliminate most if not all emissions. Just to clarify it needs to be compatible with a Mini-ITX Mobo.
 
There are not any that I am aware of that are specifically designed for this purpose. Technically, unless you are concerned about a very high frequency, the case itself should present a faraday cage effect anyhow, which coupled with the shielding you have in place ought to pretty well offer all the protection you need. Obviously, higher end PSU models are going to be MORE likely to have better filtering.

PSU ripple, switching the unit on and off, power factor correction which nearly all modern power supplies have is also a source of EMI emissions and there's no avoiding that, they will pretty much all have it due to the mosfets and diodes.

Obviously, some of this can be mitigated by making sure the circuit has extremely good grounding will little to no resistance in any ground connections.

The biggest problem though is that the MOST significant portion of any emissions is likely to come from the cabling itself, which is not shielded by the enclosure and may not be shielded by your absorption material depending on how your rack is designed. You rack may also act as a faraday if there are no significantly sized holes in the back of it large enough for critical frequencies to pass through. I have no numbers on sizes.

There are shielding options for cabling however, and that might at least be helpful.

https://hollandshielding.com/All-EMI-cable-shielding-solutions

As to the power supply, are you saying it NEEDS to be mini-ITX form factor or only that it needs to be compatible with any power connections on the motherboard? What is the model of the motherboard you will be using?