Hey guys,

I just bought a Corsair Obsidian 550d as an upgrade from my completely demolished P182 (huge holes for watercooling radiators in the walls, etc.). The problem is, it's now even more obvious than before that my Corsair HX850 is by far the loudest component in my system, as it runs at a constant 1300rpm.

I've read about people swapping their fans in their HX850 but I've never been able to find any real info about what fans were used. Is it possible to use 120mm fans in the HX850? I've modded a VX550 before where I used a Slipstream which worked great, but I'm not so sure about silent 140mm fans with low starting voltages.

I'm grateful for any help.

I wandered around the web and found the HX850 uses a Yate Loon D14BH-12 (L-SSS) fan. The specs are:
2-pin, 12V, 0.7A @ 2800RPM, 140CFM, 48.5dBA. One user found the start up voltage to be 4.35V - I couldn't corroberate this.

Some weblinks.
jonnyguru
PC Perspective showing the same fan in the 1000W version.
Yate Loon

The fan currently fitted has a maximum speed of 2800 rpm and a starting voltage around 4-4.5V so you could consider any 140mm fan which will start at this level. The NoiseBlocker BlackSilentPro PK3 is a possible candidate, its top speed is 1700 rpm so it would run a bit slower than the existing fan but a lot more quietly. It is not a cheap fan though but could still be good value if it prolongs the life of the PSU. Available from sources such as this one http://www.amazon.com/Noiseblocker-NB-BlackSilentPro-140mm-Ultra-Quiet/dp/B004JUCNUW.

Another forum where a user repalced the Yate Loon fan with an NB fan.

X-Bit Labs 140mm fan comparison.

Thank guys, you're a great help. The Yate Loon already annoys me at the constant 1300 rpm that it chugs away at, can't even begin to imagine what 2800rpm of full blown fury would sound like to my sensitive ears.

I saw the X-Bit review but I never looked into the Noiseblockers enough - typical and stupid, I put too much emphasis on the conclusion and what fans received a gold award and which ones didn't so I almost completely ignored the Noiseblockers.

The larger Slip Streams have a relatively limited availability here in Switzerland (meaning I'd have to wait up to two weeks to receive one - obviously completely unacceptable ) but the Noiseblockers are well stocked. Now I pretty much have to decide between the PK2 and the PK3. I assume the PK2 would be enough, but it's difficult to say what voltage the PSU feeds the fans at certain temperatures, i.e. I don't know what the Yate Loon's 1300 rpm means in terms of voltage supplied.

And last tips before I go buy one of the two? Once again, you guys have been extremely helpful, thanks for taking your time to look into it, seriously appreciate it.

I went with a Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro-Series PK2 in the end. The air coming out the back of my PSU before the swap was fairly cool so I figured there wouldn't be much wrong with swapping it for a 1200 rpm PK2 instead of the 1700 rpm PK3 and I seem to be right. The loudest part of my system are now my HDDs, fixing that is next one my list.

In conclusion: swapping the stock HX850 fan with a Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro-Series PK2 works without issues.

Glad to hear it worked out.