psu fan position, airflow and possible noise
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 3:10 am
Hi people
I'm about to build a new system, and as usual I'll try to make it as silent as possible, but since it has been some time since I built my last system, I have a few questions which I'm sure you can help me to clarify.
Almost any quality case nowadays has the power supply at the bottom, and almost every PSU has the fan at the bottom, but just a few cases have holes at the bottom, so the air for the PSU has to come from the front and exhaust at the rear. This disposition leaves just a small gap for the the air to circulate between the PSU and the bottom of the case. Isn't this a source for sound and suboptimal air flow?. Also, very few PSU's have fans in the front -> back direction, like the Antec CP series; Isn't this system better at letting the air flow, even with the fan at low speeds?.
For instance, if you use a case with chambers, like the Antec 183, the only real source of fresh air for the PSU is the lower front of the case. In normal configurations, with just one chamber, at least you have the whole space to suck air; may be not too fresh, but ideally not too hot.
There is always the option to put the PSU with the fan on top, but then, how good is this configuration in actual conditions, with very hot graphic cards and hot CPU's?
This question came to my mind thinking about the options for PSU in this next machine, which by the way will be with a 183 case if I can find it in Malaysia, if there is no luck, most probably will be a lian-li pc-b10 or pc-a71f or ... something else, there is not much to choose from here.
Thanks
Bye
P.D.
Bye the way, I was not sure about the subject of this post, if somebody suggest a better one, I'll change it, so it is more useful.
I'm about to build a new system, and as usual I'll try to make it as silent as possible, but since it has been some time since I built my last system, I have a few questions which I'm sure you can help me to clarify.
Almost any quality case nowadays has the power supply at the bottom, and almost every PSU has the fan at the bottom, but just a few cases have holes at the bottom, so the air for the PSU has to come from the front and exhaust at the rear. This disposition leaves just a small gap for the the air to circulate between the PSU and the bottom of the case. Isn't this a source for sound and suboptimal air flow?. Also, very few PSU's have fans in the front -> back direction, like the Antec CP series; Isn't this system better at letting the air flow, even with the fan at low speeds?.
For instance, if you use a case with chambers, like the Antec 183, the only real source of fresh air for the PSU is the lower front of the case. In normal configurations, with just one chamber, at least you have the whole space to suck air; may be not too fresh, but ideally not too hot.
There is always the option to put the PSU with the fan on top, but then, how good is this configuration in actual conditions, with very hot graphic cards and hot CPU's?
This question came to my mind thinking about the options for PSU in this next machine, which by the way will be with a 183 case if I can find it in Malaysia, if there is no luck, most probably will be a lian-li pc-b10 or pc-a71f or ... something else, there is not much to choose from here.
Thanks
Bye
P.D.
Bye the way, I was not sure about the subject of this post, if somebody suggest a better one, I'll change it, so it is more useful.