NightFlyer
Junior Member
So here I am with a new upgrade (Asus P4C800E Deluxe + P4 3.2E, 1G of dual channel RAM, 6600GT video card, etc etc.. My Spakle 400W power supply sends its fan beyond warp speed when it warms up. (In fact, it goes Plaid! - couldn't resist the movie reference)
Fast forward a few days of ringing ears later, I pick up a Seasonic S12 430W PSU upon reading several recommendations here and on several other review sites. Ah silence. But then I notice something a little disturbing.. my CPU is up in the high 50s (celsius) when under load, sometimes heading into the low 60s. Before it idled at around 44 and got into low 50s with the stock cooler. The motherboard sensor used to read in the 29-32c range, now is up to 35-38. My case is a modest Apex TU-155, has a pair of quiet NMB intakes in the front, unobstructed side vents and runs negative pressure with a medium speed NMB exhaust and the power supply. What I have found is that there is a fairly large vent on the side of the power supply facing the front of the case, and the thing is taking cpu heat, adding its own heat and blowing a good bit of it right back into the case. Big flaw in an otherwise great PSU design. So now I'm recycling hot air to the cpu cooler. This is bad. Worse, as the PSU fan slowly speeds up, it blows more heat back into the case, making it run even faster. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Has anyone else noticed this? I remember seeing a discussion about lack of value of the 80mm exhaust fan on a PSU. Properly designed, an 80mm fan does a very important job - pulls the hot air out of the PSU enclosure and exhausts it outside.
So I'm looking into another PSU.. possibly an Antec Truepower 430 or the Seasonic Silencer that has the 80mm exhaust fan. I am also planning on picking up a Thermalright XP90 and using another NMB fan on that, possibly pulling air up from the heatsink with a duct leading directly to the outside. Once all of this is complete, I'll evaluate whether or not I need to look into a new case. I'm picky, so case shopping isn't one of my favorite things to do.
Fast forward a few days of ringing ears later, I pick up a Seasonic S12 430W PSU upon reading several recommendations here and on several other review sites. Ah silence. But then I notice something a little disturbing.. my CPU is up in the high 50s (celsius) when under load, sometimes heading into the low 60s. Before it idled at around 44 and got into low 50s with the stock cooler. The motherboard sensor used to read in the 29-32c range, now is up to 35-38. My case is a modest Apex TU-155, has a pair of quiet NMB intakes in the front, unobstructed side vents and runs negative pressure with a medium speed NMB exhaust and the power supply. What I have found is that there is a fairly large vent on the side of the power supply facing the front of the case, and the thing is taking cpu heat, adding its own heat and blowing a good bit of it right back into the case. Big flaw in an otherwise great PSU design. So now I'm recycling hot air to the cpu cooler. This is bad. Worse, as the PSU fan slowly speeds up, it blows more heat back into the case, making it run even faster. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Has anyone else noticed this? I remember seeing a discussion about lack of value of the 80mm exhaust fan on a PSU. Properly designed, an 80mm fan does a very important job - pulls the hot air out of the PSU enclosure and exhausts it outside.
So I'm looking into another PSU.. possibly an Antec Truepower 430 or the Seasonic Silencer that has the 80mm exhaust fan. I am also planning on picking up a Thermalright XP90 and using another NMB fan on that, possibly pulling air up from the heatsink with a duct leading directly to the outside. Once all of this is complete, I'll evaluate whether or not I need to look into a new case. I'm picky, so case shopping isn't one of my favorite things to do.
