Replacing the PSU fan in the Sugo SG05

[betaspin]

The PSU in the Sugo SG05 is a FSP300-60GHS which some people, including myself, find a bit on the noisy side. The idea to replace the PSU fan has been bugging me for quite some time and a couple of days ago I sat down and did it.

If you want to see what is inside the FSP300-60GHS, there is a good review at http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/757/1. The PSU fan is a Protechnic Electric MGA8012XS-A15 which, according to http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29247, has the following specifications:

• Sleeve bearing
• Size 80x80x15 (mm)
• Voltage 12 (VDC)
• Operating Current 0.23 (A)
• Power 2.76 (W)
• Air Pressure 4.07 (mmAq) 0.16 (InchAq)
• Air Flow 0.905 (CMM) 31.92 (CFM)
• Speed 3400 (RPM)
• Noise 39.4 (dBA)

As there are not that many 80x80x15mm fans around, I settled on the obvious choice of a Hiper HFF-1N08N, see http://www.hipergroup.com/products.php?lv=3&cate=15&type=17&pid=42:

• Sleeve bearing
• Size 80x80x15 (mm)
• Voltage 12 (VDC)
• Current 0.20 (A, max)
• Air Pressure 1.21 (mmAq)
• Air Flow 21.24 (CFM)
• Speed 2000 (RPM)
• Noise 19 (dbA)

The HFF-1N08N achieves about 2/3 of the airflow of the MGA8012XS-A15 but, as I have no intention of exceeding 200W (2/3 of the rated PSU load), I thought that it would be all right. The difference in the air pressures is not important, as the interior of the PSU is free from any airflow restrictions.

A more serious concern was the possibility that the HFF-1N08N might have a higher starting voltage than the MGA8012XS-A15 and might not start to turn straight after turning the computer on but, fortunately, this was not the case. The HFF-1N08N starts turning even if the PSU is jump-started on its own.

The replacement of the fan is rather straightforward, but a neat job requires some soldering skill as the MGA8012XS-A15 wires are soldered to the PSU board. Of course, one should also be very careful not to touch any of the connectors of the single enormous capacitor.

The modified FSP300-60GHS is much quieter and has been running for a couple of days without any problems.

 

[betaspin]

Best fan that size is the Sanyo Denki San Ace, just for reference.

True, but the San Ace 80s are not easy to find (most probably, would need to order from the US), and the specifications of the 2000 rpm one are almost identical to those of the HFF-1N08N.

 

[betaspin]

What front fan are you running? I've popped an S-Flex 1200RPM on there and i can't hear the PSU fan over it. The two are very close in volume to my ear, with the S-Flex being a little louder.

I did consider a Noctua but I didn't want it's ugly beige/red-ness peeking through the front of the SG05.

Once i have a different CPU cooler in there i might undervolt the Scythe and replace the PSU fan, both are nosier than the HIS cooler on my graphics card so there's definitely room for improvement.

I also have a 1200 rpm Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E, but have it connected to the case fan header through a Zalman FanMate 2 and have set it to 900 rpm, which makes it completely noiseless. My cpu & cooler are E5200 + Scythe Shuriken, and when EIST is enabled the E5200 spends most of its life at 1.2GHz, which leaves the Shuriken with next to nothing to do. At the moment the main source of noise is the hard disk.