Once upon a long time ago in the Seasonic S12 Fan Upgrade thread Mike Chin made a radical suggestion:
Has anybody done this?MikeC wrote:I know that this topic is about modding an S12 with a quieter fan for use in a P180. I have a radical suggestion.
1. Remove the cover off any (halfway decent?) PSU.
2. Remove the fan.
3. Mount it coverless and fanless in the P180.
4. Block the extra vent holes below the PSU exhaust on the back panel of the case.
5. Mount the quietest 120mm fan you can get your hands on in the PSU chamber and run it at the lower voltage that it can start at.
6. Relax and enjoy the quiet w/o worrying about the PSU overheating.
Caveats:
1. POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS EXPOSURE TO HIGH VOLTAGE if you open the case when the system is powered up or plugged into AC.
2. It will work more "safely" (thermally speaking) with more efficient PSUs that have bigger heatsinks.
3. You might even want to bend (or cut away) the "intake" panel so that the airflow from the mid-way fan can go unimpeded straight into the PSU.
4. If you have a PSU with a smart fan controller (like the Seasonics), you have the option of powering the 120mm fan via the PSU fan controller.
I have been meaning to try this for some time. Maybe next week... I've always meant for the P180 to be a silent PC experimenter's dream case.
I'm contemplating something similar for an Antec EA380 PSU in an Antec P182 case.
I live in India where availability of specialist components is limited, hence the choice of PSU. After importing S-Flex SFF21E fans to replace the stock P182 fans, the biggest source of noise is the EA380's fan.
How about doing something like Mike suggested, removing the EA380's fan and hooking up its fan controller to the SFF21E fan in the P182's bottom air chamber? The only exit from the P182's bottom air chamber is the PSU's exhaust; openings into the upper air chamber and to atmosphere have been sealed.
BTW, the quietest-of-breed PSUs don't appeal for the P182. All the ones I've looked at use an intake fan on the big face. When fitted in an Antec P182 this results in an air path with a narrow channel under the PSU and a right angle turn from that narrow channel into the PSU; this cannot be good for power consmption vs. cooling efficiency and hence not for noise. "Not good" but maybe not significant?
Best
Charles