PS Isolation

born2code · Post by **born2code** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:22 pm

All right, having now read several reviews, it seems to me the P180's biggest claim to fame is the way it isolates the power supply from the rest of the components. On the other hand, I have seen several cases where the intake for the PS is on the bottom of the case. In a situation like this, the air flow for the power supply is completely separate from the rest of the system even though it doesn't have a separate "zone". I guess my question is, how much of an advantage is the P180's separate zone? That is, how much heat radiates from the PS's enclosure?

PopCorn · Post by **PopCorn** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:04 pm

it has alot more of an effect than a psu just in the bottom of the case... a fan pulls from all directions not just derectly infront of it... and the seperation of it cuts off heat from rising to the top of the case and further heating things up.... and it creates a "wind tunnel" that also works to cool the hard drives... hope that explaines the point of having the divider in the p180

born2code · Post by **born2code** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:36 pm

I guess that's what I'm asking... how much heat radiates from the psu case? A little?... a lot?... because in both situations, the air flow is completely separate from the rest of the system. The only difference is the divider.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:42 pm

born2code wrote:I guess that's what I'm asking... how much heat radiates from the psu case? A little?... a lot?... because in both situations, the air flow is completely separate from the rest of the system. The only difference is the divider.

The purpose of the divider is to keep system heat separate from the PSU, not the other way round.

I have seen several cases where the intake for the PS is on the bottom of the case.

Can you give some examples so what can see what kind of configuration you are talking about?

born2code · Post by **born2code** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:04 pm

The Silverstone TJ09 is one. (Yeah, I know... aluminum...)

In this case the intake fan for the psu faces down, so its airflow is separate from the rest of the system. The hard drives are in a separate zone.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:28 pm

Yes, this achieves the same effect as the divider in the P180. The only issue I can see with the TJ09 layout is if the PC is placed on carpet it will suck up a lot of dust/fibres.

RAFH · Post by **RAFH** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:51 pm

I installed a baffle on my SOLO, to separate the PSU from the rest of the gear. Well, not entirely, it pulls its air in through the 5.25 bays at the top front. The arrangement seems to work well. The PSU is one of the components that can generate noise and which you have little control over. Normally the PSU, being located at the top of the case pulls its air from the general case air which is already warmed up. That pushes the PSU temps up and forces it to both work harder, making more noise and heat, and its fans to work harder which also creates more noise and heat.

At least with my baffle the PSU gets relative cool air all the time and I have to say its stayed dead steady. Never a peep out of the bugger.

The other benefit is a reduction of the case volume and elimination of corners and hidey holes where air can go dead and little vortexes can rob your cooling system of efficiency. The air flowing through does so as directly as possible meaning the fans don't have to work as hard and they don't make as much noise nor produce as much heat.

It also cuts down on the noise from the CPU cooler coming up back through the 5.25 bays and out the front.

Is it a big effect? No, but the cost was zero cash (old scrap of cardboard) and a few minutes of time. There's some photos on the P150/SOLO thread in here.

Devonavar · Post by **Devonavar** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:30 pm

I can't comment on other cases with "bottom feeding" power supplies since I haven't seen any, but the TJ-09 should have the same advantage of the P180 (with the dust proviso pointed out by jaganath).

The P180 did the PSU isolation trick first, but there are certainly imitators out there now. Can you point me to any other examples?

born2code · Post by **born2code** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:26 pm

All right, you got me. I can't find a single other case that does this.

Gorsnak · Post by **Gorsnak** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:59 pm

jaganath wrote:Yes, this achieves the same effect as the divider in the P180. The only issue I can see with the TJ09 layout is if the PC is placed on carpet it will suck up a lot of dust/fibres.

That has not been my experience. I don't have a TJ09, but I do have a bottom-feeder. Both the psu and the main box intakes are on the bottom, and it's sitting on carpet. The case collects considerably less dust than other computers I've owned.

nici · Post by **nici** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:00 pm

There are not many cases that do what the TJ09 does, but there are cases where you can mount the PSU at the bottom. CM Stacker and the copies of it and the antec nine hundred to name a couple. I have not actually measured this, but even if the psu is not in its own compartment and is not a "bottom-feeder" i would expect the air at the bottom of the enclosure to be cooler than the air in the top of the case. In that scenario the PSU would get reasonably cool air even if it isn't isolated from the rest of the system. So i think the psu should be at the bottom, most definately, but it doesnt have to have a divider or feed thru its bottom for it to work.

I have redesigned my P180, it has bottom intakes and no front openings, but im still trying to figure out if i will use exhaust fans or fans in the middle of the case. Im wating for some fans from Dorothy.