PSU with 120mm mod idea

maxxymus · Post by **maxxymus** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:55 am

I thought about it.. looks kinda logical

unfortunately I don't have a PSU with a 120mm fan and this mod does void warranty.. anyway.. take PSU, flip it inside case, open the PSU and flip the fan so it blows our out of the PSU and make a nice duct. Close off any other intake vents.

Pro's:
- PSU is now in its own cycle of air.. kinda like it's outside of the case.
- Lower temps = lower noise!

Con's:
- Voids warranty
- Dust inside PSU
- Potential to return noise from 120mm fan? I think that if the fan runs at low rpm anyway you wont be able to hear it. Maybe add a flap to deflect the noise?

Ideas?

Anyone willing to be the guinea pig?

freak_in_cage · Post by **freak_in_cage** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 3:09 am

seems good idea to me man. i thought of a similar thing myself, although i always pictures the fan above sucking in from top of the case and blowing out the back as it would normally do. dunno which would be better?! i guess it would depend on whether the PC was on a table or under a table, and how far the back was from a wall.

also, if the rear of the PSU is sucking air in, and you have an exhaust fan just below it, then the PSU would suck in some of the warm exhaust air.

also some cases (due to the posn of the screw holes etc) wont accept an inverted PSU.

if you can find a case which accepts PSUs upside down, and you dont mind an exhaust hole in the top of your case it should work well!

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:03 am

freak_in_cage wrote:seems good idea to me man. i thought of a similar thing myself, although i always pictures the fan above sucking in from top of the case and blowing out the back as it would normally do.

I've also been thinking of a mod like that, but with the air sucked in through a duct from the front of the case. With a clearance of 5cm between the top of my PSU and the top of the case there will be enough room to let the air in and the duct can be made simply by sealing off the upper part of the case.

maxxymus · Post by **maxxymus** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:15 am

Yes i forgot about hot air recycling into the system... means more ducting...

Tephras, what materials were u thinking of using?

freak_in_cage · Post by **freak_in_cage** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 9:21 am

Tephras wrote: I've also been thinking of a mod like that, but with the air sucked in through a duct from the front of the case. With a clearance of 5cm between the top of my PSU and the top of the case there will be enough room to let the air in and the duct can be made simply by sealing off the upper part of the case.

yeah, that should work also m8. may be tricky to ensure u get an air tight duct across the length of your case, + you have to get a hole in the front of the PSU, whereas the Max way needs no mod to PSU.

also, it may depend on how many DVD drives you have.

on the good side it means u dont have to make a bit hole on the top of your case, drilling through 1mm steel. also means u can put whatever you want on the top of your pc (and not obstruct any fans)

unfortunatly i cant try this out for myself, because im at uni so no tools etc

ONEshot · Post by **ONEshot** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:53 pm

It might suck in air from the hot exhaust getting out of the system. You could fix that by sticking an air diverter, like the one in the V1000, on the case's exhaust.

pangit · Post by **pangit** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:41 pm

It's a great idea, and one that has been discussed here before, but has two problems that I can see:

1) exposes the inside of your PSU to objects such as paperclips, staples and liquids being accidentally dropped in, with potentially disastrous results!

2) will provide a direct path for the noise of the 120mm fan to your ears. If you have a reasonably quiet system overall, this could easily make the PSU fan the loudest component in your system. It will make a big difference compared with a sealed case and stock orientation, so it may negate any impact of the fan spinning slower - the noise you hear will be higher.

I think Tephras's solution is a good compromise if you have enough clearance above the PSU. It is a variation on the PSU duct that has been used sucessfully by many here. It was even suggested by MikeC in a post some time ago.

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 9:02 pm

maxxymus wrote:Tephras, what materials were u thinking of using?

I have some fairly stiff foam tiles that I thought would be a good material to use, since there will be an opening in the front the foam could prevent the noise from the rest of the system to getting through to the upper part and escape through the front opening.

freak_in_cage wrote:yeah, that should work also m8. may be tricky to ensure u get an air tight duct across the length of your case, + you have to get a hole in the front of the PSU, whereas the Max way needs no mod to PSU.

There's no need to mod the PSU, air will be sucked in through the 120mm fan in the upturned PSU and the sealed off upper part of the case will act as a duct with a air intake in the front. So the PSU and CD/DVD drive (I only have one) will have a separate compartment whose main purpose is to provide the PSU with outside air.

freak_in_cage · Post by **freak_in_cage** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:34 am

Tephras wrote:
There's no need to mod the PSU, air will be sucked in through the 120mm fan in the upturned PSU and the sealed off upper part of the case will act as a duct with a air intake in the front. So the PSU and CD/DVD drive (I only have one) will have a separate compartment whose main purpose is to provide the PSU with outside air.

oh yeah, i didn;t read the bit about having space above the PSU.

Sounds a good idea then! would be cool to seal the whole PSU region from the rest of the case. that way the bottom front fan and the rear fan would be siolly used to cool the PU & Graphics