possible to change PSU fan?

To those that think a PSU can't kill, please refrain from offering any electrical advice. For those that refuse to believe low voltages can kill on occasion, again, please stay quiet.

To the OP - it's perfectly possible to change the fan in the PSU yourself, but it is a job that should be done with a lot of respect for what you are working with. Ensure the unit is disconnected from the mains, and ideally leave dormant for a day or so beforehand, as typically most PSU caps will lose their charge over this period. When working in the unit, ensure that you do not touch any exposed wiring or components, and work with insulated tooling. If you're careful there is nothing wrong with doing this, you just have to have a healthy respect for electricity!
 
Last time I looked inside a psu the fan was connected to a proper fan header like a motherboard, check to see what type of connection there is first. It should work like it did before if you match it up to a simular fan with 3/2pins. Also try to match the correct amperage which should be written on the fan label, similar types of fan will prob be around the same anyway. If there is no fan connection point, you can just join the wires matching the correct Ground, 12v and PMW which may be different colours on some fans.
 
Last edited:
I have changed a fan in a PSU before now. Turn off power, press PC power button a couple of times to (hopefully) discharge any power still held in capacitors. I would advise being fairly careful still though, use insulated tools etc and try not to prod bare contacts.

To be honest these days unless its a straight swap of like for like fans, I'd be tempted to just get a new psu rather than chance bunging in a under powered fan that would cause overheating.

E-I
 
Evil-I said:
I have changed a fan in a PSU before now. Turn off power, press PC power button a couple of times to (hopefully) discharge any power still held in capacitors. I would advise being fairly careful still though, use insulated tools etc and try not to prod bare contacts.

To be honest these days unless its a straight swap of like for like fans, I'd be tempted to just get a new psu rather than chance bunging in a under powered fan that would cause overheating.

E-I
Click to expand...

+1, iv done a few psu fan replacements, very easy to do, if your ok at a bit of electrical diy you should be fine. like above just make sure you unplug it from the wall, press the pc power button a couple of times to drain any charge out of it.
 
MikeHunt79 said:
the fan is there for a reason, if you turn it off the PSU IC's will melt. :(
Click to expand...

i know, but stopping it briefly will indicate if the noise is still there or not.

which i managed to do, and the noise stopped, so now i either change the fan, or get a new PSU.

changing the fan seems possible as there are many guides, just deciding if it's worth the effort, if i can find a decent 500w ish PSU that's stable and quiet cheap
 
MikeHunt79 said:
the fan is there for a reason, if you turn it off the PSU IC's will melt. :(
Click to expand...

If it's a quality PSU it will just shutdown. I don't think that it's that difficult for PSU manufacturers to put an autoshutdown feature with high temperatures in a PSU, just like motherboards/CPUs do.

drew64 said:
changing the fan seems possible as there are many guides, just deciding if it's worth the effort, if i can find a decent 500w ish PSU that's stable and quiet cheap
Click to expand...

I don't think that you can find cheaper than this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-026-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat= :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom