OCZ power supply fan is starting to go bad...

[Ksyder]

My OCZ stealth stream 500 watt psu sounds like the fan bearings are starting to go bad. I don't know if they are sleeve bearings or ball bearings or what. The problem is that its installed in an Antec P182 and so it will be time consuming to have to remove it and then rewire it, not to mention the downtime associated with it.

Getting to the question part, does anyone here know if the fan power leads are soldered to the board in there or what? I hate to crack open the psu and replace the fan and potentially getting shocked or otherwise ruining the psu but it wouldn't cost much to do, not to mention I'd like to upgrade the fan to a quieter model.

Is this a bad idea or what? Also, can anyone recommend a high quality quiet 120mm fan to replace it?

 

[mpilchfamily]

PSUs generally use a little 2 pin connector for the fans. Similar to what many video cards have to power there fans. But you'll still need to do some soldering. When changing the fan out i like to cut the connector and wires off the old fan and splice it onto the cbale of the new fan. So as long as you can do that and your comfertable opening up the PSU then the fan replacement isn't half bad.

 

[Spike]

I have replaced many fans in PSU's and while you can cut and re-solder the fan connectors I normally just thread the normal 3 pin connector out through the cable hole or one of the grill openings. I find this is much easier and quicker and changing the connector. I personally use yate-loon 120mm fans in mine since they are cheap and very quiet but to each his own.

Just be careful when you open the psu, supposedly the capacitors maintain their charge a long time and can cause issues if you touch them. Just stay away from them and you should be fine.

P.S. Make sure your PSU is not still under warranty. If it is just call up the maker and have them send you a new one. I have done this with one Antec that had a failed fan and had a replacement PSU within two weeks, worked for me.

 

[Ksyder]

the warranty thing is a good point... I bought the unit in February '08 so it is still under warranty. Do you think they will replace it because of a noisy fan? It has not failed but its just noisy. I requested an RMA so we'll see.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Ksyder
the warranty thing is a good point... I bought the unit in February '08 so it is still under warranty. Do you think they will replace it because of a noisy fan? It has not failed but its just noisy. I requested an RMA so we'll see.

I think they will replace it even if it's just the fan but if you want a better excuse download one of the free tools and watch the voltages. If there is even a slight ripple then tell them the rails are not stable.

Since it's so new you definitely want to try the warranty route first. Worst case your back to where you started with looking at replacing the fan or getting a new unit.

 

[Ksyder]

It does have a 3 year warranty so cracking it open and voiding the warranty seems like a bad idea. Hopefully they'll stand by their product and replace it. My system usually runs 24/7 so I don't want to come home sometime to a psu with a failed fan... Will the system shut down if the fan fails or will the psu just keep running regardless of the fan?

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Ksyder
It does have a 3 year warranty so cracking it open and voiding the warranty seems like a bad idea. Hopefully they'll stand by their product and replace it. My system usually runs 24/7 so I don't want to come home sometime to a psu with a failed fan... Will the system shut down if the fan fails or will the psu just keep running regardless of the fan?

You know I'm not sure. If the fan is one of the types that runs at a really low RPM then the psu could go for a long time without the fan working assuming adequate case ventilation. I assume at some point it will fry itself and you'll get that wonderful burnt electronics smell wafting from it... maybe accompanied by a 'zzzzz' and a 'pop'.

 

[MarcVenice]

Originally posted by: Spike
I have replaced many fans in PSU's and while you can cut and re-solder the fan connectors I normally just thread the normal 3 pin connector out through the cable hole or one of the grill openings. I find this is much easier and quicker and changing the connector. I personally use yate-loon 120mm fans in mine since they are cheap and very quiet but to each his own.

Just be careful when you open the psu, supposedly the capacitors maintain their charge a long time and can cause issues if you touch them. Just stay away from them and you should be fine.

P.S. Make sure your PSU is not still under warranty. If it is just call up the maker and have them send you a new one. I have done this with one Antec that had a failed fan and had a replacement PSU within two weeks, worked for me.

Spike, this doesn't always work, at least it didn't for my cooler-master PSU. It required the fan to be plugged into the PCB or the PSU wouldn't work at all ... So I had to splice and solder it back on to my fan and plug it in ...

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice

Originally posted by: Spike
I have replaced many fans in PSU's and while you can cut and re-solder the fan connectors I normally just thread the normal 3 pin connector out through the cable hole or one of the grill openings. I find this is much easier and quicker and changing the connector. I personally use yate-loon 120mm fans in mine since they are cheap and very quiet but to each his own.

Just be careful when you open the psu, supposedly the capacitors maintain their charge a long time and can cause issues if you touch them. Just stay away from them and you should be fine.

P.S. Make sure your PSU is not still under warranty. If it is just call up the maker and have them send you a new one. I have done this with one Antec that had a failed fan and had a replacement PSU within two weeks, worked for me.

Spike, this doesn't always work, at least it didn't for my cooler-master PSU. It required the fan to be plugged into the PCB or the PSU wouldn't work at all ... So I had to splice and solder it back on to my fan and plug it in ...

Dang, never had that be the case with any of mine. I replaced the fan on two coolermasters, 2 Antecs, and a Seasonic without any issues so far. If it required splicing I would have probably given up since I suck at soldering...

 

[MarcVenice]

Heh, I broke my cooler-master fan first, tried replacing it, just to find out i couldn't, coz I never soldered. The necessity of a working PSU made my dad show me how to solder though 😉

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Heh, I broke my cooler-master fan first, tried replacing it, just to find out i couldn't, coz I never soldered. The necessity of a working PSU made my dad show me how to solder though 😉

That would be a helpful skill to have... I just had my coolermaster extreme power pro 550 fail last week and I had a replaced fan in there... I did not get any nasty burnt smell out of it so I'm not sure why it actually died. I never though to try it out with a 2-pin fan before tossing it, I wonder if it might have worked again even though it has been going for a while with a three pin in it.

Ah well, I ordered that cheap OCZ (same one the OP is havign issues with, doh!) with 2GB of OCZ ram for $23 total AR... can't really complain about that.

 

[Ksyder]

Ah well, I ordered that cheap OCZ (same one the OP is havign issues with, doh!) with 2GB of OCZ ram for $23 total AR... can't really complain about that.

Ugh.. I paid $70 for it off Newegg awhile ago. Its a decent unit overall but the cable assortment on the unit is sparse at best. I think its a good unit but a little weak for what I paid. Next time I'll be buying a Corsair unit I do believe.

 

[Ksyder]

You know I'm not sure. If the fan is one of the types that runs at a really low RPM then the psu could go for a long time without the fan working assuming adequate case ventilation. I assume at some point it will fry itself and you'll get that wonderful burnt electronics smell wafting from it... maybe accompanied by a 'zzzzz' and a 'pop'.

The P182 is a double edged sword in this respect... the top 120 mm fans do nothing to cool the PSU since the areas are kept separate in order to keep the PSU heat away from the rest of the system. Unfortunately this means that if that fan fails there isn't much airflow going on down there except for the fan I shoe-horned in there to chill the hard drives.

 

[MarcVenice]

That fan in the middle of the p182, in the lower chamber, actually will cool the PSU better then any other casefan in ANY case. I mean, what other case has a fan like 5cm away from the PSU, blowing air towards it ?

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
That fan in the middle of the p182, in the lower chamber, actually will cool the PSU better then any other casefan in ANY case. I mean, what other case has a fan like 5cm away from the PSU, blowing air towards it ?

The only problem with this is some PSU's don't have many grills/grates/opening things on the side that faces that fan, many have their main openings on the bottom where the 120 or 140mm fan is. Thats one of the reason I like the earthwatts and NeoHE PSU's, they just have the 80mm on the end so both ends are opened up and the bottom and top are closed. This means that my lower compartment fan has no problem cooling the psu if that fan happens to fail even though it's not likely.

Originally posted by: Ksyder

Ah well, I ordered that cheap OCZ (same one the OP is havign issues with, doh!) with 2GB of OCZ ram for $23 total AR... can't really complain about that.

Ugh.. I paid $70 for it off Newegg awhile ago. Its a decent unit overall but the cable assortment on the unit is sparse at best. I think its a good unit but a little weak for what I paid. Next time I'll be buying a Corsair unit I do believe.

I under no false pretenses about the quality of this OCZ PSU but for my setup it does not have to be all that great, all it has to do is run. I'm kinda kicking myself for ordering it now though since I could have gotten a "scratch and dent" 550W BFG psu for $43 shipped. Definitely cost more but still a better psu. Ah well, I'm sure the OCZ will work in my fairly lightly used HTPC box powering those older components.

Corsairs are awesome units from all the reviews I read. I almost always seem to end up with Antecs as those are normally on sale when I'm looking for a new unit. The Antecs have been fine, especially the Seasonic and Delta built models, but I would still like to try out Corsair sometime soon.

 

[Ksyder]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
That fan in the middle of the p182, in the lower chamber, actually will cool the PSU better then any other casefan in ANY case. I mean, what other case has a fan like 5cm away from the PSU, blowing air towards it ?

good point, In my case, though I've actually pointed the fan output towards the front of the case, and in turn, right at the hard drives rather than the usual way of doing it, just to provide specific directional airflow right at the drives. My reasoning is that since the bottom chamber is separate, its not interfering really with the normal ATX airflow pattern present in the top half of the case. When I first built this system I took the bottom chamber 120 mm fan out because I thought the PSU fan alone would be enough cooling for the hard drives. I was wrong. I installed Hard Drive Inspector Pro and found out my drives were over heating. Hence, the fan blowing right at the drives.

also, of course, the OCZ psu cables are frustratingly short, just barely long enough to reach the motherboard, for instance, and that is not being able to route the 24 pin bundle around the back of the mobo either, its a straight shot, or "as the crow flies" from one to the other.

On a positive note, though, OCZ is issuing an rma for the unit based on the failing fan alone. However, that puts me in a position to have to locate a replacement for the time being.

 

[Ksyder]

The only problem with this is some PSU's don't have many grills/grates/opening things on the side that faces that fan, many have their main openings on the bottom where the 120 or 140mm fan is. Thats one of the reason I like the earthwatts and NeoHE PSU's, they just have the 80mm on the end so both ends are opened up and the bottom and top are closed. This means that my lower compartment fan has no problem cooling the psu if that fan happens to fail even though it's not likely.

I have to say, though, Antec people did a nice job generally with the psu, as there are openings on the top, bottom and sides around the psu so it really doesn't matter how your fans are setup on the psu. The psu mounting bracket is raised so that there is space even underneath the psu. At least then ventilation becomes less of a concern.