Fortron 120mm mod?

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 11:36 pm

I have a Fortron Aurora with adjustable fan speed, and I was wondering how much quieter it would be if I swapped the stock fan for a Papst, or any other fan you guys can recommend?

exxowire · Post by **exxowire** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 12:43 am

Hi Vegita,

Papst is a good stock fan. Actually its fairly quiet. Try the 255 M that has a 5dB noise pressure level or the 405 F running at 5400rpm and has a 22dB noise pressure level.

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 1:15 am

5400 rpm?? Wow.

I was just wondering if anyone had swapped the 120mm stock fan on the Fortrons out and replaced it with something quieter.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:23 am

Check out this thread. The better airflow through this Fortron makes it much quieter. I was able to lower fan speeds significantly, while maintaining the same output temps.

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:14 am

Bluefront wrote:Check out this thread. The better airflow through this Fortron makes it much quieter. I was able to lower fan speeds significantly, while maintaining the same output temps.

I think the pictures that you originally posted are gone. Posters mention some pictures of yours, but I didn't see any.

Also, would that mod be viable if I don't install a fan controller like you did? I'd only like to swap the fan out.

Is the evercool fan quieter than the stock Fortron 120mm at the same rpm?

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:53 am

I have a Fortron Aurora with adjustable fan speed, and I was wondering how much quieter it would be if I swapped the stock fan for a Papst, or any other fan you guys can recommend?

See my thread

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... highlight=

but the short answer is an absolute YES it WILL be quieter with a fan mod.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:48 am

I placed a link to my Fortron PSU fan replacement mod on Wumpus' thread, above. I use AcoustiProducts' AcoustiFan AF120CT and the inline resistor that comes with it; it's effectively silent from any direction except directly behind the system, and only from distances of two feet or nearer. That's the only way it can be sensed (not even so much heard), just barely, and that's in the dead of night (4am) with zero street traffic outside.

-Ed

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:47 pm

Awesome. So is there any article I can refer to when replacing the 120mm fan inside the Fortron? The one on the article list seems to apply to thermistor-controlled fans, whereas mine is manually controlled. (Although it does seem to speed up, or something at least gets louder when my CPU loads.)

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 4:00 pm

Pictures of Fortron Mod......That Fortron I used was thermistor controlled, but it seemed to speed up at odd times, so I connected the new fan to a manual fan speed controller. I suspect this mod, if you can get it to fit in your setup, would improve airflow, and the cooling potential of that 120mm fan. I used an Evercool fan because it had rpm monitoring, whereas the stock Fortron's fan, did not.

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:48 pm

Ok, since my Fortron has manual fan speed control, all I want to do is replace the 120mm fan with a quieter one.

Is this as simple as opening the PSU case, disconnecting and unscrewing the fan and putting in a new one?

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 1:13 pm

Yes, but you will have to splice the two wires, red and black. It is unlikely the PS internally will usea a standard 3 pin fan header plug.

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 2:32 pm

I'm OK with that I think.

And I suppose there is some precautions I should follow when opening this sucker up?

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 2:49 pm

I just modded my wife's AOpen (Fortron) FSP-60PN-(PF). I opened it, modified the rails (it was undervolting on my motherboard), removed the temp sensor from the heatsink (closer to fan) and rubber mounted the fan. The fan was already very good Yate Loon 120mm fan, which is superior to all my Papst fans in acoustic terms.

Now the rails are stronger and the fan runs slower even under load.

Highly recommended that you move the temp sensor if it's glued to the internal heatsink, like it was on my PSU.

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 11:18 am

Do I need to deal with this thermistor stuff even though my Fortron is the version with the manual control for fan speed?

PhilgB · Post by **PhilgB** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 11:41 am

How do you modify the rails?

The PSU in my server in the basement is only giving .18v on the 2.5v rail

(Im not sure what is affected by this..)

Is there a way to fix this? It used to be stronger.. Or is it dying?

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 2:49 am

On the Fortron series PSUs there are internal potentiometers that can be used to adjust the separate voltage rails. You just use a screwdriver to turn the pots. First get the +3.3V and +5V rails to desired level, then adjust the pot that control +12V. At least my Fortron has 3 pots.

This can be tricky, voids your warranty, is definitely dangerous (shocks inside can kill) and will lower the total wattage of your system (as the rails are pushing more voltage now).

So, I don't necessarily recommend it and unfortunately can't find the illustrated guide that shows how to do this.

However it is doable and in some cases worthwhile.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 7:40 am

halcyon, do you think you could maybe post some pictures of them? When I did my fan mod on my Fortron, I never noticed them, but then again, I didn't really look for them. My rails seem fine, but it would be good to know anyway, just in case.

-Ed

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 10:24 am

I'm sorry, it's in my wife's comp. I'll try asking if I can still dismantle it later. However, I'm in the midst of building my own computer as well, so it might take a while.

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 2:25 pm

Sorry, my question seemed to have gotten lost:

Do I need to deal with this thermistor stuff even though my Fortron is the version with the manual control for fan speed?

Post by **MikeC** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 2:42 pm

Vegita wrote:Sorry, my question seemed to have gotten lost:

Do I need to deal with this thermistor stuff even though my Fortron is the version with the manual control for fan speed?

Depends how loud you find it after the mod.

ALL PSUs I know of now use thermistor speed control -- even the ones with "manual control". The min speed rises as the PSU gets hotter. Or the min/max both rise. The manual speed control is invariably in-line in the fan control circuit.

EDITED for spelling

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 11:10 am

Cool.

So is there any consensus on 120mm is quieter? Papst or AcoustiFan?

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 1:06 pm

Yate Loon!

or Adda Hypro bearing fans

Sorry, I can sell you all of my Papst fans that now lie unused at the bottom of my "discard fan box".

I'll never buy any Papst again, unless I need some really high volume fan for a situation where only MTBF matters and noise be damned.

I know not all may agree with my comments and some do find Papst still to edge the win at comparable air volumes.

It's just that even with 5V I can not make my Papst fans motors/ticking silent, whereas my Yate Loon / Adda-Hypro fans only produce the air wooshing sound.

BTW, my AOpen (Fortron) hade a 120mm Yate-Loon. I didn't see any reason to change it, it's very quiet.

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:25 pm

Put 150-200w load on it and see how "quiet" it is.

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 7:18 pm

I find the fan "alright" when the load is low, but it speeds up too much when I play games and such.

Would changing the fan fix this? Or would I have to move the thermistor?

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 8:10 pm

Changing the fan did it for me. Can't hear it unless you're within 2' from behind my machine, even with Prime95 max heat torture test running for a while.

-Ed

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:01 pm

Cool, I'll probably try just changing the fan then.

Which 120mm did you replace it with?

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:10 pm

AcoustiProducts' AcoustiFan AF120CT...

-Ed

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:17 am

wumpus wrote:Put 150-200w load on it and see how "quiet" it is.

That's very true. Let my illustrate further.

I've been here since the FSP60PN-(PF) debacle began and was among the first to critique that PSU model for not handling properly under heavy loads. This was at the same time, that people with lighter loads found that PSU to be the best thing ever for silentPC folks.

So yes, I'm unfortunately acutely aware of that after having tried three Fortron units and modified each one of them.

Regardless, the question was about modding the PSU (which can be done) and benefit of more silent fans.

Even at 12,5V the aforementioned fans I have produce only air movement noise. No annoying mechanical sounds, unlike almost all the Papst units I've tried (over twenty of them).

Unfortunately, not all my Fortrons have had such a good fan unit inside them. Some have produced annoying mechanical noises.

Are the Adda/Yate Loon fans I have loud by SPCR standards? Yate Loon that I found in my AOpen, yes very much so at 12V, but it also pushes a lot of air and the sound is only that of air wooshing. At lower voltages it is remarkably silent.

Adda Hypro, nope. It's _extremely_ silent. Then again Adda is probably not good enough to push enough air (at least the model I have) in a PSU like that. Personally I only have 80mm units for testing right now.

So yes, I understand that any Fortron model I've tried of the 120mm fan series has this problem with the fan controller that once the load, hence the PSU temp (or additionally case temp) is high enough, the controller pushes the voltage to the PSU fan up to 12V and there is lots of noise. Mostly air movement noise, but in some cases also noise from the mechanics of the fan and vibration to the PSU casing.

One can alleviate these problems somewhat by moving the temp sensor away from the heatsink to a position that has better airflow (i.e. reducing voltage driven to the fan), and by substituting for a more silent fan (with the risk of overheating if the case cooling is not sufficient enough elsewhere) with rubber mountings.

Alternatively one can modifying the fan controller, which I've yet to try out myself.

Still, my Yate Loon fan in the Aopen 300W unit I have (Fortron made, 120mm PSU with PFC) remains very quiet under the moderate loads that my wife's machine has after the temp sensor has been moved and this nice Yate Loon fan has been rubber mounted.

Of course, the situation changes as soon as the PSU load climbs high enough.

So yes, this has all been covered before, but here it is again, summarized :)

best regards,
Halcyon