Can I run a power supply outside of the case

Can I run a power supply outside of the case Hi hardware experts, I bought a giant Zalman CNPS7700 fan to keep my machine quiet, and upon installation I found that while the fan fit on my motherboard, it ran into the power supply. "Screw it" I said, and took the power supply out and installed the fan anyway. I was thinking of modding my case to have the power supply a little higher, sticking out of the top of the case. But that would be ugly and it wouldn't fit on my computer stand. I'm wondering, can I just run the power supply from outside of the case? The cords would reach. Is that dangerous at all? I remember learning somewhere that the case was grounded, and wondered if the power supply had to be touching the case for that to work. If it was touching the outside of the case would it work? >> Re: Can I run a power supply outside of the case?So I ran the power supply outside the box and it's been running fine until now. The problem is that because the cables are so short, the power supply is very close to the machine and the cords are very tight. I installed some more RAM the other day and accidentally knocked the motherboard power supply out; the computer wouldn't boot until I plugged it back in. Today the mouse stopped working. I tried rebooting and it took forever to shut down, so I force shut it off. On a reboot the monitor was slow to come on, then the machine froze again. I turned it off and now the monitor won't turn back on. When I hit power the drives spin and the fans spin, but I don't get any POST beeps. What gives? I checked all the power connections and they're fine. The monitor's plugged in as is everything else. I've unplugged all USB devices. The keyboard light does not come on and the computer is unresponsive. Don't know if this adds or just confuses things, but I thought I'd mention that USB's been more and more on the fritz for me. My mouse flies around the screen, my Skype phone has gotten stuttery, etc. Is this a systematic motherboard failure that's just been getting worse and worse? Removing the PSU did effectively eliminate one case fan. Unless you replaced the open position with another case fan. It's possible overheating is at work, but if you've been monitoring ambient temps and not seen anything unusual, that's probably not it. Unfortunately, it can be hard to detect isolated hot spots on the mobo. Any error in mounting the new heat sink/fan assembly to the CPU can cause unpredictable results. Thanks for your responses. All of the cables feel like they're plugged in, but it may be worth unplugging / plugging in again. I did not replace the PSU fan because the zelman fan is giant and it said it would cool off other components around it. Don't know about hot spots though. Right now I have a big gap where the power supply was and you can see the zelman fan spinning. I was monitoring system temps and the processor didn't go above 65 C and the system 55 C. I had alarms set if it did; sometimes it would go off if I put the zelman manually on a low speed but I've been running it on high ever since. Mobo was not on when I unplugged it, but I did try turning it on with it partially plugged in before I realized what the problem was. Plugging it back in showed http://www.arabcarsales.co.uk no immediate problems. The connector has a locking clip http://www.hanirestauranttehran.co.uk and does not look damaged. Should I try reinstalling the fan? I'll try reconnecting all the cables too. The PSU usually has a fan that sucks air out of the case above the CPU. If you remove the PSU from a standard case then you might need to increase the airflow out of the case by using additional fans. However, if you're not overclocking then I'd not expect this missing fan to be a problem. I have a custom designed case so I can travel with a full PC. I've had both an X Connect 500W and now a Silverstone Strider 600W. They both come with removable cables and my PSU sits happily outside the case. Now my case has a fully reworked fan design so there are no hot spots. Just to add to the externalized bit my HDD's and DVD are also external. Not specialized external devices but the same old HDD's and DVD drive that would go inside the box. Never once have I had a problem with the HDD's overheating.