Question Does mounting a PSU with fan-down cause pre-mature PSU death?

[VirtualLarry]

Anyone know for sure, or have any concrete theories about this?

Most of my cases in which this is true (I mount the PSU so that the label is readable right-side up from the side), have removable filters on the bottom of the case near the back. But I don't always remember to clean them.

 

[LTC8K6]

Are you thinking of dust in the PSU or of overheating the PSU?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are you thinking of dust in the PSU or of overheating the PSU?

Kind of both - getting dust in the dust filter, or worse, in the PSU, and it not being able to cool properly. Then again, if it has auto-fan-shutoff, and the heat gets "trapped" against the PCB at the top of the PSU (upside-down, remember), then it seems like it would shorten their life.

I refurbished a pair of G4560 rigs, with 600W EVGA B and 730W RaidMax Thunder (IIRC) PSUs, each with two RX 570 cards, so they were drawing a decent amount of wattage.

There was a layer of dust in the dust filter, caked pretty thick.

 

[LTC8K6]

I've never used dust filters on a PC. I guess they are a bit of a two edged sword.

I just let the thing get dusty, and clean it out occasionally.

If the PSU has thermally controlled fan(s) and is protected against overheating, which any good one will be, I think you'd be fine if you occasionally forget to clean the filters until they are blocked.

 

[UsandThem]

I haven't seen any proof as this "fan stop" feature hasn't been on PSUs for long enough, but it makes sense to me.

If the PSU is facing up with the fans stopped, the warm air will be pulled into the case and removed. If it's facing down, it will simply rise and stay, causing all the PSU components to be warm/hot. I have PCs with the PSUs facing up and down, and if they are facing downward, I disable the "fan stop" feature.

I don't have to clean the PSU filters all that often, as it seems the bulk of the dust gets pulled into the case's front fan filter.

 

[Furious_Styles]

I've never tested disabling a fan on a PSU but it will surely kill them if you're putting lots of load on them. However if you have good airflow in your case and are not utilizing the PSU much I could see it lasting for a long time, especially if it's a higher-end one with quality components.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Mounting with the fan down does not cause premature PSU death. Mounting with the fan such that it doesn't have any air intake causes premature death.

My current system has the fan mounted down and at the bottom of the case (it is a Fractal Design R3). I have had it for ~8 years now...

Previously I have had PSUs mounted fan down in a Lian-Li PC-201B for about 6-7 years. And before that the fan mounted down inside some HP case for 5 years (only used the case, the internals were gutted).