Altering PSU Cooling Help Thread

phr4n

phr4n

phr4n

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24 Sep 2009
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313
'It's gettin' real hard to work with you whirring at me all day long!'

My PSU (Enermax Galaxy 1KW - 2006) is still stable as ever. The fans inside it however - 1x 140mm + 1x 90mm - are now* stuck blowing at 100%.. All the time.

I'll preface by saying I've never opened a PSU also my knowledge of circuitry hasn't been built any further than GCSE level. I'm not usually scared of tinkering but I don't wanna fork out for a swish new hummer.

Ideally I would like to replace both of the fans currently in the PSU and jam them onto a fan controller.

Looking for tips, warnings, cautionary tails and if possible like for like advice.

Haven't touched her yet. There is a brown single cable that in the instructions listed as a fan controller connection but in practice has never audibly or visibly changed anything, the PSU seems to dictate fan speed.

Anything would be greatly appreciated. Rig in Sig - (got a 7870 coming so whilst I'm hosing the old fluff out I was gonna tinker.
 
Looks like the fan wire is just for monitoring. Most PSUs will regulate their fans speed as a result of PSU temperature, which could be measured in several spots. If one of those temperature sensors fails then default action would be 100% speed to protect the PSU.

Swapping in fans is a simple affair and easier than what I documented if you are running your fan cables off to a fan controller. You need to be careful that you don't underpower your fans though, as is often a temptation with these things. I closely monitored my case temperature and external PSU exhaust temperature at all sorts of loads before I was totally happy.

One good thing about your PSU though is the speed of the fans is well documented here

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-...-1000W-1-kW-Power-Supply-Review/Detailed-Look

So leaves little guesswork, although 135mm fans aren't common. Make sure you get a suitable bearing for horizontal mounting, a sleeve bearing just won't do.


And the good news is that my PSU is still running fine 18 months later.
 
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