fan noise from psu.

mynci · Post by **mynci** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 10:22 am

i have replaced the standard fan in my q-tec (the cheap ones) psu with a noiseblocker ultrasilent s2, i am pretty happy with these fans and the other case fans i have mounted are al but inaudiable. however the one in the psu still kicks out a lot of noise. it too is mounted using rubber bands, there are also some bands placed as a thin rubber buffer where the fan touched the psu case. there are no notable vibrations passed between this fan and the psu case. i did notice that most of the bottom half of the fan is almost imediately blocked by the circuitry on the psu. this is, im sure causing a lot of the wooshing noise that i can here from the case, in fact im sure it is as it goes away when i stop this fan. obviously i can't cut away the circuit board in the psu, but i wondered if anyone had any ideas on stopping the, the psu fan blows outwards. would mounting the psu fan outside of the whole case help? could i change the heatsinks in the psu to ones that come right out of the back? any other (perhaps more obtainable) ideas?

thanks a lot. im so close to being as silent as im after it would be annoying if i had to stop here!

/edit: sorry i just realised this should probably be in the psu section. doh.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 10:35 am

Theres a review somewhere on this site where they mounted the power supply fan outside of the case and supposidly cut down on air turbulance noise. Again I warn you, rubber bands will melt, the rubberbands you used to mount the normal case fan mounts will probably be safe but the one in the power supply may melt. And both may possibly degrade with time. Just a friendly warning, hopefully itll be alright though, ill have my fingers crossed for you.

mynci · Post by **mynci** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 10:43 am

noted, and apreciated. i dont feel that the ones in the psu are any more liable to heat problems that the others as they are mostly outside the psu box and the inside parts are certainly not near the really hot bits. but as i said i will keep a good eye on them and look for a better solution.

many thanks.

powergyoza · Post by **powergyoza** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 12:26 pm

Be careful, rubber bands will loose their elasticity and snap after a short period of time.

For my example of moving the PSU fan to the outside of the case see here: http://forums.silentpcreview.com//viewtopic.php?t=2842

This thread talked about having the PSU fan as an intake external to the PSU housing, but on the inside of the case: http://forums.silentpcreview.com//viewtopic.php?t=2189

PS: Moving to the PSU forum.....

mynci · Post by **mynci** » Fri Feb 14, 2003 5:50 pm

thanks for moving it, i am a moron.
i shall have a read through your advice tomorrow. thanks a lot for your help.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 3:54 am

http://www.leesspace.com/quiet_psu.htm
I got linked from overclockers.com > how to build a quiet computer to this site, it has pictures

powergyoza · Post by **powergyoza** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 3:59 am

GamingGod wrote:http://www.leesspace.com/quiet_psu.htm
I got linked from overclockers.com > how to build a quiet computer to this site, it has pictures

Congrats GamingGod. Or shall I say Robotech? Didn't know you were the same person. Have I seen you @ the amdmb forums? Elsewhere too maybe?

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sat Feb 15, 2003 4:18 am

What? Im on some other forums but not on amdmb.

mynci · Post by **mynci** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 3:57 am

Just in case its of interest, i have now moved the psu fan outside of the psu case. it has cut the noise down considerably, however there is still a fair bit of vibrational noise as i havent yet got hold of any elastomer fan fixing grommets.
i have also blocked the hole where the second fan was removed from (just with some duct tape) and that has really helped the cooling of the psu and top of the case. i suspect that when it was open the psu fan was sucking warmed air off of the processor and not through the grills at the front of the psu, this was leaving a lot of stagnant warm air in the top of the case. the case temp now hangs around 29degC with the processor at 37degC under constant full load. my hdd temp has also come down a few degrees to 32degC from about 34. they are 2 80gig baracudas. the processor is a p4 2533 undervolted by a few notches.

powergyoza · Post by **powergyoza** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 8:26 am

mynci wrote:however there is still a fair bit of vibrational noise as i havent yet got hold of any elastomer fan fixing grommets.

Did you see this thread? http://forums.silentpcreview.com//viewt ... 0242#10242

mynci · Post by **mynci** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 10:22 am

thanks powergyoza i did read this through - an excellent (Mis)use of agricultural supplies. i actually have a similar set up at present. albeit with neoprene washers rather than castration bands. however i find an unsatisfactory amount of vibration gets through to the case.
some of my fans are on rubber bands but this isn't a permanent fix and seems to not hold the fans securely enough. giving way to some other (granted pretty unnoticable) noises.
thats qhy im tryng to get the fan grommits as cheap as possible. and get a group-buy going here:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/forums ... 0991#10991

Marvin · Post by **Marvin** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 12:11 pm

I was thinking of doing something like this.

I would add second fan to PSU to blow air into it to the fronside as in GamingGod's link . Has anyone tried anything like that?

I would mount both of fans outside the PSU to minimize obstruction inside. Just wondering if it would be any good or would it only manage to mess the airflow inside the case.

Edited the pic link...

powergyoza · Post by **powergyoza** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 12:15 pm

mynci wrote:thanks powergyoza i did read this through - an excellent (Mis)use of agricultural supplies.

Sorry mynci, I wasn't talking about the castration bands. I was talking about skwong's earplugs in the same thread. Take a closer look... they're used like the EAR fan mounts.

mynci · Post by **mynci** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 3:05 pm

ah i see, sorry, i missed your point.
i have no idea where to get these earplugs though, i may have a look in the chemist tomorrow. i know exactly the things you mean, the way they crush and stay crushed a while, but not sure how easy to get (or cheap) they are here in the uk.