OK. I don't often see anybody mod their power supply, so here is mine with some pics for you folks to check out.
The main mod features of this psu are:
- Reverse flow of 2nd psu fan.
- Wire both psu fans together, extend wire out of psu and have a 3-pin connector on it so I can connect it to my Vantec Nexus fan controller to quiet down the psu.
- Cut 3 large holes in the psu to allow air from inside the case to flow out through the psu. Holes cut with my Dremel tool.
- Cover those 3 holes with silver window screen material (home made grills). Use hot-glue to hold in the screen material.
- Tie up extra leads that won't be used, and stuff them inside the psu unit.
Commentary...
Background: About a week ago I started beefing up my computer with extra hard drives. A spare 120g for storage, and I also wanted 2 80gb drives for some raid0 action. I installed the raid drives, got Windows XP installed, and everything seemed fine. Then I went to a lan party on Saturday (only a few hours of testing on teh new setup...). As luck would have it, my old 300W power supply just couldn't handle the load. SO, my system took a dump during the lan party and, I looked like an idiot.
The Solution: The next day I picked up a 550W power supply. It is a Rhycom 550W model. I know, it's generic, but I got it for a nice price when I really needed it.
The Mod: I chose this power supply because by default it has 2 fans in it. I want this because of the amount of intake fans in my system vs. the amount of exhaust fans. I felt there just weren't enough exhaust fans, and wanted to add a top exhaust. This psu has what I thought was a top exhaust, but turned out to be a bottom intake for the psu... So part of my mod was reversing the flow of that fan, and also drilling out the case so the psu can be placed up-side-down...
The part of the case mod that is not finished right now is a top hole that will allow the psu to blow the air from the top exhaust fan OUT of the case. I have drilled all the rivits for the top panel to be removed, but haven't cut the hole yet. At this point I'm simply testing the psu.
I chose to use silver screen material because I bought some a while back for another mod that never happened. I figuired this would be a good time to use it. I was originally going to try to screw it to the sheet-metal, but decided that wouldn't work well. I then remembered Target has a small glue gun for $3, so I went and bought it with a bunch of extra glue. It worked really well.
I cut the screen with a heavy duty kitchen scissors, and folded the edges so it wouldn't unravel in the psu.
The psu's fans are 12v by default. The rear 80mm fan is quiet, but the "top" 10mm x 80mm fan is rather loud. I have a spare port on my Vantec Nexus fan controller, so it seemed only natural to wire them together, route that wire out of the psu, and attach a 3-pin fan connector to the end so I can control the fan speeds. The only reason for needing this is because I like to run my system as quiet as possible, yet still get maximum cooling.
Cutting the holes in the sheet metal was fairly easy. I simply used my dremel and went to work. When done, I filed the edges with a standard bastard file that you can get at any hardware store. The edges aren't perfect, and you can see how I slipped on a couple spots and ground the side a little... oops... I'm not worried though, nobody can see it from outside the case anyway. I may paint it later, but that's definately not a priority.
The last thing I want to mention is that I used zip-ties to stuff the spare connectors inside of the psu. I did this because I don't need them for my rig, and they take up valuable airflow space in the case. I could have cut them, but then I would never be able to use them again, which could be bad in the future. When stuffed inside, they do take up some space, but I don't think it'll be much of a problem.
In the end the psu was a little tight getting back together. The wire grill on the side wouldn't fit between the circuit board and the case. I decided to cover the edge with electrical tape as a precaution, then just pushed harder til it went in... it's a tight fit, but it works.
That's about it for commentary. Feel free to ask questions if you want.
The Pictures:
Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of some of the steps, such as soldering the fans, tying up the spare connectors, or actually cutting the holes. I also didn't take any before pictures... sorry... Just imagine these pics with solid metal and very few slots for airflow... and more wires sticking out...
Pictures of front internal grill after glued to metal: internal - external
Pictures of side internal grill after glued to metal: internal - external
Pictures of psu all put back together: 1 - 2 - 3
Picture of psu in case, notice how it is up-side-down. Pic
EDIT: Here are some pics of my system without the psu mod. You can see my current setup with 2 intake 92mm fans over the video card and cpu.
http://www.tschidanet.com/myrig/pic1.jpg
http://www.tschidanet.com/myrig/pic2.jpg
http://www.tschidanet.com/myrig/pic3.jpg
The main mod features of this psu are:
- Reverse flow of 2nd psu fan.
- Wire both psu fans together, extend wire out of psu and have a 3-pin connector on it so I can connect it to my Vantec Nexus fan controller to quiet down the psu.
- Cut 3 large holes in the psu to allow air from inside the case to flow out through the psu. Holes cut with my Dremel tool.
- Cover those 3 holes with silver window screen material (home made grills). Use hot-glue to hold in the screen material.
- Tie up extra leads that won't be used, and stuff them inside the psu unit.
Commentary...
Background: About a week ago I started beefing up my computer with extra hard drives. A spare 120g for storage, and I also wanted 2 80gb drives for some raid0 action. I installed the raid drives, got Windows XP installed, and everything seemed fine. Then I went to a lan party on Saturday (only a few hours of testing on teh new setup...). As luck would have it, my old 300W power supply just couldn't handle the load. SO, my system took a dump during the lan party and, I looked like an idiot.
The Solution: The next day I picked up a 550W power supply. It is a Rhycom 550W model. I know, it's generic, but I got it for a nice price when I really needed it.
The Mod: I chose this power supply because by default it has 2 fans in it. I want this because of the amount of intake fans in my system vs. the amount of exhaust fans. I felt there just weren't enough exhaust fans, and wanted to add a top exhaust. This psu has what I thought was a top exhaust, but turned out to be a bottom intake for the psu... So part of my mod was reversing the flow of that fan, and also drilling out the case so the psu can be placed up-side-down...
The part of the case mod that is not finished right now is a top hole that will allow the psu to blow the air from the top exhaust fan OUT of the case. I have drilled all the rivits for the top panel to be removed, but haven't cut the hole yet. At this point I'm simply testing the psu.
I chose to use silver screen material because I bought some a while back for another mod that never happened. I figuired this would be a good time to use it. I was originally going to try to screw it to the sheet-metal, but decided that wouldn't work well. I then remembered Target has a small glue gun for $3, so I went and bought it with a bunch of extra glue. It worked really well.
I cut the screen with a heavy duty kitchen scissors, and folded the edges so it wouldn't unravel in the psu. The psu's fans are 12v by default. The rear 80mm fan is quiet, but the "top" 10mm x 80mm fan is rather loud. I have a spare port on my Vantec Nexus fan controller, so it seemed only natural to wire them together, route that wire out of the psu, and attach a 3-pin fan connector to the end so I can control the fan speeds. The only reason for needing this is because I like to run my system as quiet as possible, yet still get maximum cooling.
Cutting the holes in the sheet metal was fairly easy. I simply used my dremel and went to work. When done, I filed the edges with a standard bastard file that you can get at any hardware store. The edges aren't perfect, and you can see how I slipped on a couple spots and ground the side a little... oops... I'm not worried though, nobody can see it from outside the case anyway. I may paint it later, but that's definately not a priority.
The last thing I want to mention is that I used zip-ties to stuff the spare connectors inside of the psu. I did this because I don't need them for my rig, and they take up valuable airflow space in the case. I could have cut them, but then I would never be able to use them again, which could be bad in the future. When stuffed inside, they do take up some space, but I don't think it'll be much of a problem.
In the end the psu was a little tight getting back together. The wire grill on the side wouldn't fit between the circuit board and the case. I decided to cover the edge with electrical tape as a precaution, then just pushed harder til it went in... it's a tight fit, but it works.
That's about it for commentary. Feel free to ask questions if you want.
The Pictures:
Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of some of the steps, such as soldering the fans, tying up the spare connectors, or actually cutting the holes. I also didn't take any before pictures... sorry... Just imagine these pics with solid metal and very few slots for airflow... and more wires sticking out...
Pictures of front internal grill after glued to metal: internal - external
Pictures of side internal grill after glued to metal: internal - external
Pictures of psu all put back together: 1 - 2 - 3
Picture of psu in case, notice how it is up-side-down. Pic
EDIT: Here are some pics of my system without the psu mod. You can see my current setup with 2 intake 92mm fans over the video card and cpu.
http://www.tschidanet.com/myrig/pic1.jpg
http://www.tschidanet.com/myrig/pic2.jpg
http://www.tschidanet.com/myrig/pic3.jpg
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