Replacing PSU fan?

mattylad

mattylad

mattylad

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26 Jan 2009
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15
Hi, the fan in my PSU is extremely noisy (apart from that the PSU is perfectly fine) so I want to replace it with a quieter new one.

I know it's 120mm and from old ATX psu's I have repaired they were usually just 12v 2 wire ( no speed feedback etc) so can anyone reccomend a good silent (and cheap) replacement?

Will something like the artic F12 case fan be the same?

The job of changing it is no problem, I know about the safety side etc,

Cheers.
Matt
 
I used an Enermax Magma in my second PSU fan swap, a Scythe S-flex or similar in my first PSU fan swap.

In both cases the PSUs had functional fan speed controllers which continued to function and control the new fans. The only difference was that the fans were rated slower than the existing ones. I think it was 2400 vs 1500 and 2900 vs 1900 RPM or something.

If I had a PSU without a fan controller and the fans were just running at full whack all the time then I would have put together a temperature controlled circuit for it maybe using a thermistor inside the PSU. Some people route the wiring out of the PSU and use a fan controller.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261286
 
Puppetmaster said:
What PSU do you have and whats the spec of your system?
Click to expand...

Hello, its an Atrix 500T.
May not be the best but it works and is not giving any problems.

The rest of the system is a Phenom 2, M4A785TD-V EVO, 8800GT, 1xhdd, 1xdvdrom.

Not exactly power hungry.

Looking to answer your question now gives me the answer I need on what fan.
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/atrix_500t/ shows it to be a simple 2 wire 12v fan.

As much as a new fan would be better I cant quite afford circa 50 squid at the mo.
 
It looks like a different 2 pin connector though to your normal 3 pin fans so may need some soldering work like I did to get mine to work.
 
Nice mod Tealc, I might look into doing just that - putting a temp controller inside.
Can you suggest one - a circuit etc?
I'm thinking something like one of these.

One of these fans is what I was thinking of.

Or perhaps one of these
I have the arctic cooling freezer 7 pro on the CPU and it seems quiet enough.

Soldering work is no problem, I have pleanty or breadboard and components available -just have to find a suitable fan.
 
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I've thought about regulator based control circuits before but I hate to lose 2v to the regulator and the very low dropout ones are more expensive.

What about something 555 outputting 25khz PWM based? It makes sense to use PWM if you intend using a PWM fan. I haven't considered the design of such a circuit using a Thermistor instead of a potentiometer but I'm sure it can't be that hard. You may find a stock temperature controlled fan may not have a temperature response you like.
 
mattylad, it maybe a good idea to change the links to those fans, OcUK sell Arctic fans, 120mm, PWN, TC and non-TC controlled too. Ironically if you click on "Arctic cooling" in your post (or indeed mine) they're listed under the top group of products.
 
OK, I now have on my desk an Arctic cooling F12 PWM fan.

I thought I had bought an ordinary one to do the job simply.

So can I simply add this and run it with fixed voltage or do I now need to make a pwm circuit?
 
Problem solved. What fan are you shoving in there now?

Just for your information most 4 pin PWM fans will run happily on a DC voltage bypassing their PWM function completely, although I do find the one PWM fan I have, the Akasa Apache stalls at a higher voltage than all my 3 pinner DC fans.
 
No idea at the mo - its in my coolermaster case and I cannot hear it. its a 3 wire one.

I can daisy chain the pwm ones so can put this new one at the rear of the case and use the current rear one in the psu.

When I get a round tuit. I have one of those in my watch list on ebay lol
 
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